Find the best amount of time your toddler should be awake between naps — and why getting it right makes all the difference for great daytime sleep and a smooth evening.
If you’ve been following along with Babywise, you already know that waketime length — the amount of time your baby is awake between sleep periods — is one of the single most important levers you can pull for great naps. But here’s what many parents don’t realize: that doesn’t stop when your baby turns one.
When I recently shared a graphic on Optimal Waketimes for 0–12 Months, so many of you asked for a toddler version too. Ask and you shall receive! (I love knowing what you actually need, so always feel free to leave feedback.)
Post Contents
- Why Waketime Length Still Matters for Toddlers
- Optimal Waketime Chart: 12–24 Months
- How to Find Your Toddler’s Personal Sweet Spot
- What to Expect at Different Ages Within This Range
- 12–14 Months: Still on Two Naps (Maybe)
- 15–18 Months: The Transition Zone
- 18–24 Months: Solidly One Nap
- Signs Waketime Is Off
- A Note on Consistency (and Grace for the Hard Days)
- Quick-Reference FAQ
- Related Posts You’ll Love
Why Waketime Length Still Matters for Toddlers
It isn’t only babies who need their waketime length (also known as wake windows) dialed in. Toddlers are just as sensitive to the timing of sleep — sometimes even more so, because their internal clocks are becoming more regulated and they have stronger opinions about everything.
Here’s what goes wrong when waketime isn’t right:
Too much waketime before nap: An overtired toddler produces excess cortisol (the stress hormone) to stay awake. This actually makes it harder to fall asleep, not easier. You’ll often see a toddler who fights the nap, takes forever to settle, wakes early, or skips it entirely — and then melts down spectacularly by 5 p.m.
Too little waketime before nap: An undertired toddler simply isn’t ready for sleep. Their sleep pressure (the biological drive to sleep) hasn’t built up enough. The result? They lie in the crib wide awake, chatting or fussing, and sometimes never actually sleep — which, again, leads to a rough evening for everyone.
Getting waketime right is the foundation. Bedtime routines, sleep environments, and schedules all matter — but if your toddler’s wake windows are off, those other pieces can’t save you.
Optimal Waketime Chart: 12–24 Months
Here are the general waketime length guidelines for toddlers. These are ranges because every child is different, and your toddler’s ideal window can shift as they grow, drop naps, or go through developmental leaps.
| Age | Typical Waketime Length |
|---|---|
| 12–14 months | 2 hours |
| 14–15 months | 2-6 hours |
| 16–17 months | 2-6 hours |
| 18–24 months | 2.5-6 hours |
Note: These windows apply to the time before the nap. Waketime after the nap (before bedtime) is often longer, especially as toddlers consolidate to one nap.
(You can also view and download this chart in my Chronicles Book of Logs ebook.)
How to Find Your Toddler’s Personal Sweet Spot
The chart above gives you a starting point, but your child’s optimal waketime is something you observe and fine-tune. Here’s how I approach it:
Start in the middle of the range. If your 15-month-old is having nap trouble, try a 3-4-hour wake window and watch what happens. Is she falling asleep quickly and sleeping a full nap? You found it. Is she lying awake for 45 minutes? Try adding 15 minutes next time.
Adjust in small increments. When I was working on waketime with my kids, I moved in 5–15 minute increments — not giant jumps. Toddlers don’t need you to overhaul the schedule all at once. Small adjustments give you cleaner data on what’s actually working. Yes, even 5 minutes can make the difference with a toddler!
Watch for sleepy cues, but don’t rely on them alone. Toddlers are notoriously good at pushing through tiredness when they’re having fun. You might not see yawning or eye-rubbing until well past the optimal window. The clock matters as much as the cues.
Log it. Keep a simple sleep log for a week. What time did they wake? What time did they go down for nap? Did they fall asleep quickly? How long did they sleep? Patterns emerge faster than you’d expect.
What to Expect at Different Ages Within This Range
12–14 Months: Still on Two Naps (Maybe)
Toddlers should still be taking two naps at 12 months, and that’s completely normal. Because of this, wake windows are shorter — typically 2 to 2.5 hours before the first nap and 2-2.5 hours before the second.
If you’re seeing your toddler resist the second nap consistently, you might be approaching the nap transition. But don’t rush it — dropping the second nap too early can create an overtired toddler who’s miserable by late afternoon.
14 months is the earliest you want to move to one nap. At that point, your first wake window will increase.
15–18 Months: The Transition Zone
This is often the trickiest stretch. Some toddlers drop to one nap at 15 months; others hold on until 17 or 18 months. You’ll often have a period of inconsistency where some days your toddler sleeps fine with two naps and other days the second nap is a disaster.
During this transition, it’s okay to oscillate. Do two naps on days your toddler wakes early or seems extra tired; do one nap on days when morning waketime stretches naturally. The single-nap wake window during this age is typically 5–6 hours before nap time.
18–24 Months: Solidly One Nap
By 18 months, most toddlers are on one solid nap, usually after lunch. Wake windows at this age tend to run 5–6 hours before nap, with a longer window of 5–7 hours between nap wake-up and bedtime.
One common mistake at this age: letting the nap run too long (or too late), which pushes bedtime later and later. If your toddler’s bedtime is creeping past 8:30 p.m. and it’s a struggle, check when the nap is ending. A nap that ends after 3:30 p.m. is often the culprit.
Signs Waketime Is Off
Not sure if the schedule is the problem? Here are the most common red flags:
Signs of too-long waketime (overtired):
- Takes a long time to fall asleep despite being clearly tired
- Short naps (45 minutes or less)
- Wakes crying from naps
- Extremely fussy in the hours before nap or bedtime
- Early morning waking
Signs of too-short waketime (undertired):
- Plays happily in the crib but doesn’t sleep
- Takes a very long time to fall asleep without seeming distressed
- Nap feels forced — they’re just not tired yet
- Skips nap entirely but isn’t a wreck afterward
A Note on Consistency (and Grace for the Hard Days)
Toddler sleep is rarely perfectly smooth. Teething, developmental leaps, illness, travel, time changes, and new siblings (!) all throw things off. If you’ve had a few rough nap days, don’t panic and assume the schedule is permanently broken.
Start by asking: Has anything changed? New tooth coming in? Just started walking? New baby in the house? These all legitimately disrupt sleep, and your toddler will usually reset once the disruption passes.
One reader shared that her 13-month-old had been sleeping wonderfully until they moved to a new house — suddenly he was up at 5 a.m. and ready for a 5:30 p.m. bedtime. The advice? A new home can feel like an extended vacation to a toddler’s nervous system. Give it time, don’t reinforce the early rising by bringing him out of bed, and gently push bedtime later in small increments as things settle.
Another reader had a 14-month-old who had naturally transitioned to one nap, sleeping beautifully in the morning but rarely taking an afternoon nap. The fix wasn’t forcing the second nap — it was accepting that her son had moved on, keeping an afternoon rest time (in the crib or quiet play), and adjusting her expectations.
These are real situations, and they’re normal. Toddler sleep takes patience and observation.
Quick-Reference FAQ
My 12-month-old used to nap great and now fights naps. What happened? The 12-month sleep regression is real. It often coincides with walking and a big leap in cognitive development. It usually passes within 2–4 weeks. Stick with your schedule, check wake windows, and ride it out.
My toddler wakes up 45 minutes into the nap every day. Is this a waketime problem? Possibly. A 45-minute wake is often a sleep cycle issue — your toddler isn’t yet linking sleep cycles independently. But overtiredness can also cause this. Try extending waketime by 15 minutes and see if it helps.
What if my toddler’s wake window before the nap and before bedtime is very different? That’s normal! The post-nap wake window is almost always longer than the pre-nap one. A typical 18-month schedule might look like: wake at 7 a.m., nap at noon (5-hour window), wake from nap at 2 p.m., bedtime at 7:30 p.m. (5.5-hour window). Both windows are within range.
My toddler isn’t sleeping well no matter what I try. When should I worry? If you’ve been consistent with schedule, environment, and wake windows for 2+ weeks and sleep is still a significant problem, it may be worth talking to your pediatrician to rule out anything medical (ear infections, reflux, sleep apnea in toddlers). For behavioral sleep issues, see the sleep problems section of this blog.
Related Posts You’ll Love
- Babywise Sample Schedules: 12–15 Months Old
- Babywise Sample Schedules: 16-18 Months Old
- Dropping the Morning Nap: A Complete Guide
- Sleep Regression: Causes, Ages, and What to Do
- Two-Year-Old Sleep Regression
- 2-Year-Old Sleep Problems — How to Solve Them
- Optimal Waketimes for 0–12 Months
- Dropping the Morning Nap Transition Time
Caring about naps and night sleep doesn’t end when your baby becomes a toddler — and it won’t end after that, either. But with the right wake windows, a predictable schedule, and a little patience, your toddler can be a fantastic sleeper. You’ve got this.
You can view this graphic below 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.
This post first appeared on this blog in May 2016
