A 14-month-old needs 11 to 14 hours of total sleep in a 24-hour period, including naps. Most toddlers this age get around 10 to 11 hours at night and 2 to 3 hours during the day, though the split varies depending on whether your child is still taking two naps or has transitioned to one.
How That Sleep Breaks Down
The 11 to 14 hour recommendation from the National Sleep Foundation covers everything: nighttime sleep plus daytime naps combined. At 14 months, most toddlers land somewhere in the middle of that range, typically around 12 to 13 hours total. If your child is consistently getting less than 11 hours across the full day, that’s worth paying attention to. On the other end, some toddlers genuinely need closer to 14 hours, especially during growth spurts or after big developmental leaps.
Nighttime sleep usually makes up the bulk, with most 14-month-olds sleeping roughly 10 to 11.5 hours overnight. The remaining 1.5 to 3 hours comes from naps.
One Nap or Two Naps?
This is the big question at 14 months because many toddlers are right in the middle of dropping from two naps to one. The transition typically happens between 13 and 18 months, so your child may still be on two naps, already on one, or stuck in an awkward in-between phase where neither schedule seems to work perfectly.
Signs your toddler is ready to drop to one nap:
- Trouble falling asleep at nap time or bedtime
- Regularly protesting or refusing one of the naps
- Consistently taking short naps
- Needing a late bedtime to fit both naps in
- Frequent night wakings or early morning wake-ups
If your child is showing just one of these signs occasionally, they probably aren’t ready yet. When you’re seeing several of them for two or more weeks straight, that’s a stronger signal. Dropping a nap too early can backfire, leaving your toddler overtired and sleeping worse overall.
Sample Schedules for Both Options
The key to a good schedule at this age is wake windows, the stretches of awake time between sleep periods. These matter more than clock times because every family’s morning starts differently.
Two-Nap Schedule
If your 14-month-old is still on two naps, aim for about 3.25 hours of awake time before the morning nap, then 3.5 to 3.75 hours before the afternoon nap, and another 3.75 hours before bedtime. For a child who wakes at 7:00 a.m., that might look like a first nap around 10:15, a second nap around 2:30 or 3:00, and bedtime around 7:30 or 8:00. Each nap might last anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.
One-Nap Schedule
Once your toddler moves to one nap, the wake windows stretch to about 5 hours on each side. A child waking at 7:00 a.m. would nap around noon, sleep for 1.5 to 2.5 hours, then head to bed around 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. During the transition, that single nap may be shorter than expected. It often takes a few weeks before it consolidates into a longer stretch.
Why Sleep Falls Apart Around 14 Months
Many parents notice sleep getting worse right around this age, and there are real reasons for it. Between 14 and 18 months, toddlers are often learning to walk (or refining their walking), experiencing a burst in language comprehension, and testing boundaries for the first time. Any of these milestones can temporarily disrupt sleep. Your child’s brain is practicing new skills even during sleep, which can cause more wake-ups or resistance at bedtime.
The nap transition itself also creates a rough patch. A toddler who needs two naps but is fighting one of them ends up short on sleep, which makes bedtime harder, which leads to overtiredness, which causes more night wakings. It’s a cycle that usually resolves within two to four weeks once you commit to a schedule that matches your child’s actual readiness.
Spotting an Overtired Toddler
When a 14-month-old stays awake too long between sleep periods, their body releases stress hormones that make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Overtiredness looks different from normal tiredness, and catching it early helps.
The clearest sign is drowsiness combined with irritability, clumsiness, or a glazed look in the eyes. You might also notice your toddler suddenly becoming very still and quiet, fussing over nothing, reaching for a comfort object more than usual, or rubbing their eyes and yawning. If you’re seeing these signs well before the next scheduled nap or bedtime, your wake windows may be too long. If your child seems wired and hyperactive at bedtime, that’s often overtiredness too, not a sign they aren’t tired enough.
Safe Sleep Setup at 14 Months
At 14 months, your child should still sleep on a firm, flat mattress covered with only a fitted sheet. That means no pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, or crib bumpers. The bare crib looks sparse, but it remains the safest option. Soft or squishy items, weighted blankets, and loose bedding all pose risks. If you’re worried about your toddler being cold, a wearable sleep sack is a safe alternative to a blanket.
The mattress should spring back to its original shape quickly when you press on it and sit completely level, not angled or inclined. If your toddler has started climbing, make sure the mattress is at its lowest setting and that there’s nothing inside the crib they can use as a step.
What Matters More Than Exact Hours
The 11 to 14 hour range is a guideline, not a prescription. Some toddlers genuinely thrive on 11 hours. Others are a mess without 13. The better indicators that your child is getting enough sleep are consistent mood during the day, the ability to play and engage without frequent meltdowns, falling asleep within about 15 to 20 minutes at nap time and bedtime, and waking up relatively content rather than crying. If those boxes are checked, your child is likely getting what they need, even if the total doesn’t land exactly in the middle of the recommended range.