How much should a 21-month-old sleep?

Eleven to 14 hours over 24, with the night carrying 10 to 12 of them and a single nap doing the rest. Wake windows are 5 to 6 hours. There's a lot of individual variation inside that range, and a toddler at the lower end who is happy and energetic is not short of sleep. The daily total and how your toddler manages the late afternoon are better signals than any single night.

When do toddlers stop napping?

Usually somewhere between three and five years old, and 21 months is nowhere near it. At this age the nap is still doing real work: it's part of how the 11 to 14 hour total is reached and how your toddler gets through a 5 to 6 hour afternoon. Occasional refusal is normal; if it happens, keep a quiet rest period and move bedtime earlier.

A new baby is coming. How do I protect my toddler's sleep?

Make the changes well before the baby arrives rather than after, so nothing feels like a demotion — move rooms, change the crib setup, or shift the routine at least a couple of months ahead. Then hold that routine tightly through the first weeks. Some regression is normal and usually short. Extra one-to-one time at bedtime, even ten minutes, tends to help more than anything else.

Should we move to a toddler bed at 21 months?

Only if there's a reason — mostly climbing out of the crib, or an imminent need for the crib. At 21 months a toddler cannot reliably reason about staying in bed, so an early move often means a period of repeated getting up at night. If your toddler is safe and content in the crib, waiting is usually easier. Ask your pediatrician if you are unsure.

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Baby sleep schedule at 21 months: one nap, longer days and bedtime

At 21 months your toddler needs 11 to 14 hours of sleep a day, with 10 to 12 hours at night and a single nap. Wake windows have stepped up again to 5 to 6 hours, which means a long morning, a nap in the early afternoon and a long second stretch before bedtime.

Five to six hours awake is a big block for a toddler, and it changes how the day feels. Mornings can carry a whole outing; afternoons need pacing. Most of the sleep questions at 21 months are no longer about the schedule but about the things happening around it.

11–14 h

Total sleep / 24 h

10–12 h

Night sleep

Naps per day

5 h–6 h

Wake window

This is a common age for big changes — a new sibling, a move to a shared room, a new daycare. Sleep tends to wobble for a couple of weeks around any of them, which is normal. Where you can, make the change and the sleep change separately: do not move a toddler out of the crib in the same couple of weeks a baby arrives, and give the routine extra consistency while everything else is new.

A comfort object earns its keep now. A specific stuffed animal or small blanket that goes to bed every night gives your toddler something of their own to hold at the moments you are not there. Keep a duplicate if you can. If you are considering a toddler bed, there's rarely a reason to rush — a child who is not climbing out is usually better off in the crib for now, and your pediatrician can help you think it through.

A sample day

Below is a one-nap day at 21 months, with wake windows of 5 to 6 hours on either side of an early-afternoon nap. Treat it as one plausible day, not a target; the shape is what matters, and a big day out will bend it.

Time	What happens
7:00	Wake-up and first feed
13:15	Nap 1 · approx. 90 min
20:15	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.

Does this 21 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.

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Tips for this age

Separate big transitions: a new sibling, a room move and a bed change should not land in the same few weeks.
Front-load the day with physical activity and keep the last hour genuinely quiet, because 5 to 6 hours of awake time needs shaping.
During an unsettled couple of weeks, Lulla's history tells you whether the nights are actually getting worse or simply feel that way.
Give the comfort object a fixed place in the routine, and buy a spare if you can find one.
If your toddler seems tired all the time despite a full night, or snores most nights, bring it up with your pediatrician.

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Common questions

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Sources

The figures on this page follow the guidance of these organizations. This information is educational and does not replace advice from your pediatrician.