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Toddler sleep schedule by age

By the ToddlerGuide Editorial Team

Updated

At 12, 16, 17, and 26 months the official total is the same: 11 to 14 hours in 24 hours, including naps. CDC and the AAP do not publish a different bedtime for each of those months.

A wooden house-shaped nightlight with star cutouts glows beside a stack of botanical picture books, folded cream and teal blankets, and star-patterned pillows on a rug.

A wooden house-shaped nightlight with star cutouts glows beside a stack of botanical picture books, folded cream and teal blankets, and star-patterned pillows on a rug.

Parents ask for a clock. CDC's sleep table publishes a daily total instead. Infants 4 to 12 months are listed at 12 to 16 hours a day, including naps. Toddlers 1 to 2 years are listed at 11 to 14 hours, including naps. Preschoolers 3 to 5 years are listed at 10 to 13 hours, including naps. The toddler line is the one that covers 12, 16, 17, and 26 months. CDC's toddler tips, updated February 20, 2026, say it in parent language: 11 to 14 hours per 24 hours, including naps, for toddlers 1 to 2 years old.

That 11 to 14 hour range is also what the American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for children 1 to 2 years. The sleep pillar on this site uses the same numbers. Neither CDC nor the AAP assigns 7 p.m., or any other bedtime. The number to protect is the full day, nap included.

12 month old sleep schedule

A child on their first birthday is 1 year old, so use the toddler row: 11 to 14 hours in 24 hours, including naps. The infant row, 12 to 16 hours, is for the months before that birthday. If your 12 month old is still closer to the infant total and waking happy, that longer day can stay. The ranges overlap on purpose. Count the nap and the night together. A longer night that drops the nap is a shorter day.

A repeatable wake time matters more than a perfect bedtime. If mornings are 6:30 and the nap is real, bedtime is whatever hour still lands the day inside 11 to 14. Write the hours down for three days before you move anything. One short night is not a new schedule.

12 month old nap schedule

Naps sit inside the 11 to 14 hours. CDC does not say whether a 12 month old should take one nap or two, and it does not name a start time. If the morning nap is being refused and bedtime is sliding later, read moving from two naps to one. Put the second nap back if nights fall apart. A car nap counts toward the day total, and it can also steal the nap you wanted after lunch. Plan the drive or plan the crib. You usually do not get both.

16 month old sleep schedule

16 months is still inside ages 1 to 2. The total stays 11 to 14 hours in 24 hours, including naps. A 16 month old sleep schedule is not a new chart. It is the same total, with whatever nap still lets bedtime happen at an hour you can repeat. Walking, new words, and a louder "no" can make the wind-down messier. They do not change the hour range.

17 month old sleep schedule

17 months uses that same total. CDC does not publish a 17 month clock that differs from 16 months. If every nap is suddenly a fight, open 18 month sleep regressions next. The hour range does not shrink because the protest started. Keep the day total, keep the routine boring, and change one thing at a time.

26 month old sleep schedule

26 months is 2 years and 2 months. That is still before the third birthday, so the toddler row still applies: 11 to 14 hours, including naps. At age 3, CDC's preschool row becomes 10 to 13 hours, including naps. Do not move a 26 month old onto the preschool range because an older child dropped a nap. Many children this age still need the nap to make the night work. If bedtime itself is the fight, use a bedtime you can repeat and keep the same order every night.

A bedtime you can repeat

HealthyChildren.org, updated August 7, 2026, supports the AASM hour ranges and asks for a regular routine, such as brush, book, bed, with the same wake time on weekdays and weekends. Turn screens off at least 60 minutes before bed, and keep them out of the room where the child sleeps. The temperature they give for infants and children is 68 to 72 degrees F. Active play that makes sleep harder should stop earlier in the evening. The routine is the schedule. The clock can sit a bit earlier or later as long as the day total lands in range.

Try this

  1. Add night sleep and naps for three ordinary days. Compare the total with 11 to 14 hours.
  2. Keep the wake time steady, including weekends, before you move bedtime.
  3. At 12 months, count the nap. Do not retire it to buy a longer morning.
  4. At 16 or 17 months, if one nap is the experiment, reverse it when nights fall apart.
  5. At 26 months, stay on 11 to 14 hours until the third birthday unless the clinician says otherwise.

Screens in the last hour and a room that is too warm are the two fixes HealthyChildren names that do not require a new clock. Do those before you hunt for a 16 month bedtime that a chart never published.

Check in if

Call your pediatrician if the day total stays well under 11 hours, if there is snoring or long pauses, or if your child cannot stay awake for a normal morning. A cranky bedtime is not, by itself, a sleep disorder.

Related ages: 12-18 months, 18-24 months, 24-36 months. Pillars: Sleep.

Questions parents ask

What is a 12 month old sleep schedule?

At the first birthday, CDC's toddler row applies: 11 to 14 hours in 24 hours, including naps. Before that birthday, the infant row is 12 to 16 hours, including naps. CDC does not publish a clock time for bed or for the nap.

What is a 12 month old nap schedule?

Naps are part of the 11 to 14 hour total. CDC does not set how many naps a 12 month old takes or what time they start. If the morning nap is the fight, use the page on moving from two naps to one, and put the second nap back if nights fall apart.

What is a 16 month old sleep schedule?

16 months is still inside the 1 to 2 year range: 11 to 14 hours in 24 hours, including naps. CDC and the AAP do not publish a separate 16 month clock.

What is a 17 month old sleep schedule?

The same total as at 16 months: 11 to 14 hours in 24 hours, including naps. A 17 month old does not get a different official schedule from a 16 month old.

What is a 26 month old sleep schedule?

26 months is still before the third birthday, so the 1 to 2 year total still applies: 11 to 14 hours in 24 hours, including naps. At age 3, CDC's preschool row becomes 10 to 13 hours, including naps.

What is a toddler sleep schedule?

For ages 1 to 2, it is 11 to 14 hours in 24 hours, including naps, on a repeatable bedtime. CDC's February 2026 toddler tips use that total. The AAP endorses the same American Academy of Sleep Medicine range.

Sources

  1. CDC. About sleep: recommended hours by age. cdc.gov/sleep
  2. CDC. Positive parenting tips: toddlers (1 to 2 years). Updated February 20, 2026. cdc.gov
  3. American Academy of Pediatrics. Healthy sleep habits: how many hours does your child need? HealthyChildren.org. Updated August 7, 2026. HealthyChildren.org
  4. AAP endorsement of AASM pediatric sleep duration recommendations. Pediatrics. 2016;138(2):e20161601. publications.aap.org