An 11-month-old needs 12 to 16 hours of total sleep per day, including nighttime sleep and naps. That recommendation, endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, breaks down to roughly 9 to 12 hours at night plus 2 to 3 hours of daytime napping. Where your baby falls in that range depends on their individual needs, but most 11-month-olds do well with about 14 hours total.
Nighttime Sleep and Naps
Most 11-month-olds still take two naps per day, one in the morning and one in the early afternoon. Each nap should ideally last at least 60 minutes, with total daytime sleep adding up to 2 to 3 hours. Some babies nap for 30 minutes and others for closer to 2 hours per stretch, so don’t worry if your baby’s pattern doesn’t match someone else’s exactly.
At night, the goal is a stretch of 9 to 12 hours. Many babies this age still wake briefly overnight, but the long consolidated block of nighttime sleep is where most of the restorative rest happens. A bedtime somewhere around 7:00 PM works well for many families, especially if your baby wakes between 6:00 and 7:00 AM.
Wake Windows Between Sleep
Wake windows, the stretches of awake time between sleep periods, matter just as much as total sleep. At 11 months, most babies handle about 3 to 3.5 hours of awake time before the first nap, 3.5 to 3.75 hours between the first and second nap, and 4 to 4.5 hours between the second nap and bedtime. That last window is the longest because babies build up enough sleep pressure by evening to handle a bigger stretch.
If your baby is fighting a nap or taking forever to fall asleep, the wake window before it may be too short. If they’re melting down well before nap time, it’s too long. Adjusting by 15 to 30 minutes in either direction often fixes the problem.
A Sample Daily Schedule
Every family’s routine looks different, but here’s a framework that balances sleep and feeding for an 11-month-old:
- 7:00 AM: Wake up, milk feeding and breakfast
- 10:00–10:30 AM: Morning nap (at least 1 hour)
- 12:00 PM: Lunch and milk feeding
- 2:00–2:30 PM: Afternoon nap (at least 1 hour)
- 3:30 PM: Snack
- 5:00 PM: Dinner
- 6:15 PM: Begin bedtime routine
- 7:00 PM: Final milk feeding and bedtime
This is a starting point, not a rigid prescription. Shift the entire schedule earlier or later based on when your baby naturally wakes in the morning.
The 11-Month Sleep Regression
Right around 11 months, many babies who were sleeping well suddenly start resisting naps, waking more at night, or struggling to fall asleep. This regression is driven by a burst of developmental activity. Your baby’s brain is working overtime on major milestones like standing, cruising along furniture, and forming early words. They may be so excited to practice these new skills that they fight sleep instead of resting.
The best strategy is to give your baby plenty of floor time during the day to practice crawling, pulling up, and cruising. A baby who gets to work on those skills during waking hours is less likely to treat the crib as a practice gym at 2:00 AM. This regression typically passes within a few weeks once the novelty of the new skills fades.
Don’t Rush the One-Nap Transition
When an 11-month-old starts refusing one of their naps, it’s tempting to assume they’re ready to drop down to a single nap. This is one of the most common timing mistakes parents make. The 11-month regression looks a lot like readiness for one nap, but most babies aren’t truly ready for that transition until 14 to 18 months.
Before dropping a nap, try maxing out the two-nap schedule first. That means capping total daytime sleep at about 2 hours and stretching wake windows slightly. If your baby consistently refuses one nap for at least one to two weeks straight, and you’re also seeing problems at bedtime, early morning wakes, or long stretches of wakefulness in the middle of the night, then a one-nap schedule may be worth trying. A few bad nap days in a row isn’t enough to call it.
Signs Your Baby Isn’t Getting Enough Sleep
An overtired baby doesn’t always look sleepy. The early cues are subtle: yawning, droopy eyelids, staring into the distance, or rubbing their eyes and pulling on their ears. You might also notice them arching their back or clenching their fists.
If those early signs get missed, overtiredness escalates quickly. Babies become fussy, clingy, and disinterested in toys or food. They may start turning away from the bottle or breast, or away from sounds and lights. Some overtired babies make a prolonged whining sound, sometimes called “grizzling,” that hovers just below a full cry. Babies who tip past overtired into truly exhausted often cry louder and more frantically than usual. You may even notice extra sweating, because the stress hormone cortisol rises with tiredness, which can make an exhausted baby noticeably sweaty.
Catching the early cues and starting the nap or bedtime routine before your baby hits the overtired stage makes falling asleep much easier for everyone. An overtired baby paradoxically has a harder time falling and staying asleep, creating a cycle that’s tough to break once it starts.