A 10-month-old typically needs 11 to 12 hours of nighttime sleep, with an additional 2 to 3 hours of daytime naps bringing the total to roughly 13.5 hours per day. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 12 to 16 total hours of sleep (including naps) for babies ages 4 to 12 months, and most 10-month-olds fall in the middle of that range.
That said, every baby is different. Some 10-month-olds consistently sleep 10.5 hours at night and make up the difference with longer naps. Others stretch closer to 12 hours overnight and take shorter naps. The total matters more than the exact split.
What a Typical Day Looks Like
At 10 months, most babies have settled into a two-nap schedule. Each nap runs about 60 to 120 minutes, adding up to 2 to 3 hours of daytime sleep. A morning nap and an afternoon nap, spaced evenly through the day, leave enough awake time for your baby to build sleep pressure before bedtime without tipping into overtiredness.
Combined with 11 to 12 hours at night, that puts total sleep around 13 to 14 hours. If your baby is consistently falling well below 12 hours total or well above 16, it’s worth paying attention to how they’re acting during the day.
Night Feedings at 10 Months
Most 10-month-olds don’t need to eat overnight. By this age, babies can typically get all the nutrition they need during daytime meals and milk feeds. Sleep researcher Jodi Mindell has noted that at this stage, children should be taking in enough calories during the day that nighttime feeding becomes unnecessary for growth.
That doesn’t mean your baby won’t wake up wanting to eat. Habit, comfort, and association all play a role. But if your pediatrician is satisfied with your baby’s weight gain and growth, nighttime feeds are likely more about routine than nutritional need. Reducing them gradually, rather than cutting them out all at once, tends to go more smoothly.
Why Sleep Falls Apart Around 10 Months
If your baby was sleeping well and suddenly isn’t, you’re probably dealing with a sleep regression. The 10-month regression is one of the more common ones, and it’s driven by a burst of developmental activity. Your baby may be learning to pull to stand, crawl, feed themselves, wave, or play simple games. Their brain is busy, and that busy brain doesn’t always want to shut off at bedtime.
Separation anxiety also peaks around this age. A baby who used to settle easily in their crib may now cry when you leave the room, not because anything is wrong but because they understand you’ve gone and they want you back. Teething can layer on top of all this, adding physical discomfort to an already disrupted stretch.
The good news: sleep regressions are temporary. Most last 2 to 6 weeks. Staying as consistent as possible with your routines during this period helps your baby find their way back to their normal pattern once the developmental surge passes.
Signs Your Baby Isn’t Sleeping Enough
Babies can’t tell you they’re tired in words, but their bodies give clear signals. Early signs of sleepiness include yawning, rubbing their eyes, pulling on their ears, staring into the distance, and a kind of prolonged whining that never quite becomes full crying. Catching these cues early makes it much easier to get your baby down.
When those early signs get missed, babies tip into overtiredness, which is paradoxically harder to manage. An overtired baby’s body releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which amp them up instead of calming them down. You’ll see louder, more frantic crying, sweating, hyperactivity, clinginess, and strong resistance to sleep. It’s a frustrating cycle: the more tired they get, the harder it is for them to fall asleep.
If your baby regularly seems wired at bedtime, fights naps, or wakes frequently through the night crying hard, they may be chronically overtired. Moving bedtime earlier by even 15 to 30 minutes can sometimes break the cycle, since it catches them before cortisol spikes.
Putting It All Together
The target for nighttime sleep at 10 months is 11 to 12 hours, with two daytime naps totaling 2 to 3 hours. Some variation is normal. What matters most is that your baby is getting roughly 13 to 14 hours total, waking up in a reasonable mood, and gaining weight on track. If sleep suddenly falls apart, developmental milestones or separation anxiety are the most likely culprits, and the disruption almost always resolves within a few weeks.