Yes, there is a sleep regression around 16 months. It’s part of a broader disruption that typically hits between 14 and 19 months, often called the 18-month sleep regression even though many toddlers experience it earlier. If your formerly good sleeper is suddenly screaming at bedtime, waking multiple times a night, or refusing naps, you’re likely in the middle of it.
Why It Happens at 16 Months
Several developmental changes collide around this age, and any one of them can throw off sleep. At 16 months, your toddler is refining their walking, learning to climb furniture, and building new physical skills that keep their brain buzzing at night. Separation anxiety, which begins around 8 months and continues until roughly 18 months, is often still in full swing. Your toddler genuinely struggles with the idea of you leaving the room, which makes bedtime feel like a crisis to them.
Then there’s teething. First molars come in between 13 and 19 months, and upper canines start pushing through between 16 and 22 months. Lower canines follow shortly after. Molars and canines are larger and more painful than the front teeth your baby cut earlier, and the discomfort is often worse at night when there’s nothing else to distract from it.
Language development also accelerates during this window. Your toddler is processing new words, understanding more of what you say, and trying to communicate back. All of this cognitive activity can make it harder for their brain to settle down at bedtime.
What It Looks Like
The hallmark signs of this regression include:
- Bedtime resistance: taking 30 to 60 minutes to fall asleep, or screaming and clinging when you put them in the crib
- Night waking: waking one to three times per night after previously sleeping through
- Nap refusal: skipping the second nap entirely or fighting naps that used to be easy
- Early morning waking: popping up well before their usual wake time
- Daytime fussiness: extra clinginess, more tantrums, and bigger emotional reactions, especially around sleep transitions
Not every toddler shows all of these. Some kids resist bedtime but nap fine. Others sleep through the night but suddenly refuse naps. The common thread is a noticeable change from their previous sleep pattern.
How Long It Lasts
For most toddlers, the rough patch lasts one to two weeks if you respond consistently and avoid building new habits you’ll need to undo later (like bringing them into your bed every night or rocking them fully to sleep when they’d previously been falling asleep independently). If you catch the regression early and your toddler’s bedtime is well-timed, it can resolve in just a few nights.
That said, some toddlers get stuck in a new pattern. If the disruption drags on for more than two to three weeks without improvement, the regression may have become a habit rather than a developmental phase, and you may need to adjust your approach more deliberately.
What You Can Do
Consistency is the single most effective tool during a sleep regression. Keep the same bedtime, the same routine, and the same expectations for sleep, even when your toddler pushes back hard. A predictable sequence of bath, book, and a few minutes of cuddling signals that it’s time to wind down. Doing the same thing every night turns these steps into a reliable cue for sleep.
If your toddler seems anxious about the dark or panics when you leave, a dim nightlight can help. Choose one with a soft, warm glow rather than anything bright enough to stimulate them. This small change addresses the separation anxiety piece without creating a new dependency.
Avoid screens in the hour before bed. The stimulation from phones, tablets, or TV makes it harder for toddlers to transition into restful sleep, and at this age, most experts recommend very limited screen time in general.
Watch for signs that your toddler is ready to drop from two naps to one. Many kids make this transition somewhere between 14 and 18 months, and holding onto a second nap too long can push bedtime later or cause bedtime battles. But don’t cut naps too aggressively either. An overtired toddler who skips naps entirely often gets wound up and has an even harder time falling asleep at night. At this age, toddlers need 11 to 14 total hours of sleep per day, including naps.
What to Avoid During the Regression
The biggest risk during any sleep regression is creating new sleep associations that stick around after the developmental phase passes. If you start lying down with your toddler every night, or picking them up and rocking them to sleep each time they wake, those become the new expectation. It’s fine to offer extra comfort during this stretch, but try to do it in a way that still allows your toddler to practice falling asleep on their own.
It’s also tempting to drastically shift bedtime later when your toddler fights sleep for 45 minutes. But pushing bedtime too late often backfires. Overtired toddlers produce more stress hormones, which makes it harder, not easier, to fall asleep. If bedtime is consistently a battle, try shifting it 15 to 30 minutes earlier rather than later.
Teething pain can be a real factor in night waking at this age, so if your toddler seems uncomfortable, addressing the pain directly (rather than assuming it’s purely behavioral) can help everyone sleep better. Swollen or red gums around the molars or canines are a good clue that teeth are part of the picture.