Just when sleep felt stable again, your 8-to-10-month-old starts fighting bedtime, waking at night, and standing in the crib at 2 a.m. This regression is driven by an explosion of new skills — and it passes.
What's behind it
- Motor milestones: crawling, pulling to stand, cruising. Babies literally practice in their sleep — and wake themselves up doing it.
- Separation anxiety: around 8 months, babies fully grasp that you exist when you leave the room… and they'd rather you didn't.
- Nap transition: many babies drop from 3 naps to 2 around this age, and the schedule wobbles during the change.
- Language burst: the brain is processing sounds and first words — mental leaps disturb sleep as much as physical ones.
How to handle it
1. Give daytime practice for nighttime skills
The more your baby practices standing and sitting back down during the day, the less they'll rehearse at 2 a.m. If they stand in the crib and can't get down, calmly help them down once — then let them practice.
2. Take separation anxiety seriously (during the day)
Play peek-a-boo, practice short separations ("I'll be right back" — then come back), and build a strong connection ritual before bed. A consistent comfort presence in the crib environment, like CuddleBud (following age guidance for items in the sleep space), gives many babies a familiar anchor when they surface between sleep cycles.
3. Hold your routine steady
This is not the moment to experiment. Same bedtime, same order, same responses at night. Predictability is reassurance.
4. Watch the wake windows
At 8–10 months, most babies need 2.5–3.5 hours awake between sleeps. If the third nap is gone, bedtime may need to move 30–60 minutes earlier temporarily.
5. Avoid creating new long-term habits
Comfort your baby — but try to keep responses consistent with what you want in a month. If you never feed to sleep, this isn't the week to start.
How long does it last?
Usually 2 to 6 weeks. If sleep was solid before, it comes back. If sleep was never solid, this can be a good moment to revisit the fundamentals — see our sleep schedule by age guide and our 4-month regression article for the foundations.
This article is for general information only and is not medical advice.