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The sleep of a 12-month-old baby

One year. Your child’s cycles have lengthened — around sixty minutes — and their sleep looks more and more like yours, only longer.

Two naps still hold for most children, and that is fine: moving to a single nap is not a milestone to reach early. It will come on its own, between fourteen and eighteen months.

What does appear is character. The first resistance at bedtime, the first very clear "no" even without the words. That has nothing to do with sleep, and it is handled differently.

Sleep per 24 h

11 – 14 h

Of which at night

10 – 12 h

Naps

1 – 2

Awake window

3 h 30 – 5 h

One cycle lasts

~ 70 min

Before putting down

~ 12 min

The key point at this age

The routine becomes your main tool

From one year, what structures bedtime is no longer physiology but predictability. A short routine — twenty minutes maximum — always in the same order, always ending in the same place. Bath, pyjamas, two books, a song, lights out. The content barely matters, the order matters a lot. A routine that grows because you are negotiating one more story is a routine that has stopped working.

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They fall asleep

Their night at 12 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.

    --:--before putting them down

    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.

    The move to a single nap

    The transition from two naps to one happens between 14 and 18 months for most children. It is the most unstable period of the first year and a half.

    • During the transition, alternate: two naps on some days, one and an earlier bedtime on others.
    • The single nap settles in the early afternoon, between 12.30 and 2 p.m., for 1.5 to 2.5 hours.
    • Resistance at bedtime appears: it is testing the rule, not your patience.
    • Cycles lengthen towards 70 minutes: short naps become rarer.

    The classic trap

    The sign that the move to one nap is ready: they refuse one of the two consistently for two full weeks. Two bad days do not count.

    Falling asleep alone at this age

    ✓ Possible

    Falling asleep alone is the norm at this age. What gets longer is the time spent discussing, demanding and getting back up before sleep wins.

    Put down awake, a child of this age usually takes 10 to 25 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.

    0h4h8h12h16hbirth6 mo1 year18 mo2 years30 mo3 years
    Total sleep over 24 hOf which at night

    Hover over the curve to read an age range.

    The questions of this age

    How many naps at 12 months?

    Two for the vast majority, for two to three hours in total. A single nap at twelve months is possible but early: check first that nights are not deteriorating.

    What time should a one-year-old go to bed?

    Most often between 7 and 8.30 p.m., about three and a half hours after the end of the afternoon nap. If mornings are getting very early, try moving bedtime earlier rather than later.

    My one-year-old has started refusing bedtime — why?

    Because they are testing the rule, not your patience. The most effective answer is boring: the same thing, every evening, without negotiation and without variation. Consistency does more than any method.

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