Sleeping FAQ: 12-18 Months – Daytime Sleep

My son of 14mths has begun to take awhile to settle at 7pm. Do we need to change anything?

My son is 14 months and has slept fine 7pm – 6:30/7pm since 3 months old. He particularly always settled quickly at 7pm. For the last week he has started taking 30-45mins to settle at 7pm.

We have a wind down routine that we follow every night with bath at 6pm, milk at 6:20pm then story at about 6:40pm and he is settled down about 6:55pm.

Now he seems full of energy, laughing and squealing, and when we put him down he is playing with the bars of the cot, jumping up and babbling.

He doesn’t cry or seem to get upset but it seems to take so long to settle him and we can’t work out why.

Do babies this age need to go to bed later? Do we need to change his routine?

My son naps at 9.30-9.50am and 12.45-2.45pm

He has three good meals a day and takes between 13-18ozs milk a day.

If your son is not yet very active in the day he may be showing you that he could cut down a little on his daytime sleep and still manage to settle soon after 7pm. It is a good idea that he does not fall straight into a deep sleep at this time so 10-15 minutes of chatting and babbling to himself would be acceptable before he settles down for the night.

If you feel he still needs his morning nap then keep that to a strict 15-20 minutes. Try cutting back a little on his nap at lunchtime by waking him 15 minutes earlier. If this helps him fall asleep by around 7.15/7.20pm then stay with these timings.

If, after trying this for several days you feel that your son is missing the extra time at lunchtime then let him sleep the full two hours at 12.45pm and move his bedtime to 7.15pm.

If your son is not yet walking he may just not be using up so much energy in the day. Encourage him to have plenty of time crawling and pulling up on the furniture, as well as time spent outdoors in the fresh air, even if in his buggy.

Once he is more active in the day you may need to reassess his sleep needs, to prevent overtiredness by 7pm which can happen once a baby begins to walk a lot.