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Baby Development: Your 10-Month-Old

By Steven Jerome Parker, MD
WebMD Commentary

We're up to 10 months. I'd like to discuss your baby's temperament today but first let's take stock:

Baby Month by Month

Your baby's first year will be full of joys and challenges. WebMD pediatrician Steven Parker, MD, explains what you can expect as your baby grows and develops.

Related to baby development

baby milestones, baby bottles , baby talk, breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, colic, communicating with baby, crying, diapers, feeding solids, separation anxiety, social smile, well-baby checkups

Motor Movements

Do you know that oldie but goodie by Little Eva, "The Loco-Motion"? I'm guessing that could your little one's current theme song. Creeping around (moving around while the belly still touches the ground) then to scooting (moving around with one leg moving) to full-blown crawling (on hands and knees). Triumphantly getting from A to B!

Like everything else, for some this is happening now, while others may not locomote much for another few months. (Some normal babies never crawl at all but go from sitting to walking, thereby avoiding the middle man!) A few of yours may even be pulling to stand and taking a few hesitant, independent steps And look at for that "neat pincer" grasp, which will scoop up and put into the mouth the smallest visible objects known to man.

Your Baby's Language

Your baby's simple babbling now has probably morphed into complex "jargoning." It is complicated and sounds like real sentences, except in Martian, not English. (In my paranoid days, I decided all 10-month-olds were speaking their own language which they alone could understand and we adults couldn't. They are really saying things to each other like "Don't let the giants know you can talk, so they will think you are more helpless and do more for you then!")

Social/Emotional Skills

Likely your baby is in the throes of stranger and separation anxiety (which we discussed in detail at 7 months). What this means is that, as in most developmental stages, human relationships are by far the most important for establishing emotional bonds and for learning about the world.

Your Baby's Thinking

Your baby's sense of object permanence is much better and she knows things continue to exist outside of her perception of them. Additionally, your baby is learning about what causes things to happen. Previously, things happened magically, but now she is learning it is pulling a switch that causes the room to be flooded with light or it is the turning of a switch on the wind-up toy that actually causes it to move. This is an exciting time for your baby, who is making great intellectual leaps!

Your Baby's Temperament

Now, let's consider your baby's temperament. By now you, no doubt, know she has one. For example, is your child:

Intense in all things or mellow and laid back?
Predictable in daily routines (eating sleeping) or frustratingly irregular (who knows when she is going to be hungry or ready to fall asleep)?
Active or physically passive?
Socially outgoing or slow to warm up?
Easily distracted or has laser-like attention and persistence?
A sensation-seeking, daredevil risk-taker or cautious?
Adapts easily to changes in routine or gets totally bent out of shape?
Overly sensitive to sounds, taste, touch or easily accepting of any environment?

It's may be a bit too early for you to have recognized all of these temperamental traits, but they will become clearer in the next year. Still, I wanted to discuss temperament sooner rather than later because I think the whole concept is so important to think about, especially since it is often an unnecessary cause of great parent-child strife.

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