Episode #144 The Ideal 10 Month Old Wake Window

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Welcome to the kids sleep Show podcast where we dive into the magical world of sleep, and all things parenting. Join us as we embark on a journey filled with expert advice, practical tips and heartwarming stories that will transform your little ones into sleep superheroes, and empower you to navigate the beautiful chaos of parenting. I’m your host, Courtney Zentz. And I’m on a mission to change how the world view sleep and provide accessible sleep coaching resources for all families to build healthy sleep habits in their home for children and adults of all ages. As an award winning speaker, author and pediatric sleep expert, myself and my team of consultants work intimately with families around the world to teach healthy sleep habits to children and adults. I believe wholeheartedly that sleep is the foundation for which a happy home is built. So let’s sleep together. Hey, everyone, welcome to this week’s episode. I’m Courtney Zentz, the founder of tiny transitions and the sleep Steps program. I’m excited to talk to you today all about the 10 month old week window, nap schedules and how to sleep train a baby at this age with a few things that you need to keep in mind. So we’re going to start with some foundational information today, that’s going to help you to ensure your 10 month old is set up in the daytime. For optimal sleep at night. It’s very important that you understand daytime and nighttime sleep is extremely connected in how a child sleeps first and foremost, at 10 months of age, a child at this point needs a total of about three hours of daytime sleep. Why? Well, children sleep anywhere between 12 to 16 hours from four through 12 months of age. And so at this particular age, most families want 11 to 12 hours of sleep overnight. So if your child is going to bed at seven o’clock at night, you can expect them to wake somewhere between six and seven o’clock in the morning. If they’re going to bed at eight o’clock at night, you can expect them to sleep anywhere between seven and eight o’clock in the morning, which is really age appropriate. Now, if your child is going to bed much later than that or fighting to go down or up still multiple times overnight, it’s likely leading to one sheer exhaustion for you. And to misalignment of naps in the day. Because if they’re up half the night, then you feel guilty, then they take extra naps during the day. And then you get into this hamster wheel of things that aren’t going right, and your child’s not getting the sleep they need to be their best. So here’s what we’re gonna do. First, we’re going to talk about that three hours of total daytime sleep that a 10 month old needs and their right wake window at this age as well. So first, the Wake window, which is really the time in which a baby is awake, not just laying there and getting out of the crib. But physically awake. A lot of times parents will ask me is baby awake when I get them out? And is that when the week window starts? No, it’s actually when they wake up because what happens when your body’s awake. So the Wake window for a baby at 10 months old is three hours. And here’s why. When your child is born, and they wake up, right? They’re awake time yields a rise in something called adenosine. Okay, so adenosine is what we refer to as sleep pressure. Now, when your child wakes from birth through, you know, 110 years old, right? When you’re awake, your body’s producing adenosine. And then when you sleep, the adenosine levels fall. So out the day you’ve got this rise and fall in this adenosine level. Okay. Why is that important? Well, if your bodies wait too long, and you don’t have the right awake window, they’re going to have too much adenosine. So it’s going to keep rising, rising, rising, rising, rising, well, then your brain is going to go hey, if they’re not sleeping, and they should be, I’m gonna trigger stimulant hormones, because they’re obviously trying to stay awake. Right? You have all probably tried to put down a baby who’s overtired. They cry, they fuss. They don’t eat well, right? Because their brain is on overdrive, and their bodies strung out and exhausted. So paying attention to that week window is very critical. Now, that being said, I have a lot of families on the other side who will try to put a baby down too soon. Well, the problem is, you don’t have enough sleep pressure because they were only awake maybe for an hour and a half at 10 months old. And then you try to put them down and they sleep for 20 minutes. Well they don’t have enough pressure to stay asleep. So the balance of adenosine is what really helps the child to get that right nap schedule in and to be properly prepared. Going to sleep. Okay, so now that we’ve got that sorted, let me recap three hours of total daytime sleep. Any three hour awake window now, naps are really important as well this age. Children at 10 months old, have the ability to consolidate naps, they should be able to take longer naps. You independently settle and be napping on a schedule every day. Now, I had two children in daycare. So their schedule wasn’t perfect every day. But they did a pretty good job, right? So if you have a child in daycare who’s maybe taking three naps, it might be only one cycle naps 930 1233 30. And that’s just the way it rolls with daycare, they’ve got a bunch of kids, and they’re doing their best. They don’t normally put kids on a scheduled till they’re in the one year old room. Okay, that’s okay. Now, if your child does settle independently and does have a good nap schedule at home, most daycares are actually really willing to follow what you’re doing at home, because it’s one less child that’s fussy, not getting the right sleep pressure, not getting the right naps, and is ultimately fussy, right. So the ideal schedule for a 10 month old that I use with every private sleep coaching client that we have. And it’s also in our sleep steps course and program is a to nap schedule at this age. Okay, if your child is waking at 7am, which is typically age appropriate, because the sun’s coming up, as it is here, when I’m recording this at about 715 Then that means they’re going to get up at seven and have their first feeding. Their first nap is then going to be three hours later, you guessed it 10 o’clock in the morning, I force kids at 10 months old to attend a m nap why creates consistency and routine creates consistency in their body clock and it sets the tone for the rest of the day. So you might say well, what if my child gets up at 630? Well, I really forced them to get a 10 months to a 10 o’clock nap number one. First it creates that consistency, they have their second feeding of the day at 945. They go down for their nap at 10. They are clean, they are full, and they will take a nice long nap. Okay, and then their second nap will happen in the afternoon. Now, if your child is waking, let me explain what a day looks like. Typically, for 10 months old, they’re going to wake at seven. And their first nap is going to be 10 o’clock children typically have sleep patterns of 45 to 60 minutes. So what does that mean? They’re going to have a one cycle nap possibly. And that’s gonna mean it’s going from 10 to 11. Right, they might have a two cycle nap, in which case they go from 10 to 12. Or they might have a 90 minute nap if they have two cycles, and their sleep cycles. 45 minutes, okay, so that means they go from 10 to 1130. So you got that 10 To 1110 to 1130, or 10 to 12, that’s almost always going to be your baby’s nap number one, if they independently settle to sleep, okay, which means they have the ability in between those cycles, as I just mentioned, to go back down. If you’re rocking, to sleep, bouncing to sleep, feeding to sleep, nursing to sleep, you’re the mechanism to sleep, in which case, you need to do some sleep training. Here’s why. Because your baby, if they’re going down supported after 45 minutes is waking short nap. And then in order for them to get back down, you have to rock them to sleep, bounce them to sleep, feed them to sleep, right. So they are every time they’re waking through these cycles, they’re going to need your help, okay, which means they’re never going to take the two hour nap because they need your help, because they don’t understand the ability to independently settle. Okay, so that’s our first nap of the day. It’s 10 o’clock in the morning, and it’s either 60 minutes, 90 minutes or two hours at this age, which is age appropriate. What does that mean? Well, if their wake window is three hours, then you guessed it, their second nap if it’s 10 to 11 is typically going to be two to four. The longer nap of the day, there’s usually one in there, some kids are morning, some kids are afternoon depends on their body, okay, they sleep 10 to 1130, then they’re going to sleep 230 to four. Okay, and if they sleep 10 to 12, then they’re going to take a nap typically from three to four. So all three of those scenarios are the perfect day for a 10 month old, right, three hours of sleep, three hours of awake window, two hour nap, or two naps, and then a three hour wake window going to bedtime at seven o’clock. So they wake for the eat, then they go to bed at seven they eat right before they go to bed. So you get five full feedings in 710 147. So they get the 24 to 32 ounces of milk in the daytime that they need. They should not at this age still need to eat overnight. They’re on a to nap schedule, which balances their hormones. They get three hours in the day, which means they’ll get 11 to 12 overnight, and it should be consolidated restorative independent sleep. Okay. So that’s the standard schedule that I would advise for a baby at 10 months old and the schedule actually rings true. From seven months old, eight months old, nine months old, 10 months old, 11 months old and even at 12 months. It’s

somewhere between 12 and 15 months that they’re going to start to show signs that they are ready to drop that second nap. Why? Well the naps are they’re going to become really short, they’re going to refuse the second one. The second one is going to be like 20 minutes long, whereas before it was two hours. So you’ll start to notice all these different changes. That’s your cue as a parent that says, Okay, now we’ve got to get them to one nap. And that’s going to be something we discover and discuss in another episode. So right now you’re at 10 months old, your little ones taken to naps. They’re getting three hours a day time sleep 11 to 12 hours overnight. They got a three hour week window, you now know the schedule. And you can go ahead and begin to adjust those things to make sure your child’s getting optimal sleep in the day. For better sleep at night. Be sure to subscribe and ask any questions that you have out on tiny transitions.com You can set up a consult call with any of our amazing sleep consultants. We’re all here to help you. I have an amazing team of eight coaches plus myself who are specialized in everything you need to help your child sleep. Well. I’m Courtney Zentz. Thanks for watching this week. And thanks for tuning in. And we’ll see you next time here on the kids sleep show. One more thing before you go. Did you know that we offer the industry’s first affordable and effective self paced sleep coaching program that includes time with a pediatric sleep expert here on the tiny transitions team. It’s the industry’s first and only membership program like this, that you can cancel anytime and the best part. It’s cheaper than a cup of coffee every single day. So say goodbye to the ebooks and courses that are not helping your child sleep better. And join sleep steps today. The most comprehensive sleep education you need to get everyone sleeping through the night. Learn more by visiting tiny transitions.com