An 11-month-old needs about 12 to 15 hours of total sleep per 24-hour period, split between nighttime sleep and daytime naps. Most babies this age get 10 to 12 hours at night and another 2 to 3 hours spread across two naps during the day.
Nighttime Sleep at 11 Months
The bulk of your baby’s sleep happens at night. At 11 months, most babies sleep 10 to 12 hours overnight, though not all of them do so without waking. Night wakings are still common at this age, especially for breastfed babies who may still feed once or twice.
If your baby is formula-fed and older than 6 months, nighttime hunger is unlikely to be the reason they wake up. Formula digests more slowly than breast milk, so these babies are generally getting enough calories during the day. For breastfed babies, night weaning becomes a reasonable option around 12 months, when most children take in enough food during daytime hours to support their growth. That said, there’s no rush. Some families find that one remaining night feed helps everyone sleep better overall.
How Naps Should Look
Most 11-month-olds still take two naps a day, totaling 2 to 3 hours of daytime sleep. Each nap should last at least an hour to give your baby enough restorative rest. A typical pattern is a morning nap about 3.5 hours after waking, then an afternoon nap about 3.5 hours after the first nap ends.
Around this age, some babies start refusing one of their naps, and it’s tempting to read that as a sign they’re ready for one nap. In most cases, they’re not. The majority of babies continue to need two naps until at least 14 months. If your baby is regularly fighting naps, the fix is usually adjusting wake windows rather than dropping a nap entirely. Stretching wake windows to 3.5 to 3.75 hours between sleep periods often resolves the resistance, because the baby is tired enough to fall asleep without a battle.
Wake Windows and Timing
Wake windows are the stretches of time your baby stays awake between sleep periods. At 11 months, those windows typically run 3 to 3.75 hours. Getting them right matters more than hitting a specific clock time for naps or bedtime, because a baby who is undertired won’t fall asleep easily, and one who is overtired will fight sleep even harder.
A sample day might look like this:
- Wake up: 6:30 a.m.
- First nap: 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
- Second nap: 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Bedtime: 7:00 p.m.
The exact times will shift based on your baby’s natural wake-up, but the spacing between sleep periods is the part to pay attention to. If bedtime keeps creeping later because naps ran long or started late, it’s better to cap the second nap than to push bedtime past 8:00 p.m.
Why Sleep Falls Apart Around This Age
If your 11-month-old was sleeping well and suddenly isn’t, there’s usually a developmental explanation. Babies nearing their first birthday are learning to stand, cruise along furniture, and sometimes take early steps. They’re also becoming more emotionally aware, which brings a surge in separation anxiety. Lying alone in a dark room feels very different to a baby who has just figured out that you exist even when you leave.
Teething plays a role too. Many babies are cutting multiple teeth between 9 and 12 months, and the discomfort can wake them at night or make it harder to settle for naps. These disruptions are sometimes grouped under the label “12-month sleep regression,” but they’re not a single event. They’re a collection of developmental changes that overlap and temporarily interfere with sleep. Most babies move through this phase in 2 to 4 weeks without any permanent change to their sleep habits.
Building a Bedtime Routine That Works
A consistent bedtime routine helps your baby’s brain recognize that sleep is coming. The specific activities matter less than the order and consistency. A routine that works well for most families at this age includes a bath (it doesn’t need to happen every night), changing into sleepwear, a feeding, brushing any teeth that have come in, reading a short book or singing, a few minutes of quiet cuddling, and then placing your baby in the crib while they’re drowsy but still awake.
That last part, drowsy but awake, is the piece that builds independent sleep skills. A baby who falls asleep in your arms and wakes up alone in a crib has to figure out what changed before they can settle back down. A baby who falls asleep in the crib already knows where they are when they wake between sleep cycles, making it easier to drift back off without calling for help.
Safe Sleep at 11 Months
Even though your baby is older and more mobile, the same safe sleep rules apply. The crib should have nothing in it except a fitted sheet: no pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, or bumper pads. If your baby rolls onto their stomach during the night, that’s fine as long as you placed them on their back initially. By 11 months, most babies can reposition themselves freely.
Weighted blankets and weighted sleep sacks are not safe for infants. A regular wearable sleep sack is a good alternative to blankets for keeping your baby warm. The room itself should be cool, dark, and quiet. White noise can help mask household sounds, particularly if you have older children or pets.