A Look at Your 10-Week-Old Baby’s Typical Day
By the time your baby is 10 weeks old, activities such as naps, feedings, and midnight diaper changes become somehow routine. Understanding what to anticipate for your 10-week-old and mastering certain management skills can turn you into a pro.
A Glimpse Into a 10-Week-Old Baby’s Sleep
At around 10 weeks, your baby’s schedule tends to become more foreseeable, despite not being able to make appointments just yet. Given that newborns will sleep for around 75% of the day, that’s between 14 and 17 hours a day, though not continuously.
- Mornings usually begin with your baby waking up, eating, playing, and then going for a prelunch sleep after about two hours of activity, around 9 or 10 a.m.
- Expect the eat-play-nap cycle to repeat in the afternoon, with the second nap typically starting around 1 p.m.
- A late afternoon or early evening nap, typically around 4 p.m., completes the day.
With time, sporadic sleep patterns unfold into specific naps with your baby sleeping for increasingly foreseeable durations, generally about 1 to 1 1/2 hours per nap. Nevertheless, sleep patterns vary every few weeks; babies who sleep only for 30 minutes at a time or are yet to sleep through the night have nothing to worry about, as these habits will develop eventually.
Establishing Healthy Sleep Patterns for Your 10-Week-Old
Helping your baby develop a consistent sleep routine ties up nicely to creating a predictable day, balancing life, work, and your infant. Being consistent is the key to forming routines, particularly in relation to sleep.
Here are some ways to foster a healthy sleep routine:
- Maintain a daily schedule as consistent as possible, with core activities like meals, naps, baths, and outings happening around the same time.
- Try to make your baby sleep in the same place (their crib or bassinet) for most naps.
- Create cues for your baby to learn their schedule, using strategies like dimming the lights for nap time or giving a bath before bedtime.
Be careful not to be too rigid with these routines, as it’s important for babies to retain some flexibility for when unforeseen changes to the schedule occur. This flexibility will also prove essential in preventing meltdowns when you’re out running errands or after appointments when you need your baby to nap in a stroller or car seat.
How to Keep Your 10-Week-Old Baby Healthy
Attempting to protect your baby from illness, you might find yourself constantly sanitizing everything. Leaving risks aside, babies are more prone to catch illnesses due to their immature immune system—averaging eight to 10 colds a year before they turn 2.
In most cases, regular contact with the pediatrician and monitoring the cold will suffice as the baby usually recovers without additional treatment. However, at home, you might want to try a few remedies to make your baby more comfortable:
- Use a bulb syringe or nasal aspirator to clear the baby’s clogged nose before feeds.
- Saline nose drops can thin the mucus, making the bulb syringe more effective.
- A cool-mist humidifier in the baby’s sleeping environment will moisten the air and could help soothe the irritated nasal passages and relieve congestion.
Contact a healthcare professional promptly if your infant presents symptoms such as getting worse instead of better, tugging on ears (indicating possible ear infection), appearing listless, having fewer wet diapers, crying or seeming uncomfortable, or their rectal temperature rises above 100.4 degrees F, which is considered an emergency in babies under 3 months of age.
Navigating Life with a 10-Week-Old: Asking for Help
Life can be overwhelming with a 10-week-old baby, hence the importance of reaching out for help. Be specific about what kind of assistance you need when asking friends or family. This help could range from doing a few loads of laundry, taking over dinner preparations, or taking care of late-night feedings to allow you extra sleep.
Lastly, remember, it is entirely normal to feel overwhelmed at times; make sure to connect with your support network regularly for help and advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why is my 10-week-old not sleeping through the night?
Sleep patterns vary among babies and develop over time. It is, therefore, normal for a 10-week-old not to sleep through the night yet. - What should I do when my 10-week-old gets cold symptoms?
Keep in contact with your pediatrician and consider home remedies such as using a bulb syringe to clear their nose, saline nose drops, and a cool-mist humidifier. - How can I manage overwhelming feelings as a new parent?
Ask for help—it’s okay and entirely normal to need assistance. Be specific about what you need help with when asking friends or family.