Baby Toddler!
Sleep
12-16 Months:
Recommended sleep in 24 hours: 11-14 hours (NSF, 2015)
Average night sleep: 10-11 hours (Paavonen et al., 2020, Mindell et al., 2010)
Average day sleep: 2-3 hours spread over 2 naps (Paavonen et al., 2020, Mindell et al., 2010)
Typical awake time: 3.5-4.5 hours
Notes on this age:
Toddler may have an increased ability to transition between sleep cycles without parental support.
Night awakenings are normal: 12-Month-old babies wake on average 1.8 times a night (Paavonen et al., 2020).
Many young toddlers still feed at night, especially nursing toddlers.
If you are considering night weaning, it is easier the closer you get to 18 months due to your toddlers increasing language capabilities.
Night weaning is not necessary, however, and nighttime feeds are still normal and common.
Middle of the night/very early morning wakefulness for an hour or two is a common struggle.
Finding the right time to drop from 2 naps to 1 nap can be tricky, especially when a child’s readiness for 1 nap may not match childcares ideas around napping.
Short naps, contact naps, motion naps, and nursing to sleep are all still normal.
Enough movement, outside time, control in life, and connection with parents all affect sleep.
16-24 Months:
Recommended sleep in 24 hours: 11-14 hours (NSF, 2015)
Average night sleep: 10-11 hours (Paavonen et al., 2020, Mindell et al., 2010)
Average day sleep: 2-3 hours in 1 nap (Paavonen et al., 2020, Mindell et al., 2010)
Typical awake time: 4-6 hours
Challenging sleep time: around 18-months
Notes on this age:
One large study reported 26,6% of toddlers had nightly awakenings at 18 months (Hysing et al., 2014).
Another large study found the average number of wakes in 18-month-olds was 1.1 per night, meaning a good number of toddlers were waking more while others were sleeping through the night (Paavonen et al., 2020).
18 months is usually the earliest gentle parenting professionals recommend night weaning.
Many parents and toddlers continue nursing to sleep and night feeds, and this is normal. You do not need to night wean if breastfeeding at night works for you.
Nursing or not, many toddlers still wake at night as outlined above.
Around 16 months is often when many children drop to one nap, but it varies.
Enough movement, outside time, control in life, and connection with parents all affect sleep.
Feeding
Feeding:
Many Young toddlers love solid foods while others are slow to warm up and picky. Offer your child a range of healthy options, and look for a well-rounded diet across a week, not necessarily in a meal or even in a day.
If nursing and starting to feel pressure to wean, keep in mind that it’s developmentally normal for toddlers to nurse even if it isn’t a cultural norm. If it’s helpful to share, the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until at least 2 years and beyond as desired by you and your toddler.
If formula feeding, you can switch to whole cow milk, other plant-based milks, or prioritize lots of healthy fats.
If your toddler is nursing or drinking expressed milk, you do not need to offer cow milk or other above options if your child is having 3-4 solid nursing sessions/expressed milk feeds a day. They are still getting all the great fats to support brain development from human milk.
If nursing, there’s a wide range of nursing interests as a young toddler. It’s normal for nursing to ramp up and down as development changes.
You will likely want to support the process of moving away from bottle feeding to a straw cup or regular, open cup.
Nursing is a tool, a time for connection, playful, unpredictable, and sometimes frustrating.
You’ll likely experience some sort of nursing gymnastics. Your little one may also have some other fidgety things they do while nursing. Toddlers are often busy even when eating.
You can set nursing expectations with a young toddler. Consider this a lesson in manners, limits, and bodily autonomy. Keep them simple and loving.
Development
Development:
Toddlers are on the move. They are learning to walk, run, climb, go up and down stairs, throw balls, and push and pull things.
They are starting to talk, from a few words to many words and short, 2–3-word sentences.
Your toddler has a lot of energy, is curious, and wants to learn how the world works. They do not have any impulse control. They need yes spaces to explore and the opportunity to figure things out. What is a ‘yes space’? It’s a space where they have positive freedom to explore and be self-regulated without being constantly told ‘no’!
Young toddlers do not have the ability to regulate emotions. They have big emotions that role through them and need a lot of support through your calm presence to coregulate them.
Toddlers are beginning to explore boundaries and lean into their autonomy. They need choices and a sense of control over their lives in the areas you can give it.
Toddlers thrive on flexible but predictable routines and rhythms to their day. This gives them a sense of safety in knowing what’s expected and what comes next.
Activities and play:
Your toddler needs lots of movement. Get them running, climbing, swinging, pulling, pushing, and roughhousing.
Family dance parties, rolling balls, chasing games, and simple toddler obstacle courses are common favorite activities.
Reading, talking, and singing with your toddler are all great for their language development.
Toddlers love to learn about cause and effect – stacking, putting in and out of, dropping, throwing, lining up in order.
Even this young you can start to include them in household activities. It will take longer, but they are often eager to help, and it sets a great foundation as they grow.
Toddlers may enjoy simple puzzles, sensory activities, and probably anything you don’t actually want them playing with.
Here’s a great resource on play and development: https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/314-stages-of-play-from-12-24-months-young-toddlers-are-problem-solvers
Go to…