My Baby At 9 Months

Every month my little baby is getting bigger, more active, more inquisitive, more communicative and less my little baby. She is amazing and continues to make me smile. It’s not always easy, I am frequently exhausted, but her hugs, kisses and smiles help make it all easier.

A 9 month old baby sitting on the floor if the forest on brown leaves next to a log and in front of a tree
So excited to be 9 months old


Feeding

During the day Little isn’t nursing very often. There is frequently too much going on so she is too distracted to feed. She still feeds to sleep, but she needs a quiet room or to be exhausted. Probably because of the short, occasional day feeds Little is feeding a lot at night. In the last month night feeds have generally been every 2 to 3 hours and last about half an hour.

Little continues to eat food really well. She can now pick up small pieces and bites pieces off to chew. She shows a preference for some foods during the course of the day e.g. if she has had a lot of starchy food she then will prefer to eat fruits. So far we haven’t found any foods she doesn’t like and I’m continuing to offer a wide range of flavours and textures.

Sleeping

Sleep, what’s that? We have got through another sleep regression and the amount of time napping has reduced. On far too many days I get the nap times wrong so she doesn’t get enough sleep. She either ends up having a late nap as she is exhausted (and then late bedtime) or she’s really cranky because I keep her awake.
What seems to work best is if I keep her awake most of the morning e.g. at a baby group and then let her nap around lunch time. If she gets a long nap then it usually works out ok.
At home I normally feed Little to sleep, but at night if she wakes up straight after a feed, or is awake after a long feed I rock her to sleep. When we are out she will fall asleep in the pushchair, car or sling. These naps tend to be shorter due to disruptions.
Bedtime is between 6.30 and 7.30 (depending on the last nap) and she wakes up for the day between 5.30 and 7. On the plus side we managed to cruise through the clock change. A late nap on the way home from shopping meant a late bedtime and an extremely late (for her) wake up.

A photo posted by Kate Kirk (@essexkate) on

Growth

Every day Little seems to get heavier so I know she is growing well. She has moved into 9 to 12 month clothes (arrgghh she’s nearly a year old) and is wearing Size 4 nappies or very occasional cloth. She weighs 9.1kg and measures 73cm.

Activity

Little is a mover and full of cheeky mischief, otherwise known as being inquisitive. When she wants to get somewhere she crawls super fast, normally if she spies the cat water bowl or we leave the bathroom door open so she can get to the litter tray. She loves 'helping' with the dishwasher too.  At other times Little loves to pull herself up on everything and she has been cruising this month. She needs less and less support when she is standing, but falls down when she lets go. If you hold her hands she will stand up, but doesn’t take steps. We have also discovered that she can climb stairs.

Little will happily sit and play with toys on her own for 15 minutes or more. She shakes toys around, bangs items against each other and finds items we have covered up. One of her favourite games is to empty boxes, cupboards and bags. We keep directing her to a safe cupboard, but I think we’ll be clearing all our low shelves this month and might need to look at making cupboards more secure.

9 pictures of Little between 8 and 9 months old. Include eating , playing a drum and guitar, on a swing and in a ball pool
Little month 8 to 9

Communication

Little has always been a smiler and loves to provoke a matching reaction in others. She chats away to people and the sounds have become more word like.  As well as chatting Little is using her hands to communicate more. She waves hello and goodbye (sometimes), claps and reaches for what she wants, and opens and closes her hand to indicate ‘more’ or ‘give to me’. Little says “heyo” (hello), Mmm (for me) and in the last week Dadada (around her Daddy).
At the beginning of the month she was shaking her head a lot. While this wasn’t communication I spent time showing her that the shaking means “no” and nodding means “yes”. There is now occasional use of both.

In the last few weeks Little has shown much greater attachment to items and shows she is upset when they are taken away from her. This is a problem when it’s something inappropriate like the remote control or one of her sister’s toys.
Happy Mummy

2 comments

  1. We are still thinking Sleep...What's That at 2 and a half years!! Such a little smiler and doing beautifully; the mischief is all part of the fun :) Thank you so much for linking up to #SlippingThroughFingers x

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  2. This take me right back. They grow so quickly don't they! I love it when they start to become more inquisitive about their surroundings, it is lovely to see them discover the world with fresh eyes :) Thanks for linking up to #Slippingthroughmyfingers

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