18 month old sleep schedule

A sample day for a 18 month old: 1 or 2 naps, about 3.75 to 5.5 hours awake at a stretch and 11 to 14 hours of sleep in 24 hours. Here are the times, and how to fit them to your baby.

Sleep in 24 hours

11 to 14 hours, naps included (American Academy of Sleep Medicine)

Naps

1 or 2 naps

Awake between sleeps

About 3.75 to 5.5 hours (common practice, there is no published table after 12 months)

Night feeds

Healthy toddlers do not need a feed at night.

A sample day at 18 months

Built from a 7:00 am wake-up. Times can move 15 minutes either way.

1. 7:00 amWake upStart the day at about the same time every day
2. 12:30 pmto 2:45 pmNapAfter 5 hr 30 min awake
3. 7:15 pmBedtime routineSame steps, same order, every night
4. 7:45 pmIn bed, lights outAfter 5 hr awake

Nap times are worked out from rule-of-thumb awake times. They have not been tested in studies, and healthy babies vary.

Build this around my wake-up time

Bedtime for a 18 month old

In the sample day, lights out is at 7:45 pm, 5 hr after the last nap ends. The bedtime routine starts 30 minutes before that.

Bedtime follows from the wake-up time and the naps, not from the clock. If your day starts at 6:30 am, bring every time forward by 30 minutes. If it starts at 8:00 am, move every time an hour later.

How much sleep does a 18 month old need?

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends 11 to 14 hours of sleep in 24 hours, naps included, for children of 1 to 2 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports that recommendation.

The sample day adds up to 13.5 hours: 2 hr 15 min of naps and 11 hr 15 min from bedtime to wake-up. The night figure includes any feeds and wakings, so the sleep itself is a little less.

These are ranges for most children, not targets to hit. The National Sleep Foundation notes that an hour or two either side of its range can be appropriate.

Wake windows at 18 months

About 3.75 to 5.5 hours between sleeps. No hospital publishes a wake window table after 12 months, so this range is common practice among sleep consultants and nothing more.

Wake windows are a rule of thumb. They have not been tested in research and no medical body publishes a table of them. The first stretch of the day is usually the shortest and the last one before bed the longest.

Watch your baby as well as the clock. Yawning, staring and fussing are signs that sleep is close, and when the clock and your baby disagree, go by your baby.

Naps at 18 months

By 18 months most toddlers have given up the morning nap and take one long afternoon nap of 1.5 to 3 hours (Nationwide Children's Hospital).

Two naps are still within normal at this age. In one study children were on a single afternoon nap by 15 to 24 months.

Night feeds at 18 months

Healthy toddlers do not need a feed at night. If your toddler still feeds at night, ask your pediatrician before you cut it down.

Do not put a child to bed with a bottle. It raises the risk of tooth decay and ear infections.

Can you sleep train a 18 month old?

Yes, if you want to. The same approaches are used with toddlers: staying in the room and moving away over two weeks, timed checks (the Ferber method), and saying goodnight and not going back in (cry it out). A toddler in a bed they can leave needs a version with check-ins.

A 2006 review for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that 49 of 52 studies reported better sleep. Most of those studies were small, and no method works for every child.

Related guides

• 18 month sleep regression
• Sleep schedules for every age
• Wake windows by age
• The Ferber method and chart

Sources

• Paruthi S, et al. Recommended Amount of Sleep for Pediatric Populations: A Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2016.
• Cleveland Clinic. What Are Baby Wake Windows? And How Long Should They Be? April 2024.
• Nemours KidsHealth. Sleep and Your Baby, by age; Naps.
• Nationwide Children's Hospital. Sleep in Infants; Sleep in Toddlers.
• Mindell JA, et al. Behavioral treatment of bedtime problems and night wakings in infants and young children. Sleep, 2006 (review for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine).
• Weissbluth M. Naps in children: 6 months to 7 years. Sleep, 1995.
• Staton S, et al. Many naps, one nap, none: a systematic review and meta-analysis of napping patterns in children 0 to 12 years. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2020.

General information for parents, not medical advice. Independent, not affiliated with the American Academy of Pediatrics or any medical body. Talk to your pediatrician about your baby's health.