Here’s a 1 year old sleep schedule to get your baby on the right track to calmer nights and days. One year olds go from 2 naps to 1 nap and are more active and awake during the day. If you want to make sure your 1 year old takes a good long nap and goes to bed well at bedtime, this post will help. If you haven’t tried this alongside sleep training, now’s a good time to start.
1 year olds…
Whew… they’re hard.Â
They are mobile and they like packing and unpacking everything. You become a tired mama watching their every move and you’ve gotta be hyper-vigilant because they want to eat LEGOs and whatever they can grab out of the trash can.
I had 5 kids in 5 years… I know.
Napping and sleeping also get a tad trickier in this year of baby’s life as well.
This is when you drop the morning nap, lengthen the afternoon nap, and baby is still not as sleepy as they used to be.
Also, they aren’t falling asleep in the high chair anymore.
Unless they’re super overtired, of course.
1 Year Old Sleep Schedule Considerations
Here are some considerations for you as you navigate a routine with your 1 year old.
Read: Foolproof Baby Sleep Tips — Routines, Habits & Strategies
Grab this, tweak it to fit your own family, and start feeling more in control of your days with your little one!
Early 1 Year Old Schedule – With 2 Naps
Baby will begin transitioning from 2 daily naps – morning and afternoon – to one afternoon nap during the 12 to 18 month age range.
This is generally a gradual process – the weaning from the morning nap – and you can look for a few things to be sure your baby is ready.
Baby may not have all of these, but you’ll recognize the signs if you pay attention.
Signs baby is ready to begin weaning the morning nap:
I go into it in great detail in this post, When Babies Go To One Nap (A Step-By-Step Guide), but here’s a quick recap.
- Morning naps remain long and the afternoon nap shortens, leaving baby quite tired at bedtime.
- Baby takes longer to get to sleep for either the morning or the afternoon nap. He doesn’t need two long full naps every single day.
- Baby will take a morning nap as usual, but “fight” the afternoon nap.
- When you’re out and about in the morning, baby is able to stay up quite well but then flags considerably around lunchtime, perhaps even refusing food.
These lovely cards and checklists will help you create and keep healthy wind down and sleep routines for your little ones.
Learn More
Read: The Crucial Elements Of A Rock Solid Toddler Schedule
A sample 1 year old sleep schedule looks like this.Â
- 7:00 am – Wake up, eat breakfast, play
- 9:30 am – Nap
- 10:45 am – Wake up, play
- 12:00 pm – Lunch, play
- 1:30 pm – Nap
- 3:30 pm – Wake up, snack, play
- 5:30 pm – Dinner
- 6:00 pm – Bath, wind down, family time
- 7:30 pm – Bedtime
Grab this, tweak it to fit your own family, and start feeling more in control of your days with your little one!
Mid 1 Year Old Schedule – Dropping The Nap
If baby has shown many of the above signs, you know it’s time to get to work dropping the nap. After you’ve done that you’ll tackle the 1 nap schedule, which may take a bit to get used to.
For the first year of baby’s life he’s had a morning nap and enjoyed it, so the key is to watch baby’s cues.
Baby might be okay to drop the nap cold turkey, but most babies will need a transition period as they learn to stay awake until their early afternoon snooze.
Below you’ll find tips to help you drop the morning nap.
Note: you don’t need to do them all, but choose what works best for you and baby.
Read: Bossy Baby? Being responsive without creating a tyrant toddler!
These lovely cards and checklists will help you create and keep healthy wind down and sleep routines for your little ones.
Learn MoreHow to drop the morning nap:
- Push back the normal morning nap 15 minutes later, waking baby at the same time as normal.
- Put baby down for morning nap at the same time, but wake him up before he would normally wake. For example, if he normally sleeps 1.5 hours, wake him up after 1 hour.
- Take baby out in the morning during nap time and keep baby awake. When you get home, feed baby an early lunch, then put him down to sleep at an “in between time.” So, instead of 9:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. nap times, for example, keep baby awake in the morning then put him down at 12:00 p.m. Note how long he’s able to sleep for that nap, it may be shorter and thus you’ll have to move up bedtime.
- Let baby sleep only 15 minutes to 30 minutes in the morning nap, then put baby down to an afternoon nap at 1:00 p.m., directly after lunch.
- Baby may take a few months to fully drop the morning nap. If you try to drop the morning nap and baby is exhausted by early evening, then keep a short morning nap as part of the routine until he’s fully ready.
- If baby is having trouble taking an afternoon nap (because they’re not quite tired enough) then move it back slightly. This will help them to get some sleep in the afternoon so they’re less fussy and irritable in the evenings as they transition.
A sample 1 year old nap schedule while dropping nap might look like this.Â
7:00 am – Wake up, eat breakfast, play
9:45 am – Nap
10:30 am – Wake up, play
12:00 pm – Lunch, play
1:30 pm – Nap
3:30 pm – Wake up, snack, play
5:30 pm – Dinner
6:00 pm – Bath, wind down, family time
7:30 pm – Bedtime
This comprehensive step-by-step PDF guide will help you develop healthy sustainable sleep habits for your child (aged 1 to 5 years of age).
Learn MoreOlder 1 Year Old Sleep Schedule – With 1 Nap
So… around 18 months baby will likely be ready to stop taking the morning nap.
This is both freeing and nerve-wracking.
Freeing because you aren’t tethered to being at home every morning so baby can sleep, but nerve wracking because it’s hard to find things to do to fill all that new time with baby.
Luckily, babies need to play, not be entertained. Here are some things to consider as you drop the morning nap completely.
- For a few weeks you may need to have the afternoon nap time moved up slightly. Not so early baby gets used to napping at 11:00 a.m. (and thus waking so early in the afternoon they struggle to be happy as bedtime nears), but 12:00 p.m. or 12:30 p.m. then gradually moving nap time back to around 1:00 p.m. in 15 minute increments.
- Expect baby’s afternoon nap to lengthen, but it may take a while. Afternoon naps can be as long as 3 or even 3.5 hours once they’re in the swing of them, but they may start out shorter.
- Be sure baby is well fed (very well fed) right before nap. Milk and solids and finger food (whatever baby eats) right before nap help baby’s tummy to stay full which makes for deeper and sounder sleep.
- If baby wakes up after 45 minutes, don’t rush right in. Give baby time to go back to sleep on their own, they usually will.
Grab this, tweak it to fit your own family, and start feeling more in control of your days with your little one!
Read: How to Get All Your Kids To Nap At The Same Time
A sample 1 year old schedule with 1 nap might look like this.Â
7:00 am – Wake up, eat breakfast, play
9:45 am – Outside exploring
10:30 am – Independent play time, family time, errands
12:00 pm – Lunch, play
1:00 pm – Nap
4:00 pm – Wake up, snack, play
5:30 pm – Dinner
6:00 pm – Bath, wind down, family time
7:00 pm – Bedtime
Bedtime Tips For 1 Year Olds
Bedtime can be quite harrowing for little ones.
It gets easier as they get older and are able to put themselves to bed on their own, but if baby is overtired it can be stressful.
Here are some tips to keep bedtime shenanigans to a minimum.
- When in doubt, put baby to sleep a bit early. Earlier bedtimes are always better than later ones in terms of quality of sleep.
- Avoid over-stimulation in the hour prior to bedtime. Choose a wind down routine that serves your family and stick with it. Baby will get used to the positive sleep associations and not fight sleep.
- Reading is a great way to help baby calm down. Even if baby won’t sit still and fidgets, it’s a great way to inspire a love of reading and expand their vocabulary.
- Use white noise. This is both a positive sleep association and drowns out the noise of older siblings.
Grab this, tweak it to fit your own family, and start feeling more in control of your days with your little one!
Sleep issues that come up for 1-year-olds
There are some particular sleep struggles that you may find when you’re figuring out your 1 year old’s sleep schedule. It can be all roses and snores and sweet dreams… and then All Of A Sudden.
1-year-olds can have erratic days that throw you off schedule
What can happen is this: your little one doesn’t nap well and gets overtired. In an effort to prevent overtiredness (this cycle is a doozy) you decide to put your 1 year old down early for bedtime.
This is a good decision, honestly, but it can then mean your toddler does some early waking. Which can mean that the morning nap is very restorative. And this can result in a shorter afternoon nap, since 1 year olds drop that morning nap at some point.
Days can get off schedule. Moms can try and compensate for the tiredness by moving naps up or back. And doing the same to bedtimes. And this can cause a lot of stress.
Solution: Try and keep your 1 year old’s sleep schedule even if your toddler is tired. Move things up 15 minutes here or there, sure, but don’t change every day to try and track what is happening to your toddler.
Because your toddler is probably trying to track what is happening with the schedule.
Grab this, tweak it to fit your own family, and start feeling more in control of your days with your little one!
One year olds may take good morning naps and bad afternoon naps
This is an easy fix! If your toddler is falling asleep easily and deeply for the morning nap, but fighting the afternoon nap. It’s time to drop – or significantly wean – the morning nap.
Around 16 to 18 months your 1 year old can take one full nap a day and stay well rested. The afternoon is when this nap needs to happen. If your child wakes up at 6:30am then by 1pm or so baby will be ready for an afternoon siesta!
If you give a morning nap – when baby only needs 1 nap a day – then your 1 year old simply won’t sleep well for that afternoon nap. Which will mean he gets super fussy by dinnertime.
Solution: When the morning nap goes well and the afternoon nap doesn’t, wean the morning nap.
This comprehensive step-by-step PDF guide will help you develop healthy sustainable sleep habits for your child (aged 1 to 5 years of age).
Learn More1-year-olds can start to climb
Absolutely nothing will mess up your 1 year old’s sleep like ninja escape moves that go unchecked. You know how it goes…
Naptime is all fun and games until your toddler breaks out of the crib. This is where you can get clever.
- don’t put your 1 year old in a bed just because they’re climbing out of the crib. It’ll only get worse and more difficult.
- Put your 1 year old down in a sleep sack. A sleep sack (that isn’t too tight but is neither loose enough to get out of) will mean your child can’t sling an entire leg over the side of the crib easily.
- Lower the mattress level so your one year old can’t actually get out.
Is there a 1 year old sleep regression?
Babies can regress anytime, ha. There can be a 12 month old sleep regression and again at 2 years old, but typical sleep issues for 1 year old babies revolve around nap weaning.
If baby was sleeping well and stopped, look at: growth spurts, sickness, ear aches, daytime changes, family tension, schedule disruption, the need to go to 1 nap vs. staying at 2.
Grab this, tweak it to fit your own family, and start feeling more in control of your days with your little one!
How do you handle tantrums with your one-year-old?
I have an entire post full of tips on this. First off, if you dial in your one year old sleep schedule then your little one will be less tired.
Tiredness leads to meltdows, tantrums, and some attitude.
Don’t be alarmed by your little one’s moods. Remain calm, stand by your boundaries, and be a loving support.
Remember: parents who hate whining have whiners. Moms who are scared of anger have angry kids. Parents who are ruled by guilt raise guilt trippers.
Remain calm, neet your child’s needs before they need to cry for them, and know baby will do just fine.
Sources:
Common questions about this age…
Great question! If your 1 year old is taking 2 naps then naptime will typically be a few hours after waking (for a shorter morning nap) then a few hours after waking from the morning nap. So maybe at 9:30a.m. then at 1:00 p.m.rnrnYou’ll want to put your baby to bed no longer than 4 hours after he wakes up from the afternoon nap. So if baby wakes at 3:30 p.m. from afternoon nap, you’ll shoot for a 7:30 p.m. bedtime.
This is a major headache for many moms. Baby falls asleep for a power nap in the morning then fights the afternoon nap and is miserable all the way until bedtime.rnrnOh no!rnrnUntil baby gets used to one nap a day (the afternoon nap) – and he will – try to avoid long car rides as best you can. Give a toy or something to play with. If it’s an errand, try running it at another time.rnrnEventually this will pass.
It’s never too early to model appropriate behavior for your child. You show them what you want them to do, set them up for success to do it, and don’t create opportunities them to do things that go against the rules.
When they’re young, this is so easy!
If you want your kids to start doing independent playtime then 1 year is a great time to start. Most 1 year olds can safely play alone for at least 30 minutes, even longer if they are doing an imagination game.
Babies who are 12 to 14 or 15 months will typically have 2 naps. A morning and an afternoon. Anywhere from 13 to 18 months your toddler will drop their morning nap and just have an afternoon nap.
Typically, a baby who wakes up after 6am can make it happily to around the 12:30pm or 1pm mark. Then, for a few years they will nap at this time for a few hours a day. Bedtime will be around 4 hours after they wake up from their afternoon nap.
Hi! I love your articles. My daughter is almost 15 months and began fighting her afternoon nap around 13 months. I held out officially moving her to one nap because I felt she was too young, but as it’s turned out she’s been often having only one nap (her choice) most days over the last two months. I’ve finally deliberately put her down after lunch and for the most part she’s done well. She’s also began sleeping later in the morning (which is fabulous). My questions are: is she too young? Should I be trying to get her to sleep two naps? Also, she has not been able to nap long enough (sometimes 45 min, sometimes an hour and fifteen, and often I end up nursing her back to sleep in my arms, which gets her more time but feels like a rabbit hole of awful sleep crutches. Can you offer some suggestions? Thank you!!
any tips on teething? waking early in the am from teething and from naps? does this happen? my baby is 11 months drooling excessively biting on anything swollen gums and fussy. i did give him motrin baby ibuprofen and he calmed down and slept till his usual wake up time of 715 for the last few nights. before that he was waking up at 615 then crying on and off till 645. any tips on this?
Tylenol is better there is really nothing we can do Che k if u are giving the right dose. Because at times we forget u should be fine.
also, id like to start him in day care 3 days a week. they do a nap at 1230. currently he does a short 15 min nap that i wake him from at 945 then naps at 1 or 115… will it be a hard transition to go to 1230 nap as he already has a very short am nap?
My 18 month old sleeps great thru the night usually from 6:30pm to 6:30am. However, he has never been a good napper. He is on the one nap schedule, but I cannot get him to sleep longer than a half hour for nap time. I have tried everything. Any tips??
I have a question about length of time between nap and bedtime for a 17 month old. I noticed on the “mid-1 year” sample schedule the baby wakes around 3:30 and bedtime at 7:30 (4 hours) whereas the “older 1” wakes around 4pm and bedtime at 7pm(3 hours). Do older babies tend to need less awake time after nap before bedtime? My 17 month old wakes at 6:30am and naps around 12-3pm and I am slowly moving it back to 12:30 or 1 pm. If she wakes now at 3 is there a way to determine length between nap and bedtime?
Hi, We have an 19 Month old son who wakes up at night and screams the place down. Not good at 2-3 in the morning but calms down when we put him in bed with us, but due to this we have very little sleep (not good when you need to go to work). He sleeps in our room due to only having a 2 bedroom house and that my 19 yr old has the second room. We have tried everything to get him to sleep through the night but to no avail. By the way all this started when he started to have his injections which was awhile ago which is strange to say the least, so we have had this problem for sometime now and we are stuck on what to do. We would be in your debt if you could tell us on what to do or any advice really. Many many thanks. Great site by the way. Oh we have started him on one of you schedules. The one we used to use was similar to the ones you advised.
my daughter’s 12 months baby has never learned to sleep at night. She goes to child care 4 times a week which is very good with her nap and they are gradually letting her have only one nap time. The nights have been very difficult they put her to sleep around 7 it can take almost an hour or two . She gets up at 11 and is brought to her parents bed and even there she wakes up during the night and very early in the morning. The parents are so tired that it affects their health. What can we do to help them
Hi !same here I have 1 year and seven month son ..He does the same I even thinking to take him to see a doctor because he sleep afternoon like 1 Hr 45 or 3 to 4 Hours the he takes time to sleep again till 23:00 or 00:00 during night then he wake up @02:30 am or 3 to 4 am..so its affect me too much because some times am working at 05:00 you see am not sleeping at all its been like this for almost 3 weeks .I havent sleep at all …because i work for shift sometimes afternoon and Morning ..am lit bit struggle at work.
I shared a room with my baby and she woke up every 2 hours and cried till I picked her up and nursed or rocked her. She did not need the milk it was just habit and she could see us so she wouldn’t stop. I put her in my older daughters room and hung a dividing curtain so she couldn’t see anyone and she sleeps much better. I did do some sleep training too which you need to slbe as consistent as possible with whatever method you try. Even if he stays in your room maybe a divider would help.
That’s a great idea about a dividing curtain. I heard someone the other day that the two room sharing had a horrible time with them waking each other up, great idea :)
We don’t have a problem getting our son to sleep. He’s 10 months and goes to sleep great around 7:00/7:30p. I’ll even hear him whine for a second and go back to sleep, or watch him roll around in his crib. He can definitely soothe himself. But he only sleeps for about 2 hours and then wakes up and gets upset. Then it’s us putting him back down and him waking up every 10 minutes. I’ll watch him rock his head back and forth desperately trying to fall back to sleep but just can’t. Until I finally give in after a few hours and we sleep on the floor together and he sleeps like a log. He’s teething and has a cough right now, but it’s been going on for 3 months. So I don’t get it.
How do you get 11-12 month old to sleep til 7am? No matter what time I put my son to bed he always wakes at 5-5:30. I’m not an early morning person lol
I’ve read all your schedules and tips. I just can’t believe how much your children sleep! My one year old naps an hour a day and sleeps 11 hours per night. We let him cry it out to try to get him to sleep more but we just get hours of screaming. I wish I knew how to help him.
Hi,
My baby is resisting his morning nap,not necessarily the afternoon nap. Is this a sign that I need to drop to 1 nap?
Thanks
Anyone have tips for a babe that used to sleep 730pm-7am and now wakes around 5/515 every morning?! Helppppp!
My son is 13 months old and I’m trying to get him on a sleep schedule that also works with my work schedule ? I work from 4am-10am. He does take 2 naps a day, but when I try and put him to bed (usually around 830/9pm) he fights it SO bad, he’s ready for bed and you can tell..but he refuses to go to sleep. We do have a night time routine of bath, a book or 2 and then bed. I’ve tried putting him to bed earlier that 830 and it’s even worse. Then (when he does go to sleep at 9ish) he wakes up at midnight, then again at 3/4am (I’m getting ready to leave for work at that point) I’m so exhausted and I don’t know what to do. I live with my mom and of course she has her 2 cents but I seriously need some help.
No advice, just solidarity. My girl is the exact same with bedtime and wakes!
Thank you ! Been weaning my 16 month old off his morning nap. Been cutting it down to 30’min sometimes less depending on how long he takes to fall asleep. I appreciate your tips ! We’re close !
This is so helpful. My 13 month baby is starting to show signs that it might be time to go down to one nap. I never thought this day would come! It’s a wee bit stressful especially not knowing what I’m doing, so thank you for all this sage advice. I will be referring to this page for the next few months I’m sure. You are truly an inspiration; how you manage all you do (I can barely manage with one baby), is remarkable.
These schedules never worked for me because I was a stay at home mom and a night person and late sleeper myself. I trained both of my children at one year of age to go to bed at 9:00 pm and get up at 8:00am to 8:30 am. They would take a nap at 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. This worked excellent for my husband and me because even though he worked we never went to bed before 11:00 pm. Also, we never ate dinner until 7:00 so a 7:00 pm bed time for baby just didn’t work. Work for what’s best for you and your family.
My baby is just turning 1 in three days but has been showing the cues for dropping to one nap. I know everyone says it’s too early, but when I try to do a nap before 11am-12pm, she screams for 30min before the nap and again when I try and do a second nap. So I have been doing one nap for a few days, but she is only napping for 1hr20min for the most part. When does this lengthen and how long does it take and is there anything I can do to help it? Also, i’m afraid to but her to bed early when this happens, afraid she will wake up early the next morning if I put her to bed early. Is this true?
Christie, so often babies will take a week or even two or three to lengthen that nap. If you konw they’re ready to drop it, you can hang for a while as they begin to take a longer and longer nap. IF you’re not, then you will go back adn forth and worry if you made the right call. If she only takes a 1.5 hour nap then she’ll be tired and it’s definitely fine to put her down 30 minutes early or so and see what happens. Eventually, as her nap lengthens, she won’t need an early bedtime. Also, if you do both and see she’s still exhausted, then perhaps try some of the weaning tips to drop the nap instead of oging cold turkey!
Hi Rachel,
My 1 year old is starting childcare :( they have annoying eating times .
Breakfast 7-8am (at home for us though)
Morning tea 9 am
LUNCH 11am ??????
Snack 3pm
My daughter is still on 2 naps, what can I do about the above?
I hate childcare and don’t want to send her :(
Emma, it’s so so hard when we have to send our little ones somewhere else and aren’t in charge of their schedule. Will they put her to sleep at 9:30 or so in the morning then by noon?
I’m so glad I found your page! I’ll be sharing it to all my mom friends!
Oh wow, that is so nice of you to say and do Aleisha :)
What do you do when baby wakes up at a weird time? She’s been ranging from 5:30 to 8:00. I’ve been trying to follow a more strict daytime routine to try help her even if out. But if she wakes up at 8 how do you work the morning routine in?
Eryn, I’d try to find a window fo time wehre you will “start” the day and then keep to it. So if baby wakes a bit early then you’d let them quietly play a bit if they aren’t fussy and then try to reach that time. If they sleep past it, you only let them go a bit past it before bringing them back!
My baby is 14 months old and taking a 2-3 hr nap at 12pm, what time should bedtime be. How many hours after nap should bedtime be?
I’d have him in bed by 7 for sure :)
Thank you for this info! But I have a couple questions… my husband and I wake up at 5am and leave and drop my 1y at the babysitter. He eats breakfast there and is asleep again around 7am. He gets a 3rd nap from about 5pm to 6pm. We have been putting him down for the night at about 7:30pm. Its a pretty difficult schedule and I think it hard on him,, too. Should I put him down a couple hours earlier? And is it OK to wake up later on the weekends or will that mess his internal sleep schedule up?
Do you think he’s really tired by 7:30pm? If so, def move it up to 7pm and try. That’s a complicated schedule but as long as he’s getting ENOUGH sleep it’ll be okay!
Does bedtime on these schedules mean “start bedtime feed/songs/stories” or time that the baby should be actually falling asleep?
Great question! So if 7:30 pm is the bedtime then the wind down routine would start 20 to 30 minutse earlier, or however long it takes :)
Hiya,
My 13 month, nearly 14 month is still on two naps a day!
She has around 25/20 minute at 10 and then her second nap isn’t until 2 for 1.5.
She seems ok! But has started to take longer to go down for her morning nap and be disturbed earlier in the mornings from around 5.30/6.
I’m unsure if I need to start reducing the morning nap even more. She just acts really tired for her morning nap still! So I’m just unsure if it needs to go!
Heeeelp!
yes, I’d reduce the morning nap. What can happen is that they sort of start to combine that morning nap with the early morning sleep and they’l wake super early then want a longer morning nap. THE ANSWER TO THAT IS NO! Ha :)
Great if your child sleeps until 7am. Mine wakes at 430am or earlier and rarely gets to 6am. What are your tips?