The sleep of an 11-month-old baby

Eleven months is a quiet transitional month. Two naps still hold, nights of ten to twelve hours, a readable rhythm the whole household has finally absorbed.

What is coming is words and walking. Both are big milestones, and big milestones are paid for in a few unsettled nights.

It is also the point at which many families face the question of nursery or going back to work. A change of childcare unsettles sleep for two to three weeks — that is normal, and it is worth anticipating rather than discovering.

Sleep per 24 h

11 – 14 h

Of which at night

10 – 12 h

Naps

Awake window

3 h – 4 h

One cycle lasts

~ 60 min

Before putting down

~ 12 min

The key point at this age

One change at a time

Starting nursery, moving to a big bed, dropping the evening bottle, changing rooms: each of these gets digested. Three at once does not. If you have a fixed deadline — going back to work, for instance — leave at least two calm weeks either side. It is the simplest and most effective rule in the whole subject.

Your baby’s age

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They fell asleep at

You’re looking at

They fall asleep

Their night at 11 months, minute by minute

The whole night, at a glance

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The timer: when can I put them down?

Start it the second they fall asleep in your arms.

Your baby’s age

While you wait, keep them against you and try not to move. The countdown will tell you when their sleep is deep enough for the transfer.

Keep this tab open. The timer stays accurate even if the screen turns off.

A steady rhythm, unsettled by movement

Two solid naps and long nights. The main disruptor is no longer sleep itself, but everything your baby is learning to do during the day.

Standing up, walking, first words: every new skill gets replayed at night for a few days.
The morning nap starts to shorten, the first sign of the move to a single nap.
Bedtime often settles between 7 and 8.30 p.m., about three and a half hours after the end of the last nap.
Waking before 6 a.m. almost always comes from a bedtime that is too late, not too early.

The classic trap

Do not drop the morning nap too soon. Before twelve months, accumulated tiredness degrades nights rather than improving them.

Falling asleep alone at this age

✓ Possible

Put down awake after their routine, they fall asleep alone. On evenings after a new skill, they will spend a quarter of an hour practising standing up in the cot first.

Put down awake, a child of this age usually takes 10 to 20 minutes to fall asleep. That squirming is normal.

How much sleep they need, age by age

The shaded band is the normal range over 24 hours. Hover to read an age range.

Total sleep over 24 hOf which at night

Hover over the curve to read an age range.

The questions of this age

How many hours does an eleven-month-old sleep?

Between 11 and 14 hours out of 24, of which 10 to 12 at night, plus roughly two to three hours of napping split over two naps.

My eleven-month-old has started waking since they began trying to walk — is that connected?

Very likely. A major motor milestone gets replayed at night for a few days up to two weeks. Nothing to change in the rhythm: you just have to get through it.

When should we move to a big bed?

Rarely before two, and rarely to improve sleep — it degrades it more often than not. You move when the child climbs out of the cot, not because they have reached a certain age.

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