Baby sleep schedule at 10 months: two naps, early waking and wake windows

Lulla Team·Published Sep 5, 2026·Updated Sep 6, 2026

At 10 months your baby needs 12 to 15 hours of sleep a day: 10 to 12 at night, plus 2 naps. Wake windows have widened again to 3 to 3.5 hours, so the morning carries most of three hours before the first nap and the stretch from the afternoon nap to bedtime is longer still.

Two naps is firmly the right number at this age, even when your baby starts skipping one. Nap refusal is common at 10 months and is usually about new motor skills and a bit of will, not about needing less daytime sleep. The structure that works is the one you keep offering.

See the full wake-window table, from newborn to 2 years→How many naps by age — the full table→When your newborn won't sleep: what to check, in order→

Cruising along the furniture, pulling up in the crib and the first tentative steps all sit in this window, and babies practice at the boundaries of sleep. Give as much daytime floor time as you can, especially the getting-down half of standing up, so it's less novel by bedtime. A baby who has spent the day moving usually settles better than one who has spent it in a stroller.

Early waking — up for the day at 5 am — is the other classic 10-month complaint. The usual causes are a bedtime that is too late, an afternoon nap that ends too late, a room that is not dark enough, or a first nap offered so early that it acts as an extension of the night. Change one thing at a time and give it four or five days, because early rising responds slowly.

A sample day

This sample 10-month day runs on 2 naps and wake windows of 3 to 3.5 hours. Read it as one plausible day rather than a target: the shape — a mid-morning nap, an early-afternoon nap, then bedtime — matters more than the exact minutes.

A sample day to give you a rough idea — every baby is different. Adjust the times to your child's sleep cues, and talk to your pediatrician about anything that worries you.

Tips for this age

• Resist dropping to one nap now; 10-month-olds who skip a nap are usually going through a phase rather than a transition, and the second nap is worth protecting.
• Track wake-up times in Lulla for a week, because a 5 am start that is consistent points at the schedule while a scattered one usually points somewhere else.
• Make the room properly dark, including in summer; light at 5 am will wake a 10-month-old who would otherwise have gone back to sleep.
• Give plenty of floor time for pulling up and getting back down, so the crib is not the only place the skill gets practiced — and keep putting your baby down on their back in an empty crib until 12 months.
• If your baby snores most nights, sleeps with their mouth open or seems to pause while breathing, mention it to your pediatrician.

Common questions

Keep reading

• Baby tiredness signs: how to read them before the crying starts
• How to build the perfect sleep routine for your baby
• How much do newborns sleep? What's normal by age and when it's too much