Baby sleep schedule at 24 months: one nap, bedtime and turning two
Lulla TeamPublished Updated
At two years old your toddler needs 11 to 14 hours of sleep a day: 10 to 12 hours at night and one nap, with wake windows of 5 to 6 hours. That is the same band they will stay in for a while — the two-year mark is a plateau rather than another step down.
It's worth noticing how far this has come. Two years ago the day was 4 to 6 naps and 45-minute wake windows; now it is one nap after lunch and two long stretches of awake time. Almost all of that happened on its own, through maturation rather than training.
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 24 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.
Napping isn't over at two. Most children keep a single nap well into the third year and some into the fourth, and dropping it now usually creates an overtired toddler who sleeps worse at night. If your two-year-old resists, keep the slot as quiet time: same room, same hour, low light, books or quiet toys, no expectation of sleep. Many children fall asleep after ten minutes anyway.
The two-year check-up is a good place to raise anything you have been sitting on: snoring most nights, mouth breathing, pauses in breathing, night terrors, or a child who never seems rested despite a full night. Sleep questions rarely feel urgent enough to book an appointment for, which is exactly why the scheduled visit is the right moment to ask.
A sample day
Below is a typical day for a two-year-old: a nap after lunch, wake windows of 5 to 6 hours, and bedtime around 8:30 pm. It's a guide, not a rule — use the spacing rather than the clock times, and start from whenever your child actually wakes.
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 7:00 | Wake-up and first feed |
| 13:30 | Nap 1 · approx. 85 min |
| 20:30 | 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
- Keep the nap slot even on days your toddler will not sleep; quiet time in the same room at the same hour protects both the afternoon and the night.
- Hold bedtime steady across weekends and holidays, because two-year-olds lose a consistent schedule faster than they rebuild one.
- Two years of sleep is a lot of pattern, and Lulla's history is useful mostly for seeing how much has changed when a difficult week makes it feel like nothing has.
- Delay the move out of the crib until there is a reason for it — climbing out, or a sibling needing the crib — rather than doing it because of the birthday.
- Take snoring, mouth breathing, breathing pauses or persistent exhaustion to the two-year check-up; these are exactly the things your pediatrician wants to hear about.
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Common questions
Track your baby's sleep with Lulla
Sleep timer, wake windows and daily stats — free and ad-free.
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