Your 10-Month-Old: Cruising the Furniture, Understanding What You Say
By the Growbaby team · Published Aug 4, 2026
Written against AAP, CDC and WHO guidance. How we write these guides
At a glance
- Cruising, walking sideways while holding furniture, is the usual route to walking.
- Simple instructions land: come here, give it to me, wave bye-bye.
- Emptying a container is more interesting than filling it, and comes first.
- Copying your actions is now a main way of learning.
- Understanding runs well ahead of speaking at this age.
Comprehension outpaces speech by a wide margin right now. Your baby may say nothing you recognize and still follow a simple request, which is worth knowing because it changes how much talking to them is worth doing. A running commentary on an ordinary day is genuinely useful input.
Physically, the furniture becomes a handrail. Cruising is how most babies get to walking, and it usually looks sideways and cautious before it looks like anything else.
What is new this month
Understanding runs well ahead of speaking right now, and that gap is worth knowing about. Your baby may say nothing you recognize and still follow a simple request, which means a running commentary on an ordinary day is real input rather than background noise.
Emptying a container comes before filling it, and that order is not random: taking out needs one decision, putting in needs aim as well. Physically, furniture becomes a handrail. Cruising is how most babies reach walking, and it looks sideways and cautious long before it looks like anything else.
Week by week, in the app
One thing to notice and one thing to try, for every week of the first three years. Here is what this month covers. The app works out which week your child is in from their birth date and brings each one to you on the day.
- Week 40Your baby is Walking with Support
- Week 41Your baby Understands Simple Commands
- Week 42Your baby is Taking Objects Out of Boxes
- Week 43Your baby is Imitating Actions
Read next
- When Do Babies Start Crawling?Most babies start moving across the floor somewhere between 6 and 10 months.
- When Can Babies Start Solid Foods?The AAP recommends only breast milk for approximately 6 months, then foods alongside continued breastfeeding.
- When Do Babies Sit Up?Sitting is two separate skills on the CDC's list, three months apart.
This week, for your baby
Growbaby works out which week your baby is in from their birth date and brings that week's activity to you on the day, so you are not looking up where you are. Plus adaptive soothing for the nights and Growy for the questions in between.
Frequently asked questions
Walking sideways while holding onto furniture, and it is the usual route to walking rather than a detour. The hands are doing the balancing while the legs learn the pattern.
More than they can say, by a wide margin. Simple instructions land at this age, like come here, give it to me, and wave bye-bye, long before any of those phrases can be produced.
It varies a great deal. The normal range for walking runs from about nine to eighteen months, and time spent cruising is not a countdown. Copying your actions is a main way of learning at this age, so walking often arrives alongside a lot of watching.
This guide is for general informational purposes only. Growbaby is not a medical device and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Every baby develops at their own pace; for any question or concern about your baby's health or development, always consult your pediatrician or another qualified healthcare provider.