It’s finally the ninth month! You are now in the third quarter of your baby’s first year and more exciting developments are here awaiting both you and your baby.
During this month, you little one is getting better at crawling. You can even see him waving goodbye and uttering more sounds out of his cute mouth.
While every baby develops at a different pace, you may read on to find out more on what you can expect from your nine-month-old.
Nine-Month-Old Developmental Milestones
9-month-old Sleep
We have a good news for all mums of 9-month-old babies: You baby is most likely to sleep through the night by this month.
Generally, your nine-month-old baby is going to sleep for 14 to 15 hours per day. While sleeping for 11 hours at night, he is going to have two naps for around 3 hours.
9-Month-Old Feeding
Starting from his eighth month to his one-year-old, your baby needs 750 to 900 calories per day. Mind that half of the calories should come from the formula or breast milk. So, here’s how much a nine-month-old baby should eat.
- If you are feeding your baby with formula, he should have six to eight ounces for six times a day.
- If you are breastfeeding your baby, he should be breastfed for every three to four hours.
- If you are trying to feed your baby with solid food, you can start with six to eight ounces for three times with additional two snack times a day.
As opposed to the previous months, you can now start your feeding with solid food and then proceed with formula or breast milk.
As a reference, here’s a feeding schedule for your nine-month-old baby:
Key Milestones In Growth
In his ninth month, your baby is going to experience growth spurt. Here’s the average weight and height that you can expect from your nine-month-old baby.
- Weight: Around 8.21 kg for a 9-month-old baby girl and 8.89 kg for a 9-month-old baby boy
- Length: Around 70.10 cm for a 9-month-old baby girl and 71.88 cm for a 9-month-old baby boy
Related: Find out more about newborn developmental milestones on Motherhood Story.
Key Milestones In Skill Development and Senses
Key Milestones in Movement
- can use fingers to point at things
- can creep and crawl on the ground
- can change positions quickly
- can pull up with support from the furniture to stand
- can stand up without any aid
- enjoys bouncing up and down or rocking back and forth
- can pick up smaller toys
- can wave goodbye
Since your nine-month-old is showing signs of walking by moving around the room with the support of furniture, should you buy him a pair of shoes?
The answer is less likely a yes, as your baby is currently moving in indoors. On top of this, your baby can actually develop better muscles and tendons in his feet when he’s on his bare feet. And it’s easier to grip the floor in bare feet, too.
Looking into crawling, you can actually help to strengthen his crawling skills by adding some variations into the crawling activities. These variations include:
Key Milestones in Five Senses
- can see colours well
- makes a lot of different sounds such as ‘mamamama’ and ‘babababa’
- can copy sounds and gestures of others
- can recognise familiar faces and sounds
- can understand simple questions and the word ‘no’
- able to follow some routine commands that are paired with gestures
- might be afraid of strangers
- has his favourite toys that he often reaches for
As your baby moves into his ninth month, he no longer likes to be passed to unfamiliar arms. You would notice that your baby starts to become clingy whenever there is a stranger nearby.
Worry not, this is common in his developmental milestones and it’s known as the stranger anxiety. Your baby starts to understand that the relationship he has with his loved ones is different than the relationship he has with strangers.
Thus, he would start to look for familiar people to express his frustration over strangers. To help your baby feel more comfortable around strangers, here’s what you can do:
Play Time With Your 9-Month-Old Baby
As your baby is learning to develop his skills, you can try out these activities to enhance his gross and fine motor skills.
Mind that if your baby shows disinterest towards an activity, you should try out other activities to find out what he enjoys. Never force your baby to participate in any activities.
On top of this, you should also ensure the toys and objects used in the activities are safe and non-toxic. And always be by his side whenever he is playing.
Practice Patience and Calm While Getting Through The Nine-Month-Old Developmental Milestones
As babies develop new skills along the journey, all you need to do is to be patient and try your best to help your baby to develop the essential skills.
Simply stay curious with your little one and explore more with baby books, play and even new food.
For more interesting stories and fun recipes, stay tuned to Motherhood Story!