Trying to master sitting, standing, pulling up and crawling will keep your nine month old baby very busy.
Babies will continue “pulling up” on pieces of furniture with their newly-discovered leg strength, even if they haven’t started crawling yet and even though walking may still be a while away. At nine months many babies can stand without assistance and sit with almost complete balance, and move easily into a sitting position. Their gross motor movements are quick and their grasp is purposeful and mostly well-coordinated.
At nine months a baby can also release objects when and where she wants. Voluntary grasp and release move the baby further along in hand eye coordination for building blocks and putting puzzles together. She will like to put small objects into openings and holes and point a lot now that she can separate her index finger from the rest of her fingers. Your baby also has a firm touch which she will use to send messages to you and others.
The baby may start to display some cognitive problem solving skills. If given a string that is attached to a toy he will finger the string inquisitively and experiment with pulling it and seems to understand that the string and the toy are somehow casually related. Through repeating this behaviour he will confirm that this is the case. There is also a lot of shaking, dangling and banging of toys, and your baby will demonstrates understanding of object permanence, where he will look for a toy he can’t see.
A nine month old baby has the capacity to distribute her attention effectively and engage in multiple tasks and will not be so easily distracted when many different events are happening around her. She will be able to sit in a stroller, eat from a spoon, hold her doll and look around her all at the same time.
In addition to the baby’s problem solving skills, recall memory and attention control there are other developments this month. Your baby is likely to be very curious and aware that her own actions are part of a chain of cause and effect and will use her new skills to deal with everyday difficulties in her physical surroundings, such as navigating around an obstacle in her path while crawling.
Babies have been known to lose interest in breastfeeding around the ninth month but it doesn’t mean you necessarily need to cease breastfeeding. If they do come off the breast completely don’t be concerned – try expressing and bottle feeding or serving your breast milk in a sippy cup.
Self feeding should be encouraged if interest is shown, and don’t worry too much about how messy your baby is, as she is learning about cause and effect, texture and temperature. Try giving her a rusk or another age appropriate finger food to start off with.
Changes in sleep patterns are also common as babies begin to prefer being awake and playing rather than taking a nap and will become overtired. Daytime naps are still necessary even for short periods.
Your baby may also start exercising more control over her social interactions such as refusing to interact, and ignoring reprimands. She may begin to frown more often, to indicate displeasure, and may also exhibit anxiety of strangers as they begin to become familiar with the people they see every day and consequently become wary of anyone they don’t have regular contact with. This is normal and it will subside.
The information provided on Essential Baby is, at best, of a general nature and cannot substitute for the advice of a medical professional (for instance, a qualified doctor, child health nurse, pharmacist/chemist, and so on). If you have any concerns about your child’s development please contact a medical professional.
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