10-Month-Old Milestones: What Can Babies Do at 10 Months?

10-month-old baby’s development and growth

This is a busy time for your baby! At 10 months old, your little one is making rapid progress in their growth and development, and you may be amazed at how soon their personality starts emerge. In addition to being more active and communicative, this is the point at which you’ll start to see what kind of person your child may grow into — shy or extroverted, cautious or adventurous, and more. You may even recognize a little of yourself or your partner in your baby’s early personality!

What else can you expect at this stage of development? Read on to find out.

Motor skills

As you’ve probably noticed, this is a very mobile time for your baby. By this stage, most infants can comfortably crawl, pull themselves up from a seated to a standing position, and walk around furniture while holding on with their hands. Remember, it won’t be long before your child can stand independently, and he or she will be walking soon afterward!

Around this time, you’ll also find that your baby’s hand-eye coordination becomes much more impressive. A combination of strong vision and confident crawling means that they’ll see small objects at a distance and quickly move to retrieve them in the pincer grip of their fingers. This means that you and other adults need to be much more mindful of choking hazards and other dangers in the baby’s immediate area.

Communication

At 10 months, much of your baby’s communication with others consists of imitation. Don’t be surprised if you find them copying the way you go about domestic chores or get dressed. It’s all part of exploring the world and learning how people behave.

You may also find that your little one is easily influenced by your mood and the moods of others. For instance, notice them becoming blue or tearful if they see that you’re upset. This is simply their way of expanding their social skills and developing empathy.

In addition to the above, look out for any of the following new skills:

• Responding appropriately to simple orders, like ‘wave bye-bye’ or ‘clap your hands’
• Being able to recognize and point to familiar things, like cars or pets
• Responding to their name being called

Sleep

If your 10-month-old is only napping once a day for an hour or so, this is fairly typical at this stage. If they’re still a two-a-day kind of baby and you’re trying to reduce this, you’ll probably have more success if you cut out the morning nap. By encouraging your little one to sleep after lunch, you’ll give them the energy they need to get through the rest of the day and reduce or eliminate any meltdowns before bed.

If you do try to limit your baby’s naps, ensure they are able to compensate by adding an extra hour or two of sleep at night. They’ll be in good shape as long as they get the rest they need over the course of 24 hours.

Eating

As a parent or carer, it’s good practice to gradually increase the variety of foods that your baby consumes. Their typical diet may include a range of fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats (in whatever proportion your household favors). But all the while, be mindful of the danger posed by choking hazards like raisins, nuts, hard candies, and other small foods.

Now that your baby has a few teeth, give them the opportunity to practice using them. Offer foods that have a thicker consistency and cut table foods into small pieces. By learning to feed themselves, they’re also practicing their pincer grip and hand-eye coordination. Talk about multi-tasking!

You may also want to give your little one their first baby spoon. While it might be a bit messy as they get used to it, it’s a great way to encourage independent eating.

How much should a 10-month-old weigh?

At 10 months old, the average baby girl weighs 19.4 lbs (8.8 kg) and the average baby boy weighs 21.4 lbs (9.7 kg).

How to know if your 10-month-old baby is developing normally

Monitoring developmental milestones is one of the best things you can do to make sure your child is progressing normally. Of course, it's important to be aware that a perfectly normal baby may lag behind others in one or more of these areas, and then later catch up.

Consult your pediatrician or family doctor if you notice that your 10-month-old cannot crawl or drags one side of the body while crawling, and/or cannot stand, even with help.

Tips to promote your baby’s development at 10 months 

Your baby will develop naturally in their own time, but it’s good for parents and carers to offer appropriate encouragement. Keep the following in mind:

• Make conversation with your baby an important part of your day. Even though they’re not talking yet, they’ll be stimulated by your encouragement and this will accelerate their language learning.
• Play simple games that expand your little one’s understanding of how the world works. For instance, by hiding a toy or object and encouraging your baby to look for it, you’re helping them to understand that things still exist even when they can’t be seen.

If you're the proud parent of a 10-month-old, there's lots to look forward to during this exciting phase of your baby's development. And if you're ever concerned about any of the milestones we've described, your pediatrician or family doctor are in the best position to offer you expert medical advice.