9-Month-Old: Milestones, Activities, Gear, Dad Tips, & More
Your baby might be eating solid food, sleeping through the night, and cruising on their own. This is a huge change in the last few months. Next up, college.
Here’s a comprehensive guide to 9-month-old milestones, activities to do with your baby, what to expect with food and sleep, recommendations for toys and gear, ways to master being a dad, and more.
9-Month-Old Milestones
Clapping their hands.
Picking up small objects using their thumb and index finger (pincer grasp)
Imitating simple words and gestures
Understanding simple commands, such as "no" or "bye-bye"
Responding to their own name and familiar sounds
Sits without hand support for ~10 minutes
Crawls on hands and knees for a few feet
Standing independently without support.
Cruising (walking while holding onto furniture or other objects).
Engaging in pretend play
Reflexes
Sideward parachute (protective extension sideward; onset age 7 months): The sideward parachute reflex is similar to the forward parachute reflex, but it is elicited when the baby is lifted to the side rather than straight up. The reflex causes the baby to extend their arms and legs to the side as if they are "parachuting" sideward. This reflex helps to develop coordination and balance, and may also play a role in the development of crawling and other gross motor skills.
Supine tilting (onset age 7-8 months): The supine tilting reflex is elicited when the baby is held in a supine (face up) position and tilted from side to side. The reflex causes the baby to move their arms and legs in a way that helps to maintain balance and stability. This reflex helps to develop coordination and balance, and may also play a role in the development of crawling and other gross motor skills.
Sitting tilting (onset age 7-8 months): The sitting tilting reflex is elicited when the baby is held in a seated position and tilted from side to side. The reflex causes the baby to move their arms and legs in a way that helps to maintain balance and stability.
Backward parachute (protective extension backward; onset age 9-10 months): The backward parachute reflex is similar to the forward parachute reflex, but it is elicited when the baby is tilted backwards rather than lifted straight up. The reflex causes the baby to extend their arms and legs backwards as if they are "parachuting" backwards. This reflex helps to develop coordination and balance, and may also play a role in the development of crawling and other gross motor skills.
Quadruped tilting (onset age 9-12 months): The quadruped tilting reflex is elicited when the baby is in a quadruped position (on all fours) and tilted from side to side. The reflex causes the baby to move their arms and legs in a way that helps to maintain balance and stability. This reflex helps to develop coordination and balance, and may also play a role in the development of crawling and other gross motor skills.
Activities To Help Your Child Thrive
Obstacle course. Set up an obstacle course using chairs on their sides, sheets, tables, pillows as “mountains,” and anything else you can get your hands on. Have your baby chase you and smother them with love when they reach the end.
Get wet. Find ways to expose your child to water. Sit them in a very shallow pool, put their hands in buckets of water with different temperatures and textures in it, gently spray them with the hose, get them muddy in the grass, and use the water table in the toy recommendations below.
Sing. Sing different songs and nursery rhymes to your baby. This might be a no-duh concept at this stage of the game but it’s important to reiterate because singing has been shown to help with language development and listening skills.
Food
Consumes about 24-32 ounces of formula or breast milk at each feeding
Eats about 4-6 times a day
Bottle nipple size: Level 4 or Y-cut (based on the Dr. Brown bottles)
Consider starting your baby with Baby Led Weaning if you haven’t yet
Sleep
Typical sleep total per day: 11-14 hours
9-month-olds typically take 2-3 naps a day lasting 1-2 hours each
Red Flags
It’s important to note that babies develop at different paces. If you’re not seeing these 9-month-old milestones, reflexes, or patterns with sleep or food then talk to your pediatrician.
Stuff
Toys (with a purpose)
Here are some toys recommended by an occupational therapist to help your 5-month-old’s development.
Sensory floor mat (doubles as a protective mat against hard or raised surfaces).
Gear (that you actually need)
Puffworks Organic PB Puffs. Exposure to allergens early on in life has proven to be an effective way to avoid allergies. With peanuts being a very common allergen, expose your kids early and often. Of course you can just mix peanut butter in with other things (be aware of the choking hazard of straight-up PB into the mouth with kids) but these puffs are an easy way to do it.
Stuff to help you stay (get?) organized. The toys might be piling up so if you’re not planning on another kid, start to donate or sell them. For what’s left, get organized because there are only going to be smaller and more abundant pieces in your future. Use large, stackable, and see-through containers for the big stuff and these plastic mesh zippers for the smaller stuff such as puzzles and toys with multiple parts. We lined the play area with benches with removable storage bins underneath them.
Jogging stroller. Whether you’re heading out for a walk, a long run, or hill sprint repeats, a decent stroller goes a long way. The City Mini stroller treated us great when we lived in the city because of its easy handling and collapsibility but the BOB Gear Revolution 3.0 is a good step up.
Get gates. Since your baby is able to move around more independently it’s important to babyproof (see below) and to keep them away from any danger zones. I was never a fan of placing a baby in smaller playpens for long stretches of time (although I do get why many busy parents use them). We created a space in our living room for a larger area of exploration bordered by a wall, a couch, and this fully-opened gate. These wooden swing-away doorway gates make it much easier to get in and out of doorways, look better than traditional gates, and they’re easier to use and safer for older caregivers than the gates with
Baby-proof everything. Your kid is officially mobile which means you’re going to be doing a lot of chasing for the foreseeable future. Stay ahead of his safety by babyproofing anything and everything that could result in an ED visit. Grab a babyproof kit and don’t forget to anchor furniture to those walls.
A good vacuum. Your baby learned bout “intuitive physics” (e.g. gravity) around 2 months old. Combine that with feeding and your floor is in for a world of hurt. Get a good cordless vacuum like a Dyson (don’t make the mistake I made by going cheap on these) and/or a good robovac like a Roomba. Also, grab a washable splat mat for under that baby’s high chair for further protection.
Dads
“When you have kids, you’re responsible for their mistakes. Their mistakes, their heartaches, their happiness… you take everything on yourself!”
– Zidrou
Dad Focus
Plan a trip. Sit down with your partner and plan a trip for just you two. Do it just after the baby’s first birthday as a way to celebrate the first year as well as to kick back and enjoy each other’s company with less stress in the air. Leaving for the first time won’t be easy (for you or the caregivers stepping in) so make it short and sweet.
Dad Tips
Move your router. The electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation shooting out of devices like your phone is powerful when close up but the most powerful device in the home tends to be the router which tends to sit near the TV. If you haven’t done so yet, move the router to the place in the home that’s furthest from your child’s primary area of play and sleep. Babies brains are extremely susceptible to radiation given their thin skulls. That router position is a high-risk/low-reward situation now that you know the potential consequences.
Leave work at work. When you come through the door each night, compartmentalize any issues you had at work. Leave the stress, the looming deadlines and deals, and even the work fatigue outside the door. When you step inside, put your phone away and make those remaining minutes of the night your children’s.
Have regular family dinners. This was a very memorable and important part of my upbringing and it’s something I was eager to bring to my kid’s routine. Some dinners are emotional, most dinners are a bit crazy, but every dinner is our family’s fingerprint. According to The Family Dinner Project, there are significant benefits associated with regular family dinners including better academic performance, lower risk of substance abuse, depression, and improved vocabulary to name some.
Start an annual photo book. I got this idea from the Wellness Mama before my first kid. In the months leading up to Christmas, I use Shutterfly to create a big photo book of my favorite pictures commemorating the year for each of my kids. I write a personal note on the inside of the cover and then on Christmas morning we open it and reflect on the year together.
It takes a bit of time—especially if you have a tough time cutting down the total number of pictures like me—so start this early. Make the tradition for Christmas, their birthday, or another important day. With my kids so young, it’s already nice to be able able to go back and see our favorite days together and how much they’ve changed.
Don’t wipe your kid’s mouth while they’re eating. Your kid is going to get messy when they eat and they’re not going to care. When you wipe their mouth between bites they will hate it and they will start to care and they’ll associate it with the food itself. This means you’re involuntarily conditioning your child to dislike eating with you, eating certain foods, and/or eating. Not wiping their mouth also gives them feedback as to when they’ve missed the mouth and prevents tactile defensiveness down the road. Let them get messy. See this Baby Pillars article for a deeper dive.
Resources
Article:
How Fatherhood Has Changed Over The Years (Daily Dad)
Why Kids Need Dirt (Wellness Mama)
The Definitive Guide to Feeding Primal Babies (Mark’s Daily Apple)
Podcast Episode:
Useful Tips for Parenting and Life with Rob Scott (Little Sprigs podcast)
Book:
10 Ways to Grow Tiny Superhumans (e-book by Ben Greenfield)
The first year is coming to a close. Eat up the time with your 9-month-old, celebrate the milestones, and remember that you’ve got it good.
Got any suggestions that worked for you and your baby at this age? Leave them in the comment section.
