10-Month-Old Sleep Schedule

Ten months old. Your baby is probably pulling up on every piece of furniture in the house, cruising along the couch, and maybe even letting go for a wobbly half-second before grabbing on again. They've got opinions about food and strong feelings about being put down. Also an uncanny talent for finding the one thing in any room they shouldn't touch.

Sleep at this age should be pretty predictable. Two solid naps, a clear bedtime, wake windows you can almost set a watch to. And then your baby learns to stand in the crib at 2 AM and suddenly forgets how to sit back down.

How much sleep does a 10-month-old need?

Most 10-month-olds need about 13 hours of total sleep per day: roughly 10.5 hours at night and 2.5 during the day across two naps.¹²

The AASM recommends 12 to 16 hours for infants 4 to 12 months old, naps included.³ The National Sleep Foundation puts it at 12 to 15.⁴ Those are wide ranges because individual variation is real. A 2012 systematic review of 34 studies found that normal infant sleep ranged from 9.7 to 15.9 hours.⁵

If your baby consistently gets 12.5 hours and wakes up happy, that's their number. Don't stress about hitting 13 exactly.

We break this down further in our sleep needs by age guide.

Wake windows at 10 months

At 10 months, wake windows run about 2 hours 50 minutes to 3 hours 45 minutes, with a typical midday window around 3 hours 15 minutes (195 minutes).

The first window of the day is still the shortest. Expect about 2.5 hours between waking up and the first nap. Pediatric sleep consultants consistently put the first wake window at about 80% of midday.⁶ The last window before bed is slightly shorter than midday too (about 85%), because pushing bedtime too far leads to overtiredness, which makes falling asleep harder, not easier.

These windows are noticeably longer than they were at 6 or 7 months. Your baby can handle more awake time now, and they need it. Trying to put a 10-month-old down after only 2 hours of awake time usually results in a baby who stares at you from the crib, perfectly alert.

Watch for sleepy cues, but at this age the clock matters more than it used to. Some babies stop showing obvious tired signs and just go from fine to overtired with very little warning.

Our wake windows chart has the numbers for every age.

How many naps at 10 months?

Two. A morning nap and an afternoon nap, each running 60 to 90 minutes.¹

Honestly, this is about as good as nap schedules get. The chaotic three-nap days are behind you, and the single-nap transition is still months away (that typically happens between 14 and 15 months, though the range is 12 to 18).⁷

Some 10-month-olds start resisting the second nap. They'll play in the crib, babble, protest. This can feel like a sign they're ready to drop to one nap. They're not. At 10 months, the vast majority of babies still need two naps, and dropping one this early almost always backfires with overtiredness, early morning wakes, and worse nighttime sleep. If the afternoon nap is a struggle, try pushing it 15 minutes later rather than eliminating it.

Our nap transition guide covers the signs that the 2-to-1 transition is actually time.

A sample 10-month-old schedule

Times shift depending on when your baby wakes up. The spacing between sleeps is what matters.

Time	Activity
6:30 AM	Wake up, milk feed (breast or bottle)
7:00 AM	Breakfast (finger foods, soft fruits, cereal)
7:30 AM	Play, exploration time
9:15 AM	Nap 1 (60 to 90 minutes)
10:30 AM	Wake, milk feed
11:00 AM	Play, outdoor time
12:00 PM	Lunch (soft table foods, self-feeding practice)
12:30 PM	Play, reading
2:15 PM	Nap 2 (60 to 90 minutes)
3:30 PM	Wake, milk feed, snack
4:00 PM	Play, family time
5:30 PM	Dinner (table food with the family)
6:15 PM	Bedtime routine (bath, pajamas, book, feed)
7:00 PM	Bedtime

Bedtime at 7 PM might seem early, but research supports 6:30 to 7:30 PM for this age.⁶⁸ Earlier bedtimes are associated with longer, more consolidated nighttime sleep, likely because they align with the infant circadian rhythm and the evening melatonin surge.⁹

Notice the first wake window (about 2 hours 45 minutes) is shorter than the midday gaps (about 3 hours 15 minutes), and the last window before bed (about 3 hours) falls between the two. That asymmetry is intentional.⁶

Bad nap days still happen. If nap 2 was only 30 minutes, consider moving bedtime earlier by 30 minutes to compensate.

Feeding and sleep at 10 months

By 10 months, solid food is a real part of your baby's diet, not just practice anymore. Most babies this age eat three meals a day plus snacks, alongside 3 to 4 milk feeds (breast or bottle, about 180 to 240 ml per feed).¹⁰

Finger foods are a big deal now. Puffs, soft fruit pieces, small pasta, shredded cheese. Your baby wants to feed themselves, and letting them is great for fine motor skills (and for destroying whatever shirt they're wearing).

For night feeds: most 10-month-olds don't need them nutritionally.¹⁰ Some still wake once to eat out of habit, and that's not unusual. But if your baby is eating well during the day and still waking multiple times to nurse or take a bottle at night, the calories have probably shifted to nighttime by habit rather than necessity.

Fit solid meals into wake windows, not right before naps. A full belly of new textures right before sleep can cause discomfort (or a diaper situation that wakes everyone up).

Our feeding guide has amounts and frequencies broken down by age.

Common problems at this age

Pulling to stand in the crib (and getting stuck). If there's one thing that defines sleep at 10 months, it's this. Your baby pulls up, can't figure out how to get back down, and cries for help. Research confirms that pulling-to-stand co-occurs with periods of disrupted sleep.¹¹ The fix is boring but effective: lots of standing-and-sitting practice during wake time. Once they figure out the "getting down" part, the nighttime standing episodes stop. Usually takes 1 to 2 weeks.

The tail end of the 8-10 month regression. Separation anxiety, crawling, pulling up, cognitive leaps: the 8-to-10-month regression piles everything on at once.¹¹¹ At 10 months, some babies are still in the thick of it, especially late crawlers or those just learning to stand. It passes. Keep your routines consistent and try not to introduce new sleep associations (extra rocking, bringing baby to your bed) that'll be hard to undo later.

Separation anxiety at bedtime. Around 8 to 10 months, object permanence clicks into place. Your baby understands you exist when you leave the room, and they don't like it.¹² Bedtime protests, crying when you walk away, sudden clinginess at nap time. A consistent bedtime routine helps a lot here.⁸ Same steps, same order, every night. Knowing what comes next is comforting when everything else feels uncertain.

Early morning wakes. Before 6 AM, again. Usual culprits: bedtime was too late (overtiredness), the room gets light too early (blackout curtains, seriously), or the afternoon nap ran too long and pushed the whole schedule forward.

Nap resistance. Check the wake windows before you assume something is wrong. At 10 months, putting a baby down too early is more common than putting them down too late. They need that full 3+ hours of awake time to build enough sleep pressure.

FAQ

Should a 10-month-old still have 2 naps?

Yes. Almost all 10-month-olds need two naps. The transition to one nap typically happens between 14 and 15 months, with a range of 12 to 18 months.⁷ Dropping a nap at 10 months is too early for the vast majority of babies and usually creates more problems than it solves.

Can a 10-month-old sleep through the night?

Many can and do. By this age, babies are physically capable of going 10 to 11 hours overnight without a feed.⁸¹⁰ Whether yours does depends on how they fall asleep, whether they can self-soothe between sleep cycles, and whether nighttime feeding has become a habit. One wake-up per night is still within normal range.

How do I handle my baby standing in the crib at night?

Go in, lay them back down calmly, and leave. Keep it boring. No lights, minimal talking, no picking up if you can avoid it. They'll likely stand right back up. That's fine. Repeat as needed. The real fix is daytime practice: help your baby practice sitting down from standing during play time. Once the motor skill is mastered, the nighttime standing resolves on its own.¹¹

My 10-month-old's sleep suddenly got worse. What happened?

Probably the 8-to-10-month regression. It's driven by motor milestones (crawling, standing, cruising), separation anxiety, and brain development all happening at once.¹¹¹¹² It typically lasts 2 to 6 weeks. Stick with your routines and avoid creating new dependencies. Our sleep regression guide goes deeper.