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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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When did your toddler transition to one nap?
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Mandy says
@Tina – I have a 6 y.o she was in full time daycare before school and she had to have a daytime sleep(around 2-3 hrs easy at home and 1 hr at daycare) until she was 3/4 of the way through her 4th year. (mond you she still went down at 7pm at night and slept till 7am just fie). towards the end of the year she started to not sleep in the day in readiness for school the next year. She was still looking tired and if I pushed I reckon she would have slept. I was very worried how she would cope at school. But when she started school she was fine and everyday they did have a rest/quiet time and if they woke up extremely tired the next day we were told to just keep them home that day.
Wendy says
Lauren R. – my son is a month younger but I would put him to bed earlier (my son goes to bed at 7). Also, I know that set schedules work really well for some families but they never did for us, you might find that by going by the clock rather than his cues you’re putting him down too early for some naps (so he complains) or you’re missing the window and by the time you put him down he’s over tired (so he can’t get himself to sleep). I try to look for my son’s sleep cues (whinging, rubbing eyes, yawning) and then use the clock as back up – if it’s been three hours then I’m pretty sure he’s tired if it’s only been an hour then there’s probably something else going on – or he might genuinely need to nap because he’s going through a growth spurt or something.
That’s just my experience but I hope it helps you.
Wendy says
What perfect timing! My son is almost 1 and I was beginning to wonder if I was doing the wrong thing putting him down for two naps. He gets tired anywhere between 2 1/2 and 4 hours and I tend to go with his signs rather than watching the clock but part of me wondered if I was forcing him to nap when what he really needed was a change of scenery or something. Good to know that it’s normal for 12 month olds to continue to have two naps and also good to read all the different experiences, all babes are different.
Lauren R. says
I have a 13 month old whose nap schedule is so off! I am so cranky and so is the rest of my house. I am a stay at home mom, so I have no excuse that my schedule is conflicting with his naps. I a try everyday to put him down at the same time (10:30 and 2:30) and he goes to bed at 8pm and sleeps until 6am. However, most days of the week he will not take both naps. Its either one or the other. If he does fall asleep both times, they are 45min to 1hr naps. I need help! He is cranky most evenings and always fussy in the mornings. I thought he would do better is I moved up his bedtime, but he will fuss and roll around in his crib and get up earlier. Any advice mama’s?
Maree says
My Daughter is now 20months and since reaching 18months has refused to go to bed during the day, she just screams for as long as you leave her in her cot. But put her in the car or buggy and she is out like a light. Now she is very overtired and has started waking early every morning. She sleeps through 7pm to 5am and has 1.5hrs in the car during the day. Suggestions anyone?
gena says
Thank you nicole for this great article and to all you ladies who have commented. Its nice to be able to read everyones comments and know I’m not the only one with questions! My daughter will be 12 months tomorrow and she has always been a terrible sleeper, she usually goes to sleep sometime between 7 30 and 8 and getsup around the same time in the morning. Now the terrible part is she wakes up every two hours or so, during the day she has two naps that are an hour each at most. For the past month she has started fighting her morning nap so I tried transitioning her to one, bad choice. Instead of napping two hours like I hoped she would;she napped 30 mins. So now when she fights her nap and only has one, if she wakes up fairly soon and I can get her quick enough I can get her back to sleep and then she sleeps another hour usually! We have been doing this the past few days and having good naps and…good sleep! She has woken up at 12 30 and 6am and that’s it! I am really hoping I have found what was going wrong and hopefully she will sleep through the night soon!
Wendy says
Hi Nicole,
My almost 14 month old has just started walking and is needing to go down for her morning nap earlier and fighting her 2nd nap. I don’t think she is ready to transition to 1 nap since I can’t push her 1st nap until any later than 9:30am and even that is a push. She spent months taking her 1st nap around 10:30am, but has recently been waking up earlier and now needing an earlier nap. This one is 45 minutes if we are lucky and then the 2nd is about the same. I don’t know what to do. I have tried an earlier 2nd nap, a later one and they end up being at the same time. Her 2nd nap is anywhere between 2-3pm now and if I put her down any earlier, she ends up needing a 6pm bedtime instead of 6:45/7pm.
How do I know she is ready to transition to 1? She sleeps about 12 hours at night, but I feel like she isn’t getting enough daytime sleep. And she is waking up from her 2nd nap cranky and yawning.
Tina says
My oldest (who is not a month shy of 4yo) was forced to transition to one nap at 12 months because she was in daycare. On the weekends, she would occasionally take two naps though. I now have an 18 month old who is just starting to transition from two naps to one. Sometimes, I can see she just needs her morning nap. My girls are no longer in daycare, so we are going with what seems required by them…
People tell me my almost 4yo shouldn’t be napping, but by 1PM, her eyes are puffy and red and she starts acting up. I know she still needs the nap -no matter how much she fights it.
Nicole says
@Tina Some kids nap even after starting Kindergarten! You’re her mommy and know her best. 🙂
@Wendy Have you tried a later nap? Many times a nap gets as late at 3 or 3:30 p.m. before they transition. It sounds like she still needs two if she can’t even get past 9:30 for the her morning nap. She likely needs more time awake before her afternoon nap and a later bedtime. Good luck! 🙂
@Gena Waking every two hours at night is most likely a sleep association problem and not being able to go back to sleep without help. I would work on her going to sleep and BACK to sleep on her own, first and foremost. That is the first step in the sleep coaching journey, usually. Schedules go out the window during coaching and learning, so start there first and see how the dust settles. Quite often things look a lot different once a baby or toddler is sleeping more restfully at night. They can often stay up longer during the day, because they are not so exhausted from poor night sleep.
@Maree What time do you try her nap? Make sure it’s not too late. Her waking at 5:30 a.m. is symptomatic of her being over-tired and over-tired children will fight sleep most. If she wakes at 5:30 a.m. try an 11 a.m. nap time and 6 p.m. bedtime and then slowly move everything forward. It works wonders! Good luck!
@Lauren It sounds like, in your case, your son is possibly trying to transition to one nap, but 2:30 p.m. may just be too early for the second nap. Try bumping it to 3 or 3:30 p.m. before trying to transition to one nap. Once you do try one nap, try offering just one nap at 11 a.m. for several days in a row, then offer two naps, and back to one nap, and so on. Also, keep bedtime early during the transition. Don’t do an 8 p.m. bedtime unless he has taken an afternoon nap. Good luck!
@Wendy Yes, completely normal. It sounds like you are on top of things! Thanks for commenting.
Carrie says
This article seemed to be right on with what my son is going through. He is now 13 months and taking 2 naps, about 1.5 hrs each. He was always a short napper 45 min and some long naps. Around 11 months, I decided to go to one nap, he seemed to do just fine. But as the article states, he definietly was crankier in the evenings. So I went back to 2 naps and I’m trying to be very consistent. He sleeps 11hrs in the evening and is doing very well. Thanks for your article. Carrie
Carrie Dodd says
My son transitioned on his own fairly easily at 9 months! We just needed a few weeks of earlier bedtimes but there were minimal meltdowns.
Nicole says
@Carrie WOW!! That’s so great it was with minimal meltdowns! Goes to show that all babies are indeed different. Thanks for sharing!