17 Month Old Sleep Schedule: One Nap, Meals & Bedtime

A typical 17 month old sleep schedule has one nap and two awake stretches: wake around 7:00, nap from roughly 12:15 to 2:15, and lights out between 7:15 and 7:45. That works out to about five to five and a half hours awake before the nap and a little under five after it. The CDC puts one- to two-year-olds at “11–14 hours (including naps)” in 24 hours, so a two-hour nap leaves about eleven hours for the night. At seventeen months most toddlers have just settled into one nap, and the main job is keeping that nap steady.

The shape of the day

Time	Block
7:00	Wake + milk
7:45	Breakfast
9:30	Snack, then outside time
11:30	Lunch
12:15–2:15	Nap
3:00	Snack
3:30	Play, errands or a second outing
5:30	Dinner
6:45	Bath + wind-down
7:15–7:45	Lights out

Treat the grid as a template. Shift it to your child’s real wake time and keep the spacing. If your toddler dropped the second nap only recently, the day probably looks closer to the 16 month old schedule, with a nap nearer noon. That’s fine. The nap tends to move later over the next few months on its own.

Seventeen-month wake windows

These are the ranges this site uses across the one-nap months. They describe what many toddlers settle into, not targets to hit to the minute:

	Typical at 17 months
Awake before the nap	roughly 5–5½ hours
Nap length	roughly 1½–2¼ hours
Awake after the nap	roughly 4¾–5¼ hours
Night sleep	roughly 11–12 hours

The two windows are uneven on purpose. A toddler who has only been on one nap for a few weeks usually can’t stretch the afternoon as far as the morning, so bedtime comes a little sooner after the nap than the nap came after waking. The window is right if your child falls asleep within about 15 to 20 minutes at both the nap and bedtime, without a meltdown first or a long party in the crib.

Why the nap is still the fragile part

Seventeen months sits at the end of the usual window for the 2-to-1 nap transition, so the one nap is often still new. Three things tend to go wrong, and each has its own fix:

The nap shrinks to 45 minutes to an hour. Often the window before it was too short, because the nap is still timed for a younger child. Move the nap start later in 15-minute steps over a few days.
The nap gets refused, then the child crashes at 4:00. The morning window has outgrown the schedule. Push the nap 20 to 30 minutes later and keep it there for a week before judging it.
The nap runs past 3:00. A late wake from the nap leaves too little time before bedtime. Wake your toddler gently by about 2:45 so bedtime keeps enough sleep pressure behind it.

The AAP’s advice on routines applies here more than anywhere: “The same waking time (both on weekdays and weekends), mealtimes, nap time and play times will help your child feel secure and comfortable, and help with a smooth bedtime.” A nap that happens at roughly the same time every day settles much faster than one that moves around.

If the nap happens in a bright room, darkening it can help. Blackout panels like NICETOWN’s make a midday nap feel more like night.

The backup plan for a short-nap day

Some days the nap will be short however well you time it. When it is, move bedtime earlier rather than trying to fix the day with a second nap or a late car nap:

If the nap was	Try lights out at
2 hours, ending around 2:15	7:15–7:45 (the usual)
About 1 hour, ending around 1:15	6:45–7:00
Under 45 minutes	6:30–6:45

An early bedtime on a short-nap day is a one-day patch, not a new schedule. Go back to the normal bedtime the next day. If short naps become the usual pattern for more than a week or two, the morning window is probably the cause, so adjust the nap time before you adjust bedtime. Betteroo has a nap-length chart that runs past the first birthday if you want to see where your child’s nap sits.

Night sleep and bedtime

The AAP’s sleep-hours page says the published ranges “reflect total sleep hours in a 24-hour period. So if your son or daughter still naps, you’ll need to take that into account.” At seventeen months that turns bedtime into simple arithmetic. Take a total of about thirteen hours, subtract the nap your child actually takes, and the rest is the night your bedtime has to allow.

From a 7:00 wake, a two-hour nap points to lights out near 7:30. A ninety-minute nap points closer to 7:00. A seventeen-month-old who starts waking before 6:00 is often going to bed too late for the day they had, not too early, so a few nights of an earlier bedtime is the first thing to try.

Meals around the nap

Three meals and two snacks, with lunch finished before the nap so your toddler doesn’t go down hungry. An 11:30 lunch for a 12:15 nap leaves time to eat, wash hands and wind down. Keep the afternoon snack well before dinner, or dinner gets skipped and the bedtime milk does the work of a meal. The meal side of the day at the next age is in the 18 month old schedule.

When to check with your pediatrician

These are typical patterns, not rules for your child. Talk to your pediatrician if your toddler snores or breathes noisily most nights, seems exhausted despite plenty of time to sleep, or has a sudden change in sleep that comes with fever, ear pulling or a change in eating. Bring a few days of nap and bedtime notes. None of this is medical advice; it’s a well-organized head start for that conversation.

FAQ: 17 month old sleep schedule

How many naps should a 17 month old take?

Most take one, usually starting somewhere around 12:00 to 12:30. A few are still finishing the move from two naps. A second nap on a rough day is fine, but the regular pattern by now is usually one.

What are good wake windows for a 17 month old?

Roughly five to five and a half hours before the nap and a little under five hours after it. If the nap is fought every day, the morning window is probably too short. If your toddler falls apart before the nap, it is probably too long.

What time should a 17 month old go to bed?

Usually between 7:00 and 7:45, counted about five hours from the end of the nap. On a short-nap day, go earlier.

How long should a 17 month old nap?

Commonly about one and a half to two and a quarter hours. If your child naps longer and then fights bedtime, wake them by about 2:45.