10-Month-Old Sleep Schedule: Naps & Wake Windows

If you searched for a 10-month-old sleep schedule, you're in the right place. Here's the whole picture: naps, wake windows, total sleep, and why nap resistance right now is much more likely the 9-10 month regression than an early sign of the 2-to-1 nap transition.

A 10-month-old sleep schedule typically includes 10-12 hours of night sleep plus two naps totaling 2-3 hours, for 12-15 hours across 24 hours, inside the 12-16 hour range set by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics.¹ ³ Wake windows run 3-4 hours, with bedtime between 6:30 and 8:00 PM.

Is 10 Months a Stable Sleep Stage, or Still Part of the Regression?

If you're reading this at 2am with a baby who used to sleep through the night, here's the orientation you need: the two-nap schedule at 10 months is well established and correct. What's disrupting it right now, separation anxiety and motor-skill practice, is temporary. The schedule isn't broken. This guide covers two things: the concrete schedule to hold onto, and why nap resistance this month is very likely the tail end of a developmental surge, not an early sign it's time to drop to one nap.

Why Is Your 10-Month-Old's Sleep Suddenly Harder Again?

Separation anxiety and object permanence are peaking right now

Somewhere in the last few weeks, your baby's understanding of object permanence consolidated: they now know you continue to exist even after you leave the room. That's why bedtime protest and searching-for-you night wakings can feel new, even in a baby who slept well a month ago. Separation anxiety "develops after a child gains an understanding of object permanence," typically becoming more pronounced starting around 9 months.⁶ The American Academy of Pediatrics places the broader peak of separation anxiety in the 8-to-12-month window anywhere from 10 to 18 months, which means a 10-month-old is right at the start of that peak, not past it.⁷ At exactly 10 months, that development is measurable: in one study, 58% of 10-month-olds found a caregiver hidden behind a screen, versus only 29% who found them hidden by a hand alone, a gap that closes by 14 months.⁸ Your baby isn't regressing. They're getting smarter, and it's making goodbyes harder.

There's also a physiological piece: one study of 9-month-old infants found a measurable stress response to separation, but a warm, responsive caregiver at goodbye and reunion brought that stress response down to nearly the same level as no separation at all.⁹ Brief, warm, consistent goodbyes genuinely help.

If this pattern feels familiar, it should. It's the same basic shape as the 4-month sleep regression and the 8-month sleep regression: fast brain development temporarily outpacing settled sleep, not a lost skill.

The motor-skill surge, and the "stuck standing in the crib" problem

At the same time, most 10-month-olds are pulling to stand and starting to cruise along furniture. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that babies this age pull to standing "every chance they get," but when they first start, "they may not know how to get down."¹⁰ They practice at night too, which is why a baby who was sleeping fine may suddenly be standing in the crib, crying, unable to lower back down. A study tracking infants through this stage found sleep disruption clustering around the active period of learning to pull to stand, easing as the skill is mastered.¹¹

The American Academy of Pediatrics describes the mechanism directly: object permanence and separation anxiety arrive together. "Just as she's starting to realize that each object is unique and permanent, she'll also discover that there's only one of you." Separation anxiety "usually peaks between ten and eighteen months," and the AAP notes it "can cause many nights with disrupted sleep", with a baby waking to search for a parent.

The standing is the part that catches parents off guard. One on r/sleeptrain described a baby who "used to sleep well but then started learning how to stand" and now "refuses to sit down on his own in the crib" — popping up the moment he was put down, and only sleeping once he was too exhausted to stay upright (r/sleeptrain, December 2025).

None of this is permanent. The developmental intensity of this period typically eases by 11-12 months, and sleep tends to restabilize without any change to the schedule.

How Much Sleep Does a 10-Month-Old Need?

Total sleep, naps, and bedtime at a glance

Total sleep per 24 hours	12-15 hours in practice; 12-16 hours is the AAP/AASM clinical guideline¹ ³
Night sleep	10-12 hours, often with 1-2 brief wakings⁴
Daytime sleep	2-3 hours across 2 naps
Number of naps	2
Nap duration	45-90 minutes per nap
Wake windows	3-4 hours
Bedtime	6:30-8:00 PM

Frequent brief night wakings are developmentally normal at this age. The American Academy of Pediatrics describes a "good sleeper" as a baby who wakes but gets back to sleep independently, not one who sleeps 10 straight hours.⁵ Night waking is also simply common at this stage: just under 28% of 12-month-olds are still not sleeping a full 6-hour stretch uninterrupted.² Some waking doesn't mean something has gone wrong. If you're unsure whether your baby's overall total measures up, our guide on is my baby sleeping enough walks through how to tell at any age.

The 10-month wake-window ladder

Window	Duration	Notes
Morning (wake to nap 1)	2.5-3.5 hours	Shortest window of the day
Midday (nap 1 to nap 2)	3-3.5 hours	Middle window
Afternoon (nap 2 to bedtime)	3-4 hours	Longest, and the most important to get right; too short and baby resists bedtime, too long and baby fights settling

These windows are noticeably longer than they were at 9 months, and they'll keep stretching from here. For the complete picture across every age and stage, see Pelio's wake windows by age guide.

One safety note that matters more this month than last: once your baby is pulling to stand, set the crib mattress at its lowest setting before, not after, they've mastered the skill.¹² Nothing should be left in the crib that could be used as a foothold for climbing out.

What Does a Sample 10-Month-Old Sleep Schedule Look Like?

By 10 months, the circadian rhythm is fully established, so clock-anchored scheduling is reliable, not a rigid alarm, but consistency within a 30-45 minute morning wake window. Feeding has changed too: most babies eat 3 solid meals plus 2-3 milk feeds, and mealtimes, not milk feeds, now anchor the day. The bedtime routine should run 20-30 minutes, same sequence every night: bath, nappy and sleep clothes, a feed positioned before books so baby goes down awake rather than at the bottle or breast, then book or song, then into the crib awake or drowsy. For more on how naps reshape themselves at every stage, see our nap schedule by age guide.

Sample schedule for a 6:30 AM riser

• 6:30 AM: Wake, morning milk feed
• 7:15 AM: Breakfast (solids)
• 9:15-9:30 AM: Nap 1 starts
• 10:15-10:30 AM: Nap 1 ends (45-60 min)
• 10:30 AM: Wake, milk feed or snack
• 1:15-1:30 PM: Nap 2 starts
• 2:45-3:00 PM: Nap 2 ends (75-90 min)
• 3:00 PM: Wake, milk feed or snack
• 5:00 PM: Dinner (solids)
• 6:15 PM: Begin bedtime routine
• 6:45-7:00 PM: Bed

Sample schedule for a 7:30 AM riser

• 7:30 AM: Wake, morning milk feed
• 8:15 AM: Breakfast (solids)
• 10:15-10:30 AM: Nap 1 starts
• 11:15-11:30 AM: Nap 1 ends (45-60 min)
• 11:30 AM: Wake, milk feed or snack
• 2:15-2:30 PM: Nap 2 starts
• 3:45-4:00 PM: Nap 2 ends (75-90 min)
• 4:00 PM: Wake, milk feed or snack
• 6:00 PM: Dinner (solids)
• 7:15 PM: Begin bedtime routine
• 7:45-8:00 PM: Bed

If nap 2 runs past 4:30-5:00 PM, wake your baby gently rather than compressing the afternoon window too far. A late second nap is a more common cause of a late, hard bedtime than an early one.

Why Won't My 10-Month-Old Settle, and What Do I Do About It?

Is this the 9-10 month sleep regression?

The single biggest reason a previously good sleeper starts waking more at 10 months is this convergence: object permanence consolidating, separation anxiety peaking, and a motor-skill surge, all at once. Signs it's this: a baby who used to settle easily is now protesting more at bedtime, standing in the crib, or waking with more distress than the brief arousals that used to resolve on their own. Signs it might be something else: fever or ear-pulling could mean illness; drooling and red gums could mean teething; persistent snoring or pauses in breathing warrant a call to your pediatrician regardless.

Here's what helps:

1. Keep the two-nap schedule fixed. Changing it in response to a few hard nights just adds a second disruption on top of the developmental one.
2. Keep goodbyes brief and consistent. Don't sneak away when your baby isn't looking; it doesn't reduce distress, it just removes the cue that helps them process the separation.
3. Practice sitting down from standing during the day. The movement becomes familiar by the time your baby needs it at 2am.
4. Avoid starting a new nightly habit you don't intend to keep. Whatever gets you through this week becomes the thing you have to undo next month.

Most families see it ease within a few weeks. The broader developmental intensity of this period eases by 11-12 months.

Most 10-month-olds eating three solid meals are physiologically capable of sleeping without a night feed, though some babies still take one.⁵ If your baby is used to a night feed, keep the interaction brief and calm rather than playful, so it doesn't turn into an expected wake-up game.²

My baby is stuck standing in the crib. What do I do?

This is the single most disruptive motor-sleep problem at 10 months, and it's common. Pulling to stand gets mastered well before lowering back down, so a baby who's been practicing all day can get stuck upright at 2am, unable to get down.¹⁰

Two things help:

1. Practice sitting down from standing during daytime play. The movement is familiar by the time it's needed at night.
2. Keep the nighttime response brief and calm. A quick return to lying down is enough; don't lower the crib sides in response, and make sure the mattress is already at its lowest setting for a standing baby.¹²

Most babies work this out within days to a couple of weeks, as the skill of getting down catches up with the skill of getting up.

Is nap resistance a sign it's time to drop to one nap?

Almost certainly not yet. The two-to-one nap transition averages 15 months, with most babies making the change between 13 and 18 months. Starting before 12-13 months usually causes overtiredness rather than more sleep. What's actually happening at 10 months is often the "false nap drop": the same developmental excitement, mobility, object permanence, new cognitive leaps, that's disrupting night sleep can also cause a baby who still needs two naps to temporarily resist one of them. For the full breakdown of readiness signs at every stage, see our guide on when to drop a nap.

The distinction that matters: occasional refusal during a developmental leap, a cold, or travel isn't the same as genuine readiness. Real readiness, when it arrives, looks like the same nap resisted for multiple weeks in a row, one nap regularly stretching past two hours, or night sleep getting shorter even after two solid naps. None of that is expected at 10 months.

If the afternoon nap is genuinely getting harder to land, the fix isn't dropping it. It's moving the morning nap slightly later, toward 9:30-10:00 AM, to make the afternoon wake window longer.

How Do You Know the 10-Month Schedule Actually Needs to Change?

Sign	Overtired	Undertired / short nap	On track
Falls asleep at nap start	Under 5 min, or fights it hard first	Takes 20+ min	5-15 min
Nap length	Short and restless, or one nap refused	Short (30-35 min) but baby seems rested	45-90 min
Behavior before nap	Wired, hyperalert, second wind	Content, still playing happily	Sleepy cues (yawning, rubbing eyes, clinginess)
Night sleep	Fragmented, early waking before 6 AM	Delayed falling asleep, occasional waking	10-12 hours, 0-2 brief wakings
Bedtime	Intense resistance, arching	Not tired at bedtime	Settles within about 20 min with brief protest

Overtiredness is most often caused by an afternoon wake window that ran too long; move bedtime 15-20 minutes earlier rather than later. Short, restless naps that repeat day after day usually mean nap timing is off by 15-20 minutes in one direction or the other, not that a nap should be dropped. For a deeper look at the overtired end of this table, see our guide to overtired baby signs.

Call your pediatrician if total sleep is consistently under 11 hours despite a reasonable routine, if you notice snoring, gasping, or pauses in breathing during sleep (these can point to a breathing issue that needs its own evaluation, not just a schedule fix), or if night waking is increasing rather than easing over 4-6 weeks.

What This Means for You Tonight

If the schedule is basically working, hold the two-nap structure. The predictability is doing the work of easing the regression; don't dismantle it over a few hard nights. If separation protest is the main issue, keep tonight's goodbye brief and consistent, and don't sneak away. If your baby got stuck standing in the crib, practice sitting-down-from-standing tomorrow during play; tonight, a brief, calm return to lying down is enough. If nap 2 was refused today, don't read it as readiness to drop a nap, move tomorrow's morning nap 15-20 minutes later and hold the two-nap schedule. And if disruption hasn't eased in 4-6 weeks, or there are any breathing concerns, call your pediatrician.

For the fundamentals at every age and stage, see Pelio's baby sleep hub, or browse the full baby sleep by age index if you want to see what's ahead or what led up to this stage, including the 3-month and 6-month schedules.

More by age: 6-month sleep schedule · 11-month sleep schedule · every age in one place

Frequently Asked Questions

How many naps should a 10-month-old take?

Two. By 10 months, most babies have been on a two-nap schedule for a month or more, and total daytime sleep across those two naps runs 2-3 hours. A third nap isn't needed; if your baby seems to want one, it's usually a sign an earlier nap ran short or a wake window was misjudged, not that a third nap belongs in the schedule.

What time should a 10-month-old go to bed?

Between 6:30 and 8:00 PM, most commonly around 7:00-7:30 PM, timed off when the afternoon nap ends and the 3-4 hour afternoon wake window that follows it. It can feel counterintuitive, but a bedtime that's too late is a more common cause of early morning waking than a bedtime that's too early: an overtired baby's stress hormones spike and disrupt sleep rather than deepening it.

Why is my 10-month-old suddenly waking up at night again?

Almost always the same convergence: separation anxiety starting its peak, object permanence consolidating, and a motor-skill surge, not a lost skill or something you've done wrong.⁶ ⁷ Most 10-month-olds eating three solid meals can physiologically sleep without a night feed, so hunger usually isn't the driver either.⁵ This eases by 11-12 months without any change to the schedule.

Why does my 10-month-old keep standing up in the crib and crying?

Because pulling to stand gets mastered before lowering back down.¹⁰ It's a temporary motor-skill gap, not a sleep problem. Practicing sitting-down-from-standing during the day, and a brief, calm response at night, usually resolves it within days to a couple of weeks. Make sure the crib mattress is already at its lowest setting for a baby who can stand.¹²

Is my 10-month-old ready to drop to one nap?

Very unlikely. The two-to-one nap transition averages 15 months, typically between 13 and 18, and starting before 12-13 months usually backfires into overtiredness. Nap resistance at 10 months is much more often the "false nap drop," driven by developmental excitement rather than genuinely outgrowing the second nap. If the afternoon nap is getting hard to land, move the morning nap slightly later instead of dropping one.

How long does the 9-10 month sleep regression last?

Most families see a return to baseline within a few weeks, and the broader developmental intensity of this period eases by 11-12 months. Hold the existing routine rather than overhauling it, and loop in your pediatrician only if disruption is still intensifying, not just present, after 4-6 weeks.

Sources

1. American Academy of Sleep Medicine. "Recommended Amount of Sleep for Pediatric Populations: A Consensus Statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine" (Paruthi S, Brooks LJ, D'Ambrosio C, et al.). Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2016;12(6):785-786. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4877308/
2. Fry, Alexa. "When Do Babies Sleep Through the Night?" Sleep Foundation (med-reviewed Nilong Vyas, MD, MPH). Updated July 15, 2025. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/baby-sleep/when-do-babies-sleep-through-night
3. American Academy of Pediatrics. "Healthy Sleep Habits: How Many Hours Does Your Child Need?" HealthyChildren.org. Updated November 16, 2020. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/sleep/Pages/healthy-sleep-habits-how-many-hours-does-your-child-need.aspx
4. Nemours KidsHealth. "Sleep and Your 8- to 12-Month-Old." https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/sleep812m.html
5. American Academy of Pediatrics. "Sleeping Through the Night." HealthyChildren.org. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/sleep/Pages/Sleeping-Through-the-Night.aspx
6. Swanson, W.S., MD, MBE, FAAP. "How to Ease Your Child's Separation Anxiety." HealthyChildren.org (AAP). Updated May 11, 2026. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/Pages/Soothing-Your-Childs-Separation-Anxiety.aspx
7. American Academy of Pediatrics. "Emotional and Social Development: 8 to 12 Months." HealthyChildren.org. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/Pages/Emotional-and-Social-Development-8-12-Months.aspx
8. Moore, M.K. and Meltzoff, A.N. "New findings on object permanence: A developmental difference between two types of occlusion." British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 1999. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4215949/
9. Gunnar, M.R., Larson, M.C., Hertsgaard, L., Harris, M.L., and Brodersen, L. "The stressfulness of separation among nine-month-old infants: effects of social context variables and infant temperament." Child Development. 1992;63(2):290-303. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1611934/
10. American Academy of Pediatrics. "Movement: 8 to 12 Months." HealthyChildren.org. Updated April 7, 2021. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/Pages/Movement-8-to-12-Months.aspx
11. Atun-Einy, O. and Scher, A. "Sleep disruption and motor development: Does pulling-to-stand impact sleep-wake regulation?" Infant Behavior and Development. 2016;42:36-44. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26704990/
12. American Academy of Pediatrics. "Make Baby's Room Safe: Parent Checklist." HealthyChildren.org. Updated August 14, 2020. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-home/Pages/Make-Babys-Room-Safe.aspx

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