Now that your baby is into her tenth month, she is fast approaching her first birthday and will soon leave babyhood and enter toddlerhood. You will therefore start noticing significant changes, right from the development of her personality and the way she manoeuvres herself around. Here’s what you should look out for as part of your little one’s 10 month old baby development milestones.
In this article:
- Physical Development Milestones
- Cognitive Development Milestones
- Social & Emotional Development Milestones
- Communication Milestones
- Sleep Milestones
- Eating & Feeding Milestones
- Emerging Skills
- Advanced Skills
- Baby Care for Your Ten Month Old
- What You Can Do As Parents?
- When to Be Concerned?
Physical Development Milestones
- Your baby can crawl well, confidently and at her will.
- She will be able to use her thumb and index finger very well to grasp and pick up things.
- Develops Central Incisors (her two upper and lower teeth at the front of her mouth).
- Has developed an increased span of vision and a better hand-eye coordination.
- Her improved hand-eye coordination will enable her to sit without support from others and will also make her try to stand without support.
Cognitive Development Milestones
- Your baby actively engages and enjoys looking at big and colourful pictures and images.
- Develops what is called Object Permanence, which is her ability to know that an object does continue to exist even though she is not able to see or hear them. This is what makes her search for objects that are hidden or missing from her vicinity.
- Can interpret basic words like ‘Hi’, ‘Yes’, ‘No’, etc. She can also comprehend basic requests.
Social & Emotional Development Milestones
- Your baby will be uncomfortable towards strangers and refuse to be around them.
- Will start waving ‘Good Bye’ and can even muffle “Bye Bye”.
- Reacts to strange or unfamiliar sounds and may reach you for protection.
- May get scared if she hears a loud noise.
- Will have developed a strong attachment to select toys and will cry if you take those toys away.
- Develops what is called Separation Anxiety (anxiety provoked by the threat of a possible separation from mother/caregiver).
Communication Milestones
- Uses ‘Mama’ and ‘Dada’ with purpose and intention.
- Will keenly observe and gauge your reaction to situations.
- Can follow simple commands like clapping.
- Will nod her head in approval.
- In her own way, your baby must have become an excellent mimicry ‘artist’ by now.
- May sometimes cry when she sees you crying, which is an early sign of empathy developing in your child.
- Responds well to ‘No’ and directions like ‘Come here’, ‘Keep it here’ and ‘Put it in’.
- Begins to use hand movements to communicate her wants and needs, like reaching out to you to be picked up with both her arms extended, for instance.
- Can say one or two words by now.
- She often produces long strings of babbling/gibberish in social communication.
Sleep Milestones
- May take one or two short naps for an hour or two each during the day.
- Will make up for any lost sleep during her night sleep.
Eating & Feeding Milestones
- Your baby can eat more range of foods in the form of solids.
- Can eat finger foods (those foods that can be eaten conveniently with fingers) as they can be cut and chewed easily with her incisors.
- Will be able to use a spoon.
Emerging Skills
- She can recognise familiar faces and those who are very close to her.
- Can remember a range of objects and where those objects are kept. This enables her to locate hidden things faster.
Advanced Skills
- Your baby will make attempts to take support and try to start walking.
- Will express if she is happy, sad or angry.
- Will crawl longer stretches, if need be, to fetch things she wants to play with.
Baby Care for Your Ten Month Old
- Since your baby is sleeping relatively lesser during the day, this is the perfect time to establish a sleep routine to get her sleep longer at night.
- These are times your baby is very active and is expending a lot of energy. This is the right time to give her a wider range of solid foods (consult with your paediatrician) so that she can get all the energy she needs.
What You Can Do As Parents?
- Keep talking often to your child to help them discern words and phrases. This will help her pick up languages quickly.
- You will notice her desire to explore, discover things and is almost always looking for her own kind of adventure. This is also the budding stage of the assertive side of her personality emerging. Just encourage her in her endeavours so she can find an outlet for her energy.
- Buy her a walker to help your baby develop good balance take her first steps confidently.
When to Be Concerned?
- If your baby does not have her/his incisors in place.
- Fails to recognise familiar faces.
- Is unable to crawl properly.
- Unable to hold objects with a tight grip.
The tenth month is just the foundation phase of becoming a toddler. So just enjoy and cherish the moments, as she gears up for much more in the coming months.
Make sure you visit your paediatrician regularly to keep a close watch on your baby’s growth against the Growth Charts. This will help you ascertain whether your ten month old baby’s development milestones are on track.
Note: Each baby is different and therefore tends to grow at a different pace. Chances are that your little one may have crossed certain milestones already, or is probably a little behind on a few others, which is normal. If you still feel there is something of concern, do speak to your paediatrician/registered professional child healthcare provider.
