Milestones

Every baby grows at a different rate, but there are some general milestones that you can watch out for at this age. Your baby will be experimenting, exhibiting new skills, and may even begin to crawl. By the time they reach the age of 9 months, your baby will probably:

• Sit without support and twist and turn while sitting
• Begin to crawl, bottom-shuffle, and pull him/herself forward
• Start to pull themselves up and stand while holding onto furniture
• Turn to you when hearing your voice across a room and respond to quiet noises on either side (if not distracted)
• Start to use his/her fingers to pick up small objects, feed him/herself, and poke things
• Start trying to imitate simple words like ‘baby’
• Have top and bottom front teeth
• Be eating a wide variety of weaning foods
• Start learning to drink from a sippee cup

Well-Being and Safety

Now that your baby is crawling and beginning to stand up, it is important to baby-proof your home and make sure your baby stays safe. It can be astounding how quickly they can locate and grasp an unsafe item, or topple over or fall!

• Handwashing: Your baby is still very vulnerable to infections so it is important to wash your hands frequently, especially before preparing your baby’s food, handling sterilised equipment and after changing a nappy. Now that your baby is crawling, you should also be washing your baby’s hands regularly too. Make sure you clean your baby’s hands before letting them handle any food.
• Hand sanitisers: If you do not have access to soap and water, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser to help destroy the harmful germs on your hands.
• Sterilising equipment: Until your baby is one year old, before every use, you need to clean and sterilise any equipment that will touch your baby’s milk or go in their mouth, such as bottles, teats, breast pumps, teething rings and (if used) dummies.
• Food preparation surfaces: Always clean and disinfect surfaces before using them to prepare your baby’s bottles or food.
• Feeding: Take extra care to clean cups, and any blenders, food processors, and utensils that will come in contact with your baby's weaning foods. Use detergent and hot water. Make sure you scrub every surface and then rinse everything thoroughly in clean (preferably hot) running water.
• Hand contact surfaces: To help stop harmful germs spreading around your home, you need to clean and disinfect hand contact surfaces, such as door handles and taps frequently.
• Nappy changing mats: After each nappy change, you need to clean and disinfect the nappy changing surfaces, and any surface you may have contaminated with germs.
• High chairs: Remember to use the safety harness. Remove any food debris promptly, and clean and disinfect the tray before putting any food on it.
• Floors: Regularly vacuum carpets and clean and disinfect any hard surface flooring you are going to let your baby crawl on. Take care to remove any hazardous items that your baby could reach.
• Cots: Remove any bumpers or toys from the cot that your baby could stand on to climb (or fall) out of the cot.
• Stairs: Fit safety gates to stop your baby climbing and falling down the stairs.
• Windows: Keep furniture away from windows and fit windows with locks or safety catches to stop your baby climbing up and falling out.