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This post will help you learn more about the 12 month sleep regression and the transition to one nap.
As your baby approaches their first birthday, most parents are beginning to wonder when it’s time to transition to one nap.
Why is my 12-month-old skipping naps?
How will you know when it’s time to transition to one nap?
Don’t all 12-month-olds take just one nap?
Actually, they don’t.
It surprised me when I was a new mom, too, but the average age for a toddler to transition to one nap is actually between 15 and 18 months old. They take just one nap until between 3 and 4 years old, on average, before toddlers stop nappingaltogether. This article will review the reason not all 12-month-olds transition to one nap.
12 Month Old Sleep Needs
Once a baby goes through her 8, 9, or 10 month old sleep regression, typically most babies will get into a pretty good groove. A 12 month old’s schedule typically involves wake windows of 3 to 4 hours between sleep periods. 10 to 12-month-olds get 11-12 hours of sleep at night and 2-3 hours total in naps, for an average total sleep of about 13 1/2 hours per day, on average. Naturally, some babies will get more and some less, of course.
12 Month Olds Skipping a Nap or Taking Short Naps
Based on both my personal experience with my two sons and in my consultations with countless parents, I know that some 11 month olds and 12 month olds seem to go through a sleep regression that largely affects naps.
It starts to appear that your 11-12-month-old is trying to transition to one nap. How? They either start skipping one nap entirely (usually the afternoon nap) or they start taking two 45-minute naps. And, these things might make you think it’s time to transition to one nap.
Many parents will transition their baby and many babies will do just fine. Similarly, babies in daycare typically are required to transition to one nap around 12 months old, ready or not. Again, most do just fine.
However, I typically tell parents, who have a choice, not to rush this transition.
12 Month Sleep Regression: Causes
When Do Toddlers Start to Walk?
A client once told me her baby started walking at 8 months old! I was shocked as this is the youngest I’ve heard of a baby WALKING! My boys didn’t even CRAWL until 10 months! 😀 Although my eldest was a late crawler, he started walking just three weeks later around 11 months. He always wanted to be on his feet, since he was just a few weeks old, actually. He’s the son of a track star, what can I say? This kid very rarely sits still.
While there are babies who walk very early, the average age is between 10 and 14 months to take their first steps. Keep in mind that those first few steps pale in comparison to how active they will become and this is why not all 12 month olds actually finish the transition to one nap. Once they start really walking, they get extremely tired, again.
What Does Walking Have to Do With Sleep?
Think of what you might feel like after you’ve done cardio or run on the treadmill for an hour.
Now do it three times a day. You would be pooped!
Lately, I’ve been exercising a lot more and I have been EXTRA tired almost every night, too. Well, your baby cruising, walking, running, and climbing is expending a LOT of energy. I find some babies even start getting hungry at night, again, due to all the calories burned. Please Note: That does not necessarily mean feed them, but do increase daytime intake.
I find that although an 11-12 month old may begin to transition to one nap, they seem to go backward and get tired sooner, again, a few weeks later. This could be due to physical energy they’re using or mental. So, you may want to hold on to those two naps for a bit longer before you push your baby too soon.
I didn’t know better my first time around and had a mess a month after transitioning my 11 1/2-month-old to one nap. My toddler was extremely overtired and CRANKY and I just couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong! The second time around, I hung on to two naps for about three weeks and my toddler happily kept napping twice a day until he was around 14 to 15 months old. Now, I help clients in similar situations every day as they transition to one nap.
12 Month Sleep Regression: How Long Does It Last?
In my experience of over 10 years as a sleep consultant, the 12-month sleep regression lasts approximately 3 weeks. It’s shorter than many of the other sleep regressions. Be sure to watch for the 5 signs to switch to one nap.
You May Also Be Interested In…
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- Mastering Naps and Schedules e-Book (unlimited VIP member access at no extra cost!)
- Custom Schedule-Maker (unlimited access – make as many schedules as you’d like! Includes meal times)
- Nap Transitions tele-seminar with Nicole Johnson
- Short Naps tele-seminar with Nicole Johnson
- How To Put Your Child on a Schedule tele-seminar with Nicole Johnson
- 5 Tips To Manage Nap Transitions [EXPANDED VIP MEMBER-ONLY VERSION]
- 5 Tips For Handling Tough Daycare Nap Schedules [EXPANDED VIP MEMBER-ONLY VERSION]
- Day-by-Day Nap Training Plan
- Downloadable Sleep/Nap Coaching Plan Workbook (learn how to create your own nap coaching plan!)
- Printable Sample Schedule Shifts Forward (great for daylight saving’s time change)
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When did your toddler transition to one nap?
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Heather O says
could you explain more about the 11 month nap regression!? my LO turns 11 mos tomorrow and she’s finally evening out with sleep so i’d like to be prepared on how to handle it and what causes it!
i love your website and your services (you’ve helped me so much in the past). i recommend you almost daily to the women on my baby center birth board.
Nicole says
@Sara and @Liz I agree that a lot is luck of the draw with a baby’s temperament. Although we worked SO hard with our son’s sleep, it was rarely perfect no matter how “perfect” we tried to be. I’m glad that part is over. 🙂 His brother is/was soooo different! But, I am glad that you have found what works for you and that is awesome!
@HeatherO Well, I am still working on finding more information about the 11 month old nap regression in that I have only gathered knowledge from my own kids and clients’ babies. I *know* that many 11 month olds do have a “blip” in naps at this age. I suspect it must be related to a developmental leap with learning to talk and walk. Molars could be mixed in, though I have found it is definitely more prone to disrupt naps more than night sleep, which I find very different than the 4-month or 8/9/10 month old sleep regressions. There is an influx of more night-wakings related to learning to walk and any development, of course. With my sons I always notice them “going backwards” before a big leap in maturity, too. My 5 year old all of a sudden wants to get picked up again right now! I’m thinking he must be going through a period of maturity (which he seems to do every summer). I will make sure I write another article specifically about the nap regression at this age. Wonder Weeks does talk about another developmental leap around this age, but it doesn’t address why it seems to affect naps more than anything. I can imagine that as they approach toddlerhood, though, they begin to realize (if they haven’t already) that playing is a lot more fun than sleeping. 🙂 Thank you so much for referring the site to others! I really appreciate it!
Liz says
Sara – oh yea, totally agreed! Part of it is just luck of the draw….hoping # 2 has a similar temperament…but will feel a little more prepared if s/he doesn’t! The first time around we were CLUELESS! Ha ha ha…..
Sara says
Hi Liz, schedules and sleep training don’t work for **all** babies, a friend of mine swore by this for her first two children but has had quite a different experience for her third – they are all different. I also look forward to doing things too as my son is a little unpredictable we can’t plan too much. Good luck with No2 😀
Liz says
Sara – I think we partly just got really lucky but my sisters and mommy-friends also drilled into me the importance of sticking with a schedule, sleep training, etc. We basically have no life on the weekends b/c we are a slave to her sleep schedule but it makes for a much happier household when we are all getting the rest we need. I do look forward to when she’s older and we are able to actually do things again. We are expecting #2 though so that’s probably going to be awhile for us! 🙂
Jane – no mystery there…sleep begets sleep. My daughter is the same way…if she’s overtired, or misses a nap….she will go down for bed fine but will generally be restless and will wake up throughout the night. Which is why we don’t miss too many naps. Glad to hear she’s past that sleep regression though!
Jane says
This is very helpful! My 11 1/2 month old went through a bad sleep transition for about a month (10-11 months). Before this she was sleeping entirely through the night (11-12 hours) and taking a morning and afternoon nap (both 2 hours). She was like clock work. Then she learned how to pull herself to standing and every nap was doing that and then crying. We went round and round and I was doing everything I could just to get her to sleep. I wondered what happened to my baby and I was afraid of all the bad habits I was starting to get her to sleep! I began thinking that maybe she was trying to go to just one nap, but she was always cranky and then began waking at night when we did that. I tried following her schedule, but nothing really seemed to work. On days where she got two naps, she slept better at night. On days where she only had one nap, and it happened to end too early in the day, she did not sleep well at night. She has finally learned how to lay herself back down after standing and her naps are getting back on schedule. She’s doing two naps a day again (although not quite like clock work like before), and she is sleeping through the night again, too! I’m a believer that it was just too soon for her to go to one nap. I’m also learning first hand that the more rest she gets during the day, the more rest she gets at night.
Donna says
Hi my 16 month old twins still nap twice a day at home and daycare. They can’t be up for more than 4hours at a.time without needing a nap. They go to bed At 7.30 pm and sleep til 6.00 am. No matter how or what we have tried they will sleep no later. I found it iinteresting that 12 month olds may have only 1 nap. They walked at 15 months and are Leays extremely active when awake even more so now. Not looking forward to 1 nap. Thanks donna
Amber says
My daughter is almost 1 and still taking 2 naps. One is usually 1hr or 1hr 15min… the other may be as short as 30min or as long as 1hr. There is NO consistency!! but she used to only take two 30min naps… so I’m much happier w/ this scenario. I have noticed though that some days she’ll fight one of the naps (either, there is no rhyme or reason to the one she fights), or only sleep for 30min both times. But she’s overtired and cranky the next day and usually sleeps well for both naps, so I don’t think she’s ready to transition to one nap. My question is the same as a previous poster, how will I KNOW when she is ready?? what are the signs?? I feel like it’s going to be especially hard since her naps are so inconsistent to begin with.
Sara says
Gosh Liz, if my baby slept like yours I would be ecstatic!!
My 15 month old has been meandering between 1 and 2 naps a day for the last couple of months, ever since he has been walking. Sometimes one nap works OK, sometimes on one nap he is mega tired and cranky. Trying to work with two naps a day is also problematic, sometime he just wont go to sleep until lunchtime anyway, and other times he has a late morning nap which means his afternoon nap becomes a late afternoon nap and bedtime doesnt happen until 9pm!
He sleeps 8pm – 6am if I am lucky (can be up as easly as 5am!) and if one nap then about 1.5 hours at lunch time and if two, between 45 mins and 1 hour each.
Natalie says
This is really interesting to me! My almost-1-year-old seemed to transition herself to 1 nap a day a couple of weeks ago… she started majorly fighting her second nap and going through just fine without it, though she’d go down early for bed. So I’ve just gone with her. The last few days, however, it’s been clear she needs that second nap, she was so cranky and whiny. So it will be interesting to see if she continues the 2 naps now.
Liz O'Callaghan says
I enjoyed the article above but I did not see anything specific to what signs to look for and how to know when your child is ready or starting to transition to one nap. I have a 14 month old who still takes 2 naps and doesn’t show any signs yet that she’s moving to 1 nap. She naps so-so at daycare, always has…but at home she takes one long nap (2-2.5 hours) in the AM and then an hour (give or take) nap in the afternoon. She goes to bed at 7:30 and sleeps til 7-7:30. Any input is appreciated!
Nicole says
@Liz Oh sorry about that! I went over a lot of nap transition stuff awhile ago. 🙂 A baby or toddler will either begin to resist one of their naps more than 4-5 times per week OR naps will get so late that bedtime becomes too late (usually means past 8 or 9 p.m.). Some families are fine with having say a 7-11-4-9 schedule while others that wouldn’t work so well for, so then that would mean you’d want to transition to one nap by moving the 11 a.m. nap to 12 and going with an early bedtime. It is very common for them to alternate one nap or two naps every few days, too, because having just one nap for ONE day is very different than EVERY day as they become chronically overtired. Still other children will begin to wake up too early or have long middle of the night wakings, too. There are many ways the transition can manifest itself. It sounds like your daughter is still very much entrenched in two naps, so I’d continue with that for awhile longer until she starts to show signs. Good luck and thanks for commenting!
@Natalie That is exactly what happened to my eldest only I never went back to two naps and he was supremely cranky! Poor thing! I would not be surprised if she goes back to two naps for quite awhile, now. Good luck!
@Sara One strategy you could try is offer one nap for 2-3 days, then 2 naps, then one nap and repeat. He will become tired with just one nap for a couple days in a row, but the two naps will stop him from unraveling into an abyss of over-tiredness. It definitely sounds like he’s working on transitioning. Sometimes it does take some adjustment period and if you stuck with one nap for 2 weeks in a row (or so), he may just adjust and stop waffling. Good luck!
@Amber It sounds like your daughter still mostly needs two naps. You might try bumping the afternoon nap a bit later to encourage a longer nap. See above for knowing when to transition. It can be tricky, but most will do well after some adjustment period, especially as they approach 15-16 months. Good luck!
@Donna Your twins definitely sound like they need a lot of sleep, so don’t rush the transition. I actually liked one nap sooo much better for getting out of the house! 🙂 They will likely sleep 12 hours once they do transition, so that would be a plus (but still don’t rush it! haha!). Good luck!
@Jane Yup! Better napping usually makes night sleep much better and more restful. I’m glad she’s getting back into her routine. Good luck!