Compared to just a month ago, our daughter has undergone a massive developmental surge.
Between 7 and 9 months, her progress felt steady and she was growing bigger and stronger, but she wasn’t quite putting all the pieces together.
Suddenly, everything seems to have hit her at once.
Understanding these rapid 10 month old behaviour changes has meant adapting to a baby who is now constantly on the move, asserting her independence, and keeping us on our toes every single minute of the day.
If you are about to work though this wild phase, here is what 10 months was/is actually like for us.
The good, the bad, and the exhausting.
At a Glance: What Changes Happened at 10 Months?
| Area | What She’s Doing Now | The Challenge |
| Mobility | Rapid crawling, cruising coffee tables & using legs to stand | Needs 24/7 supervision; doors & baby gates must stay shut |
| Language | Meaningful “Woof!”, “Mammama?”, and understanding “No” | Immediate drama/tears when set boundaries |
| Pets & Baby | Actively chasing the dog, reaching for his face & tail | Protecting the dog’s personal space; managing dog weight! |
| Mealtime | Testing cause and effect by throwing finger food | Dog gets shut out; messy floors require clean-ups |
| Outings | People-watching, waving, enjoying play cafés | Gets bored on quiet walks without endless singing |
The Mobility Explosion: Crawling & Cruising
After feeling like she was taking her time, all of a sudden she can crawl! (If you’re in the same boat, read our post on a 9 month old showing no signs of crawling.
Unlocking that mobility transformed everything practically overnight.
That newfound physical confidence quickly spilled over into cruising along furniture, pulling herself up, and attempting to hold her own bottle.
The coffee table has become her favourite habitat because it sits at the perfect height for her to lean against while doing lap after lap.
However, this mobility surge means we now need eyes in the back of our heads:
- Kitchen Hazards: I can set her down with toys, turn around to prep dinner, and 60 seconds later feel a tug on my trousers. She uses my legs to stand up, meaning if I move abruptly, she goes splat.
- Gate Enforcement: The stair gates we originally installed to keep our dog, Benny, from wandering are now essential baby barriers. If a door is left open, she immediately crawls through to explore.
Speech, Sound & Understanding “No”
While her physical skills have shot forward, sleep has unfortunately taken a huge step backward.
Dealing with a severe 10 month sleep regression made us so fed up that we recently committed to sleep training a 10 month old using the chair method.
It initially went well, for the first 3-4 days, but she’s clever, caught on quickly, and now the protest’s have started.
On the vocal side, her babbling has officially shifted into functional communication:
- Contextual Words: If she hears Benny or wonders where he is, she lets out a clear “Woof!”. When Mammy went to the bathroom this morning, she turned to me and asked, “Mammama?”.
- Selective Performance: You cannot prompt her to perform on command. If we ask her to say “Mamma”, she just stares blankly at us, but subconsciously, the brain power is whirring.
- Understanding “No”: Having heard us use the word “No” with the dog, she figured out its meaning fast. The first time I said “No” as she reached for the dog’s toys, cue instant, dramatic waterworks.
Managing Baby & Dog Dynamics
When we were first preparing our dog for a newborn, the focus was keeping him calm around her.
Now, the tables have turned and we have to protect him from her.
At 12kg, Benny is still larger than her, but she actively pursues him and encourages him to lick her face.
She hasn’t quite mastered gentle stroking yet; her hands go straight for his nose, feet, or tail. The exact spots he dislikes being touched. Poor thing.
He is remarkably patient, but guiding their relationship safely requires constant intervention.
As she gets stronger, we will have to actively intervene and teach her gentle touch habits before she pulls a tail too hard.
Mealtime Mayhem & Food Throwing
Finger foods have become an Olympic throwing event. Instead of eating, she is fascinated by gravity and cause-and-effect.
This created an unexpected secondary problem: our dog was getting fat from baby food because he acted as a 24/7 vacuum cleaner under her highchair.
We’ve now had to start locking him in the living room during meals until we can sweep up the floor, and we are dangerously close to returning to full spoon-feeding just to ensure food actually gets swallowed!
Walks, Outings & Boredom
Play cafés are suddenly worth every penny because she genuinely engages with new environments, sensory toys, and other children.
Outdoor walks, however, depend entirely on how busy the route is:
- Busy Paths: She loves waving at cyclists, runners, and spotting other “doggies”.
- Quiet Routes: If we walk down the quiet old train track near our house and don’t encounter anyone, she gets bored fast. This requires me to sing roughly 40 consecutive verses of Old MacDonald Had a Farm just to keep the peace until we get home.
Summing Up 10 Month Old Behaviour Changes
Experiencing these 10 month old behaviour changes brings a mix of frustration to the magic.
Sleep has taken a temporary step backward, and nappy battles are getting tougher as she gains strength, but watching her learn, smile, and figure out the world makes every chaotic / crazy moment worth it.
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