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10th Month Guide
 There
is much fun to be had during the tenth month of babyhood, for both
parents and babies. Many babies are extremely mobile during this
month: some babies are even walking now. Most, however, are simply
crawling and pulling up. This can create quite a bit more work for
parents, but it can also mean a lot more fun.
Most babies have teeth now, can eat a wider variety
of foods, and have often added a word or two to their vocabulary.
While your baby will not be able to communicate to you as well as
when she is speaking plainly on a regular basis, she has likely
developed the ability to communicate her needs to you pretty decently.
Physical Development and Appearance
Depending on how active your baby is, he may begin
to thin out during the tenth month. While this doesn’t happen
to all babies until after the first year, many will begin to get
taller without actually putting on much weight. This means that
your baby will not actually lose any weight, but will begin to look
a little thinner. Weight loss is not normal, so if your baby is
having any difficulties eating and seems to be losing weight, you
will need to consult with your pediatrician. If your baby simply
looks a little thinner, this probably isn’t anything to be
concerned about. This happens for two reasons. The most obvious
reason is that your baby can now crawl, and possibly do many other
physical activities, that he could not do before. This means that
he is burning way more calories than he did when he was sedentary.
Another big reason that babies can begin to thin out at this age
is that their main source of nutrition is beginning to be food,
rather than formula or breast milk.
While baby food and juices can give your baby
most of the nutrition he needs, including vitamins, minerals and
calories, breast milk and formula consist of many more calories
than food or juices. So, as long as your baby still receives formula
or breast milk as part of his daily diet, and he continues to have
the same (or larger) appetite as before, thinning out shouldn’t
be any kind of cause for concern.
Many parents are shocked by the abilities of their
babies in the tenth month. While your baby may not have many words
for what she wants to tell you, she can likely still get many of
her wants and needs across to you in some way or another. This tends
to be the month where every little thing your baby does can baffle
you, including the little details, such as knowing that a shoe belongs
on a foot (since she cannot say “that shoe belongs on my foot,”
she may show you her knowledge of this by holding her foot out for
you to put the shoe on).
Care for Baby
- Skin care—the tenth month usually brings
with it nothing new in the area of skin care. You may still choose
to apply lotion to your baby, or you may not. Just as before,
it is very important to apply sunblock to your baby to prevent
sunburns. Babies can usually burn rather easily, so it is best
to not take any chances when it comes to preventing this from
happening.
If your baby has been diagnosed with eczema, this is something
that you will still have to deal with in the tenth month, and
likely for the rest of the baby’s life.
- Teething—many babies will already have
a few teeth in the tenth month, but this does not mean that you
will not have to deal with teething. If your baby does cut teeth
in this month, and they aren’t your baby’s first teeth,
you may have different issues than before. With some babies, there
are certain teeth that can cause more pain than others, and certain
teeth that don’t seem quite as bothersome to your little
one while they are coming in.
Another thing to know in advance is that all teeth can cause different
problems when coming in. For example, some teeth may cause your
baby to have more stomach pains and problems, such as diarrhea,
than others. While many parents know this, it is sometimes easily
forgotten when your baby is sick. It can be a situation such as
a baby that normally only runs a slight fever with teeth is suddenly
refusing to eat and has diarrhea, and the parents (even though
they know that teething can cause these problems) are worried
about the baby thinking something else may be wrong.
Anytime you are worried about your baby and think it may be anything
more than teething, you should definitely call his doctor. But,
if you are aware of the types of symptoms that are to be expected,
it can prevent many unwarranted trips to the doctor.
Just as with last month, you may have to worry about biting. This
is especially true the more teeth your baby has grown. This can
be an especially big problem for mothers that breastfeed.
If your baby bites you, one of the best things you can do is to
take the breast away. At this age, most babies have already learned
what the word “no” means. Tell him “no”
and take the breast away for a few minutes. It won’t take
too many times before your baby will connect biting with the breast
being taken away, and he will likely stop. If this doesn’t
work, you can lightly thump your baby on the nose when he bites
you. This isn’t painful for the baby (you should only do
it hard enough to get his attention), but is just irritating enough
that it makes the baby want to stop biting.
- Bathing—there isn’t a very big
difference from the ninth month to the tenth, unless your baby
has decided he no longer likes the bath ring you have been using.
This is possible, or—depending on your baby’s size—you
have decided to stop using the bath ring because he may have difficulty
fitting into it comfortably. If you now have to bathe your baby
in the big adult tub without a ring, there are a few things you
can do to make it as safe as possible.
You should use some sort of slip prevention, such as a bath mat
or stick-ons. Either will work, but you should be sure that you
are getting ones that stick well. The stick-on kind that you stick
all over the bottom of your tub can come in a variety of shapes
and colors. This means that your baby will probably love messing
with them while in the tub, so you don’t want some that
will come up easily when your baby scratches at them.
It is also very important to never leave your baby unsupervised
while bathing with or without a bath ring. Even if you have slip-resistant
stickers or a mat, it is still unsafe to leave a baby unattended.
To do so can lead to a variety of injuries, including cuts or
bruises, as well as drowning.
At this age, especially if your baby is no longer using a bath
ring or other form of restraint, it is very important to keep
all objects out of the reach of babies. This includes such things
as soaps and shampoos, as well as razors.
- Discipline—unfortunately, with mobility
and curiosity comes the need for discipline. This is not the same
type of discipline, though, that you will need to use as your
baby gets older. The main purpose of discipline for a ten month
old baby is not to simply teach them to mind and have respect.
Instead, it is to keep the baby from getting hurt. While you will
do your best to prevent any possibility of injury around your
home, it is impossible to prevent everything with baby-proofing.
For those things that you simply can’t baby-proof, you have
to teach your baby, as early as possible, to stay away from them.
There are a variety of methods of discipline, including time-outs,
spatting your baby’s hands, telling your baby “no”
in a firm voice used only for discipline, and more. There are
many places you can find information on what does and doesn’t
work in disciplining babies, but every baby is different. Regardless
of your beliefs, or the beliefs of others in how you discipline
your baby, the most important thing is that you must protect him
from injury in the best way that you know how.
- Tooth care—tooth care should not have
changed from the ninth month to the tenth month, unless your baby
had no teeth then and does now. You should still brush your baby’s
teeth after every meal if possible, doing so at least twice a
day.
You should also still use a baby toothbrush and toothpaste and
brush his tooth or teeth, as well as his gums. This can clean
the teeth that are already there, and protect the ones that have
yet to grow in. To provide your baby with the healthiest teeth,
you should not allow him to go to sleep with a bottle, particularly
if there is juice in it.
- Sleep—it is likely that your baby’s
sleep schedule hasn’t really changed from last month to
this month. Most likely, if your baby doesn’t sleep through
the night yet, he probably won’t until he is broken from
the breast or bottle. For tips on doing this, you can see below.
Naptime is likely only twice a day now (although, depending on
how a long a baby sleeps at night, it may be three times a day).
You may find yourself looking forward to this time of day as a
way to get something done around your house, or to spend time
on yourself, but you may feel guilty for enjoying this. You should
enjoy it though, and you should try not to let guilt get in the
way of your enjoyment. For many parents, the break that naptime
supplies is much-needed for their mental health and well-being.
There is no reason to feel guilty for wanting to take advantage
of this.
- Eating—not much will usually change
between the ninth and tenth months in regards to eating. Your
baby still probably likes the same types of foods and still probably
only eats the same types of foods as last month.
One big difference, although this can vary from baby to baby,
is that your baby may be eating slightly more food than last month,
and slightly less formula or breast milk. This is perfectly natural,
and is your baby’s way of beginning the weaning process
on his own.
Experiences
- Toys for this age—most likely, your baby’s
toy preferences will not have changed much from the ninth month
to the tenth month. Your baby will likely enjoy toys that are
not toys, as well as true toys that he can pull up on.
Animals, light-up, and musical toys are all favorites of babies
around ten months of age. Most babies at this age prefer interactive
toys as opposed to ones that he is just supposed to watch. This
usually includes toys that make noise when you squeeze them or
push a button, as well as the ones that are intended to be hit.
Pop-up toys also become quite popular with this age group.
Most babies no longer care for swings or bouncers at this age,
because they don’t usually care for the restraint. Your
baby may love jumpers, but he probably hates to be stuck in a
playpen to play.
- Parents—the tenth month is one of the
most fun months for parents. While it gets more fun every month
from here on, it also becomes more work. Not only is your little
one more mobile, which means you have to watch him closer and
protect him more, but he will also become more and more independent
with each passing day.
This can mean a variety of new parenting difficulties, one of
the most predominant being learning to let go. Babies at this
age begin to make their own decisions about things. Obviously,
they are small decisions about unimportant things (such as not
liking a certain type of food, throwing a screaming fit for one
reason or another, or choosing to touch something knowing that
you don’t want him to), but they are still decisions made
by your baby.
This can be a hard fact for many parents to grasp, because for
so long they were unable to make decisions on their own, so every
single thing was dictated by the parents. This means that your
little opinionated ten month old can definitely make things more
interesting, to say the least.
With all this difficulty, though, comes some of the most precious
times a parent will ever experience. You can watch your baby take
those first steps (possibly this month), watch him begin to say
words that you have never heard him say, see him wave bye-bye
for the first time, and more.
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