Baby sleep schedule at 18 months: the 18-month regression and one nap
Lulla TeamPublished Updated
At 18 months your toddler needs 11 to 14 hours of sleep a day: 10 to 12 hours at night and one nap. Wake windows now reach 4 to 5.5 hours. The structure of the day is stable — and this is exactly the month when many families find that sleep stops behaving anyway.
The 18-month regression isn't about sleep architecture the way the 4-month one was. It's about a toddler who has discovered that they are a separate person with opinions, and that bedtime is a very good place to test what happens when those opinions are voiced.
See the full wake-window table, from newborn to 2 years→How many naps by age — the full table→When your newborn won't sleep: what to check, in order→Sleep regression by age — the full table→
Does this 18 months schedule match your day?
Lulla times the naps and tells you when the wake window is closing, so you do not have to keep count in your head.
Autonomy is the theme of 18 months. Your toddler wants to choose, to do things themselves, and to find out where the edges are. At bedtime that shows up as refusing pajamas, climbing out of the crib, demanding the routine happen in a different order, and calling out long after lights out. It's developmental, it's not defiance in the adult sense, and it passes over a few weeks.
What helps is giving real choices inside fixed limits: which pajamas, which two books, which stuffed animal — but not whether bedtime happens. Where a toddler can climb out of the crib, safety comes first: drop the mattress to its lowest position, remove anything that can be used as a step, and if climbing continues, talk to your pediatrician about whether a floor bed or toddler bed is the right move for your child.
A sample day
Below is a one-nap day at 18 months, with a nap in the early afternoon and wake windows of 4 to 5.5 hours. The sequence is what matters, not the minutes — during a regression the times matter less than keeping the sequence identical every night.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 7:00 | Wake-up and first feed |
| 13:00 | Nap 1 · approx. 100 min |
| 20:00 | Bedtime routine and lights out |
A sample day to give you a rough idea — every baby is different. Adjust the times to your child's sleep cues, and talk to your pediatrician about anything that worries you.
Your baby's sleep schedule, by age
One table with everything that matters: total sleep per 24h, wake windows and number of naps, from newborn to age 3. Total sleep follows the National Sleep Foundation recommendations.
Tips for this age
- Offer choices that do not change the outcome: which pajamas, which book, which order to brush and read — but bedtime itself is not on the table.
- Cut the routine down rather than extending it, because a shorter, firmer sequence gives less surface area for negotiation.
- Logging in Lulla through a regression is useful mostly for perspective; seeing that the total has barely moved takes some of the panic out of a bad week.
- If your toddler climbs out of the crib, lower the mattress fully and clear anything climbable nearby before you consider a bed.
- Ask your pediatrician about the timing of a toddler bed, and about any night waking that comes with pain, fever or breathing that worries you.
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Common questions
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Keep reading
- Baby tiredness signs: how to read them before the crying starts
- How to build the perfect sleep routine for your baby
- How much do newborns sleep? What's normal by age and when it's too much
Sources
Total sleep per 24 hours follows the National Sleep Foundation's ranges (2015); at 3 months we smooth the step between two of them to 13 to 16 hours. Night sleep, wake windows and the number of naps are Lulla's own reference points, not recommendations from the organizations below. This information is educational and does not replace advice from your pediatrician.
- Hirshkowitz M, Whiton K, Albert SM, Alessi C, Bruni O, DonCarlos L, et al. National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendations: methodology and results summary. Sleep Health. 2015;1(1):40–43.
- American Academy of Pediatrics — Safe Sleep
- NHS — Helping your baby to sleep
- World Health Organization — Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age