12-15 MONTH SCHEDULES & TROUBLESHOOTING

Quick Guide (12-15 Months)

5:00-6:00 AM Early Wake

6:00-8:00 AM Morning start
7:30 AM Breakfast with Breakfast Milk Feed
9:30 AM Morning Nap 10-15 mins (if needed)
10:00 AM Morning snack
11:45 AM Lunch
Lunch Nap 2-2 ½ hrs (Ideally 12:00/12:30 –
12:00/12:30 PM
2:00/2:30 PM)
2:30-3:00 PM Afternoon Milk Feed/afternoon snack
5:00-5:30 PM Dinner
6:00 PM Bath
6:45 PM Bedtime Milk Feed
7:00 PM Bedtime

Total Day Sleep 2 ½ hours approx. (between 7 AM - 7 PM)

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 12-15 MONTH SCHEDULES & TROUBLESHOOTING

Detailed Guide (12-15 Months)

If your toddler wakes before 6:00
5:00-6:00 AM Early Wake
AM see the notes.
You can let your toddler wake
naturally now between 6 AM and
8 AM, unless you are trying to get
6:00-8:00 AM Morning Start
a morning nap in, I which case you
would wake at 7 AM. Change
nappy/diaper.
Breakfast and Breakfast with morning milk, either
7:30 AM Breakfast Milk a full feed after breakfast or milk in
Feed a sippy cup with breakfast.
Take your toddler to her room,
check nappy/diaper, put in
sleeping bag and put her in her
bed. Let her sleep here for 10-15
9:30 AM Morning Nap minutes if needed, depending on
what time she woke this morning.

See the section on the Morning

Nap for more info.
Wake your toddler if she is not
10:00 AM
already awake.
Give your toddler a small snack
10:00 AM Morning Snack
and drink.
11:45 AM Lunch Lunch with a drink of water.

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 12-15 MONTH SCHEDULES & TROUBLESHOOTING

Your toddler should have a good

sleep here of no more than 2.5
hours. If your toddler has dropped
12:00/12:30 PM Lunch Nap
the morning nap, she will need to
nap from 12:00/12:30 –
2:00/2:30 PM initially.
If your toddler hasn't woken by
2:00/2:30 PM
2:30 PM wake them now.
Give your toddler a full milk feed
when she wakes, if they haven’t
already dropped this feed. Around
Afternoon
15 months it will be reduced and
2:30/3:00 PM Snack/Milk
eventually dropped to ensure your
Feed
toddler eats a good lunch and
dinner. Give your toddler a small
snack after their milk feed.
If your toddler isn’t eating much
dinner it could be that you need to
5:00-5:30 PM Dinner
reduce the Afternoon Milk Feed
further.
6:00 PM Bath Bath your toddler.
Bedtime Milk
6:45 PM Give your toddler a full milk feed.
Feed
After brushing teeth, take your
Wind-
toddler to her room, check
6:50 PM Down/brushing
nappy/diaper, put her in her
teeth
sleeping bag.
7:00 PM Bedtime Put her in her bed for the night.

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 12-15 MONTH SCHEDULES & TROUBLESHOOTING

Notes & Troubleshooting

Feeding
It is very common after 1 year of age for your
toddler to suddenly reduce the amount of food she
eats. This happens as the amount of growing
between 1 and 2 years old is significantly less than
the amount she grew between 0 and 1 year.

It is important to not increase her snacks when this

happens as this can result in smaller main meals.

Reduce and cut out the milk feed after the Lunch
Nap at around 15 months. If this feed is kept in
much longer it can result in your toddler not eating
enough food at lunch and
dinner and therefore waking at night out of genuine
hunger.

If your toddler is eating solids well, they will not be

needing milk in the night for nutritional purposes and
any night wakes are likely due to a settling issue or
habit, rather than hunger.

Early Waking / Morning Wake

Once your toddler is over 12 months you can start
to be more relaxed with her waking in the morning,
and this will determine whether or not your child
needs a morning nap.
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 12-15 MONTH SCHEDULES & TROUBLESHOOTING

Refer to the guide in Morning Nap notes for more

information on when you won’t need to do the
morning nap.

We recommend a toddler sleeping bag rather than

sheets and blankets as your toddler is less likely to
get cold when she moves around in her bed, and
being cold is one of the
main causes of an early wake.

If your toddler wakes before 5 AM leave her to

settle back to sleep if she will, unless she gets upset.

If she continues to wake between 5 AM and 6 AM

she may have developed a habit wake. This is very
easy to form and you just going in and checking on
her will make her think it
is time to get up. You may need to leave her for a
few days to help break this habit. The best way to
deal with this wake is by using the Early Morning
Waking method in the Self-Settling Guide.

Woke 5:00-6:00 AM
If your toddler has woken early for some reason
such as sickness or if your toddler has a habit wake
and you are trying to fix it, as a temporary fix
between you can bring her morning nap forward to
3 hours after she woke and let her sleep for 20-30
minutes, then do her lunch nap at the normal
scheduled time.

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 12-15 MONTH SCHEDULES & TROUBLESHOOTING

Woke 6:00-7:00 AM
If your toddler wakes between 6:00 AM – 7:00 AM
you can maintain their normal scheduled nap and
feed times for the day. Refer to the Morning Nap
section for information on the Morning Nap time and
length.

If the early waking is a regular occurrence you will

want to have a look at what could be causing their
waking.

The Morning Nap

This should be between 9:30 AM to 10 AM at the
latest and is merely a power nap at this age, to get
your toddler through to the lunch nap.

See below for signs of needing to drop the Morning

Nap. When your toddler is showing these signs,
gradually reduce the morning nap by 5 minutes until
it's 10 minutes long then you can drop it. Most
toddlers will only be napping for 10 minutes by 12
months. Refer to the section below for more info
about days where you won’t need the Morning Nap.

The Morning Nap should disappear altogether

between 12-15 months depending on the time your
child wakes in the morning.

Signs of needing to drop the Morning Nap:

- Toddler is regularly waking before 6 AM
- Taking longer to settle at the Morning Nap,
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(especially if she is waking at/after 7 AM)

- Napping for 1-1 1⁄2 hours at the Lunch Nap
- Resisting settling at the Lunch Nap or she is waking
during the nap

When you need it and when you don't:

Between 12-15 months your toddler will drop their

Morning Nap. This is a tricky transition and many
children will need morning naps some days and not
others.

You can let your toddler wake naturally in the

morning now, rather than waking them at 7 AM.
Here is a guide to tell you when your toddler will
need NOT a morning nap, depending
on their morning wake-up time:

Age Morning Wake-Up

12 MONTHS 7:30 AM onwards

13 MONTHS 7:00 AM onwards
14 MONTHS 6:30 AM onwards
15 MONTHS 6:00 AM onwards

For all these variables, your toddler will start their

lunch nap between 12:00-12:30 PM.

If your baby totally refuses to have the morning nap

you would then put them down for their lunch nap
at 11.30am and let them sleep until 2.30pm if they
will (bringing the Lunch meal forward too)
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 12-15 MONTH SCHEDULES & TROUBLESHOOTING

The Lunch Nap

Your toddler should be napping from 12:30 PM to
2:30 PM if they are still having a small morning nap,
but if they have dropped this they will need to nap
from 12:00/12:30-2/2:30 PM. You can be more
lenient on this nap and let her sleep until 2:30 PM
but if she starts waking overnight cut this nap back
to 2 hours maximum. If she is not doing the full 2
hours at the Lunch Nap see the notes on needing to
drop the Morning Nap.

If your toddler has recently dropped the Morning

Nap but is still waking early in the Lunch Nap it could
be overtiredness and you might need to go back to
waking your toddler at 7 AM and squeezing in the
Morning Nap.

If you have followed our Sleeping and Feeding

Guides for a while, your toddler should be self-
settling now. If your toddler is not self-settling,
please see the Self Settling Guides as this will likely
be the reason they’re not sleeping for the full Lunch
Nap.

If anything goes wrong in the Lunch Nap at any time

during this Guide, move your child’s bedtime forward
to compensate:

Woke earlier than 2PM

Make bedtime 6:30/6:45PM. If your toddler woke

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 12-15 MONTH SCHEDULES & TROUBLESHOOTING

after 1 cycle or less, Bring bedtime forward to

6.15pm.

Woke 2:00-2:30 PM
Keep them in their bed as long as they’re not upset –
this will help encourage them to sleep longer and at
the very least, they will be resting. If they don’t go
back to sleep make bedtime 6:45/7:00 PM.

Overnight
If your toddler is still waking in the night, please see
the Self Settling Guide, as this will be habit waking or
a settling issue at this age.

Make sure your child’s room is set up to encourage

good sleeping, with no stimulating toys or mobiles, a
nice dark room, positive sleep associations such as a
cuddley/lovey and your child isn’t getting too hot or
cold.

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