Optimal Waketime Lengths for Toddlers 12-24 Months Old

Find the best amount of time your toddler should be awake between naps. This is important to getting great naps down for your toddler.

How long a toddler should be awake

It isn’t only babies who need their waketime length correct. It is also toddlers.

A toddler who is up too long can get grumpy and stay awake through the entire nap time, which leads to a less-than-fun evening.

A toddler who is not awake long enough before nap time can stay awake through the entire nap…which again leads to a rough evening.

If you want your toddler to nap well, you need waketime length correct.

Caring about naps and night sleep doesn’t go away when your baby leaves “baby” and moves to “toddler” (and won’t go away after that, either!).

When I recently posted a helpful graphic on Optimal Waketimes for 0-12 Months, many of you asked for one for the toddlers, too. So here you go!

I love to know what you want and need, so please always give that feedback.

You can view this graphic on this blog–you can bookmark the page or Pin the image. You can also view it on my Drive. I have added it to my Chronicles Book of Logs. When you purchase that ebook, you will have it included.

How long a toddler should be awake infographic

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20 thoughts on “Optimal Waketime Lengths for Toddlers 12-24 Months Old”

  1. Hi Valerie! I live by your blog and am so grateful for you and the effort you put in to helping parents! I did Babywise with my older daughter and it worked like a dream but could use your help with my son. We have had a lot of changes during my sons first year and I feel like I haven't been able to give his sleep the attention it needs. He is 13 months, 11 days today and our issue is that he is repeatedly waking at 5:00am each day. (We just moved into a new house 2 weeks ago and prior to that he was a very good sleeper). He takes 2 great naps each day but because of the early waking he is ready to go to bed each night at 5:30pm… How do I get back on our 7 to 7 routine?? Help please!! (I should mention, he has blackout shades and all the comforts of home in his room. And my daughter (3 years) is waking early now too…. Is this just a sun issue?)

    Reply
  2. Hi Sarah! So glad to know the blog is helpful for you! I would say it is mostly if not fully due to the move. That can take some time to get used to sleeping in a new place. It is like being on vacation for weeks!For the early bedtime, just slowly work back so instead of a 5:30 bedtime, you are doing 5:45. After a few days, do 6:00. Continue that.But is he still napping? If he is napping, I would let he make up of sleep happen during nap, not a really early bedtime. Make sure he isn't getting out of bed at 5:30. When he wakes up at that time, you can go in and tell him that it is still night time and he needs to go back to sleep. So don't get him out of bed until the time you want him getting up.Good luck!

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  3. Thanks so much Valerie for responding! He is still napping and will sleep about 4-5 hours during the day. You're saying I should limit that to where he may sleep longer at nighttime? I had sort of been using the "sleep begets sleep" method praying he would snap out of it. 🙂 Thanks again!

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  15. Sorry I know this is an older post, but I have a 14month old who only has one nap a day for about a month now. He is up around 8am, sometimes 8:30 and goes down 3 hours after getting up with no problems. If I miss that window or try to stretch it we get crazy meltdowns. Then he usually naps 2 hours so is up by 1 or 1:30. I try another nap 3 hours after that but he has rarely fallen asleep for it for the past month. He goes to bed around 7 then maybe 7:30. So he is up for like 6 hours and mostly ok but lately has been melting down over things lately in the evening. I’m guessing the 2nd nap is too close to bedtime and messes with things so he doesn’t sleep. He acts sleepy and plays in his crib in darkened room with noise machine and I’ve left him in there half hour and longer but no nap. So now I treat it as a rest time. Should I try to stretch it to 4 hours and see what happens or just accept this is what it is? I wonder too if waking him at 7 would give more daytime for naps? Any advice you can give is appreciated!

    Reply
    • Hello!

      I would try extending time between morning wakeup and the first nap if possible, but not at the expense of the nap. I would try adding five minutes to the waketime length (yes, just 5!) and see what happens. If he still sleeps well, add another five and another five until he does not sleep well anymore.

      Does he have independent playtime? If not, I would add that in. And while the morning nap is so early, I would stick with your afternoon rest time.

      Part of his meltdowns can just be age appropriate. This is an age when they really start to have little tantrums. So read up on the tantrums posts and discipline posts for help on that. This is a good one to start with: https://www.babywisemom.com/mini-fit/

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  16. Hello,
    My 2.5yr old is a great sleeper, she still needs a nap in the afternoon and tends to have an hour to an hour and a half as I wake her at 2.30pm as we’ve been having difficulty with her falling asleep at bedtime.
    She normally has “chill out time” from 6.30-7pm which is often watching a tv programme (she has very little through the day and is very busy most of the time) then Bath, pjs, story and milk all with a low lamp on, then normally in bed for 7.30pm however she’s not falling asleep until 9pm! She’s quite happy and often is just laid quietly in her bed. She has a white noise app which plays a shh sound for 20mins. I’ve tried playing gentle music too but it’s not helped.
    Do you have any suggestions? I don’t really want to stop her afternoon nap as I feel she still needs it and if she doesn’t have it is over tired at bedtime and is unsettled.
    Thanks in advance
    Cathy

    Reply
  17. Hey Valerie–Love your stuff! We’ve followed your wake time chart since my son was a newborn. He is 16 months (was born a month early–premie) and has started not taking good afternoon naps. This is our current schedule: 7 wake, 9:30 nap, wake around 12, 2:30-4:30 nap, 8 bedtime. I have found that if he sleeps past noon and I don’t wake him up for lunch, he will sleep until 1 or so and refuse to take his afternoon nap. I’d like him to eventually drop his morning nap (library playtime, ward playgroup, swim days, etc. are all in the morning). He is usually solid on morning nap but often talks to himself in his crib for 30 min-1 hr. (or more) before he falls asleep for a short nap in the afternoon. He is very vivacious and always cries when it is nap time and he has to come inside or stop playing. Should I keep waking him up at noon for lunch? Should I change his waketime length in the morning? My goal is for him to eventually drop morning nap and just take a solid nap after lunch. He has only been walking for 5 weeks and got his first sibling (new baby brother) 10 weeks ago. Ideas? Thank you!

    Reply

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