Bedtime Routines That Actually Work for Toddlers

In one minute

• Toddlers need about 11–14 hours of sleep in 24 hours for 1–2 year olds, and 10–13 hours once they're 3 — usually one nap plus a solid night stretch once naps consolidate (typically by 18–24 months).
• Bedtime resistance and more frequent waking are common right now — it's usually about growing independence, not something wrong with your child's sleep (though it's worth knowing the signs, like loud snoring or breathing pauses, that mean it's not just a phase — see below).
• The best-evidenced single change: no screens in the hour before bed. A 2024 trial found toddlers who skipped screens fell asleep faster and woke up less overnight.
• A short, predictable routine — same few steps, most nights — beats any specific ritual you pick.

Why bedtime gets harder now

Somewhere between one and three, a toddler who used to go down easily might start stalling, protesting, or waking more at night. It's rarely regression in the worrying sense — it's autonomy. Your toddler is testing what happens when they say no, and their language and imagination (hello, monsters under the bed) are outpacing their ability to calm themselves down. Naps are shifting too: most toddlers drop from two naps to one somewhere around 12–18 months, and that transition alone can throw off nighttime sleep for a few weeks.

What actually helps

Research on toddler sleep keeps pointing to the same few things. A consistent bedtime routine — bath, book, song, lights out, in that order, most nights — is linked to fewer night wakings and better moods for everyone, including you. Keeping your toddler's sleep space the same each night (rather than starting in your bed and moving them later) tends to work better long-term. Safe-sleep rules that prohibit bed-sharing apply to babies under 1; past that age the picture is different, but an adult bed still isn't a risk-free surface for a toddler — keep pillows and heavy bedding away, and mind the fall risk. (If you also have a baby under 1 in the house, the under-1 safe-sleep guidance still applies to them: their own separate sleep surface, on their back, no exceptions.) And screens before bed are worth skipping: a 2024 randomized trial of toddlers 16–30 months found that cutting screens in the hour before bedtime led to measurably better sleep — falling asleep faster, fewer wake-ups — compared with quiet play or reading instead.

One thing to let go of: the idea that an overtired toddler will "sleep harder." It's the opposite — overtiredness tends to make falling asleep and staying asleep harder, not easier.

When to call your pediatrician: loud snoring three or more nights a week, pauses in breathing or gasping during sleep, unusual daytime sleepiness despite a full night's sleep, or sleep problems that haven't budged after six weeks of a consistent routine.

Sources

1. American Academy of Pediatrics (2022–2025). Endorsed sleep duration recommendations. https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/6630/AAP-endorses-new-recommendations-on-sleep-times
2. Pickard, H. et al. (2024). Screen-free bedtime trial in toddlers 16–30 months. JAMA Pediatrics, reported via ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/10/241022104659.htm
3. NHS Healthier Together (2024). Healthy sleep for under-5s. https://www.healthiertogether.nhs.uk/child-under-5-years/healthy-sleep