The transition from two naps to one is honestly one of the trickier phases of twin parenting. I remember when my girls hit this stage around 16 months, and suddenly our predictable rhythm fell apart for a few weeks. One twin was ready, the other wasn’t, and we found ourselves managing different schedules while also trying to keep everyone from melting down by 4 p.m.

Here’s what I learned from our experience and what actually works when your twins are making this shift.

Your twins might be ready to drop that morning nap when they start fighting it consistently, taking forever to fall asleep, or when one nap becomes ridiculously short (like 20 minutes). With my girls, one would lie in her crib talking to herself for 45 minutes while her sister crashed immediately.

Here’s the thing though. Your twins won’t necessarily be ready at the same time.

One of my daughters was clearly done with two naps a solid three weeks before her sister. This is completely normal, even though it feels frustrating when you’re trying to manage two different schedules. Research shows that even identical twins can hit developmental milestones at different times (and sleep transitions definitely count as milestones).

If one twin is ready and the other isn’t, resist the urge to force them onto the same schedule right away. A twin who drops a nap too early becomes overtired, which paradoxically makes everything worse. They fight sleep harder, wake up more at night, and turn into tiny cranky humans by dinner. I learned this the hard way.

The switch from two naps to one rarely happens cleanly. Most kids (twins included) go through this weird in-between phase where some days they need two naps and other days they can handle just one. This phase lasted about a month with my girls, and I honestly thought it would never end.

You’ll know you’re in the transition when your twins are cranky, clumsy, rubbing their eyes constantly, or getting weirdly hyperactive in the late afternoon. These are classic overtired signs. When you see them, move bedtime earlier that night. Sometimes we’d do bedtime at 6:30 p.m. instead of our usual 7:30 p.m., and it made a huge difference.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, toddlers this age still need 11-14 hours of total sleep in a 24-hour period. If they’re only napping once, that single nap needs to be solid (usually 1.5 to 3 hours), and nighttime sleep becomes even more important.

Once both twins are fully on one nap, you’re aiming for that nap to fall right in the middle of the day. We landed on 12:30 p.m. as our sweet spot, but anywhere between noon and 1 p.m. works for most families.

Here’s what our typical day looked like:

Your twins can probably handle about 5-6 hours of awake time before they need sleep at this age. So if they wake at 7 a.m., they’re ready for a nap by 12:30 p.m., then can stay up until 7:30 p.m. for bed. Adjust based on what you’re seeing from your own kids.

The length of that single nap varies a lot between twins. One of my girls would sleep for three hours straight, while her sister topped out at two hours. As long as they’re getting enough total sleep and seem happy, you’re golden.

If your twins stay on different schedules for a while, you’re going to need some creative solutions. When one of my daughters still needed that morning nap and the other didn’t, we’d put the sleepy twin down in our bedroom while her sister had independent play time in the living room (with my wife or I nearby, supervising).

Here’s what worked for us:

Yes, this is more work for you. There’s no getting around that. But it respects where each twin is developmentally, and honestly, they did sync up eventually. Most twins align their schedules once they’re both fully established on one nap.

During this phase, the afternoon nap when both twins were sleeping can become a much needed lifeline. That is your time to recharge, get things done, or just sit quietly with a cup of coffee.

The hours between 4 p.m. and bedtime can get rough during this transition. Your twins are tired but not quite ready for bed, and everyone’s patience is wearing thin.

What helped us get through:

If one of your twins falls asleep in the car at 5 p.m. on the way home from somewhere, wake them gently when you arrive. I know this feels wrong (who wants to wake a sleeping baby?), but a 20-minute car nap at that time will push bedtime back significantly and mess up nighttime sleep. Your evening will go much smoother if you keep them awake until proper bedtime.

Life doesn’t stop just because your twins are transitioning naps. You’ll have appointments, errands, and older kids’ activities to manage. On days when you need to be out during nap time, try to preserve at least part of the nap, even if it happens in the stroller or car.

I’m not going to tell you that car naps are ideal, because they’re not. But they’re better than completely skipping the nap and dealing with two meltdowns by 3 p.m. If you know you’ll be out, consider shifting the nap slightly earlier or later to capture some sleep time at home first.

We also got strategic about scheduling. Doctor appointments went in the morning. Grocery runs happened right after the twins woke up from their nap. Playdates with other families? Those happened during the late morning when everyone was awake but not yet losing it.

My wife and I developed a few strategies that genuinely helped during those transition weeks. We built in “bridge activities” for late morning when the girls were getting tired but weren’t quite ready for their midday nap.

Our go-to quiet activities:

These activities were calm enough that they didn’t wind the girls up, but engaging enough that they made it to nap time without someone falling asleep on the living room floor at 11 a.m.

For room-sharing twins (like ours), the single nap usually works smoothly because they’re already used to sleeping in each other’s presence. But if one twin consistently wakes the other, you might need to temporarily separate them until they’re both sleeping more soundly through the nap.

Turns out, the timing of this nap transition isn’t random. Studies show that most children drop to one nap between 15-18 months as their circadian rhythms mature and they can handle longer wake periods.

What this meant for us was that even though my daughters were three weeks apart in dropping that morning nap, they both settled into a solid one-nap routine by the time they were 17 months old. The transition period felt long while we were in it, but it was actually pretty typical.

The key is that total sleep matters more than when that sleep happens. According to sleep researchers, as long as your twins are getting their 11-14 hours combined between nighttime and that one nap, their brains and bodies are getting what they need to develop properly.

This transition is exhausting for you too. You’re managing two toddlers who might be out of sorts, possibly on different schedules, and dealing with the unpredictability of not knowing if today is a one-nap day or a two-nap day.

Give yourself permission to simplify everything else. When my girls were going through this, we had more screen time than usual, ate simpler meals (hello, pasta with butter three nights a week), and I said no to pretty much every optional commitment. Your twins are working hard to adjust to a new sleep pattern, and you’re working hard to help them through it.

We also learned to take advantage of any overlapping sleep time, even if it was just 45 minutes to have some down time for ourselves.

Once your twins successfully transition to one nap (and they will, I promise), you’ll settle into a new rhythm that often works really well for the whole family. That single midday nap provides a predictable chunk of time in the middle of the day when you can recharge, get things done, or spend time with other kids if you have them.

Most children stay on this one-nap schedule until somewhere between ages three and five. With my girls, we had nearly two years of this routine before they dropped naps entirely (which is a whole different transition I wasn’t ready for).

The beautiful part is that once you’re past those transitional weeks, life gets more predictable again. You can plan your days around one nap instead of two, which actually opens up more possibilities for morning outings and activities.

I won’t lie and say the two-to-one nap transition is easy, especially with twins. Those few weeks were genuinely tough in our house. But we made it through, and so will you.

Trust your instincts about what your twins need. Stay flexible when one is ready before the other. Move bedtime earlier when everyone’s exhausted. Simplify the rest of your life temporarily. And remember that this phase is just that: a phase.

Before you know it, you’ll be on the other side with a predictable one-nap routine, wondering what you were so worried about.

What strategies helped your twins through the nap transition? I’d love to hear what worked in your house.

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