Objective Infant sleep plays a critical role in normal development. Sleep problems, including sleep onset difficulties (SODs) and night waking (NW), range from 20% to 30% in infants and young children and can be persistent over time up to adulthood. Young French children seem to have longer sleep durations and less sleep troubles than their counterparts worldwide. Here, we aimed at describing infant sleep characteristics (total sleep time (TST)/24 h, NW, and SODs) and associated sleep habits in infants at age 1 year from the French nationwide birth cohort ELFE. Methods This study included 11,783 infants with information on both sleep characteristics and sleep habits (parental presence when falling asleep, eating to fall asleep, sucking a pacifier or finger to sleep and sleep arrangement and location). Associations were studied by multinomial logistic regression analyses adjusted for familial and infant characteristics. Results Mean TST was 13h36min including 2h54min of naps; 20% of the infants had TST ≤12h/24h. About 46% did not present SOD or NW, 16% had frequent SODs and 22% had NW >1 night in 2. Parental presence, feeding to fall asleep and infant sleep arrangements were frequent in infants with short sleep duration (≤12h/24h), NW and SODs. Non-nutritive sucking was associated with risk of NW, SOD and TST >14h/24h. Parental room sharing was associated with NW. Conclusion This work provides new information on infant sleep arrangements and nonnutritive sucking that should be accounted for when considering sleep behaviors. In addition, most identified sleep habits associated with poor sleep characteristics may be amenable to change.