9-month guidance
Introduction
Your baby is now 9 months old. Most of the advice from the 6-month page still applies, but a few things have changed. I will provide all the relevant advice here so you do not need to read through the 6-month page as well, and I will emphasize what is different now that your baby is a little bit older. If you have questions about how any of this should apply to your child, please check with your child's healthcare team.
Helpful websites
Sleep
At 9 months most babies can sleep through the night or get back to sleep without intervention. You do not need to provide any food, breast milk, or formula overnight. You can provide water if your baby seems thirsty; they may cry or scream for food but you should not give in. Often after several days or a week your baby will stop screaming for the food. Otherwise, you can still work on sleep training and you should still follow safe sleep principles. These topics are discussed below.
Sleep training
"Sleep training" helps guide your baby to sleep well through the night. I have included several articles that discuss different approaches for this in the box below. If your baby is having difficulty sleeping well, read through them and discuss with your family which approach you would like to take.
Sleep training articles
Regardless of sleep training, you should still practice safe sleep. You can learn more about this below.
Safe Sleep
Please read through this article, which describes how to ensure your infant has a safe sleeping environment. Note that your baby should always sleep alone, on the back, in an empty crib (or other safe sleep device like a bassinet or pack 'n play). Once your baby starts to roll from back to front you do not need to reposition them on their back, but you should always set them down to sleep on their back. You can watch the following two videos for additional information.
Now look at the two images below. One shows a safe sleep environment, and the other shows an unsafe sleep environment. Click the buttons below the images for an explanation of the differences.
Safe sleep
Unsafe sleep
Nutrition
At 9 months your baby should receive lots of nutrition from liquids and foods. Read about this below, and if your baby is having difficulty eating a variety of foods make sure to ask your child's healthcare team for advice.
Helpful websites
Liquids
Your baby should only drink breast milk, an FDA-approved iron-fortified infant formula, or water. They should not have more than 8 ounces of water per day. They shoud not drink juice or any other type of milk. Breast milk is still preferred if possible. If you are feeding by bottle they may take 6-8 ounces 3-4 times a day. Do not put any food in the bottle. Now is a good time to work on transitioning from bottles to cups.
Foods
At this point your baby should receive a significant amount of nutrition from foods. There are several articles that give good advice for feeding a 9-month old with sample menus or food ideas:
- What To Expect article with general advice and a sample menu
- Healthline article with general advice and a sample menu
- Parents article with general advice and creative meal ideas
- Healthy Children article with a sample menu
You can see lots more advice by clicking on the cards below, which describe what foods to provide, what foods to avoid, how to prepare the foods for your baby to eat, and how much you should give.
What to give
What to avoid
Food prep
How much
Breastfeeding
Here are two videos that give several tips for breastfeeding effectively, both from this excellent video series:
Formula feeding
Here are two videos that provide good information about how to prepare formula bottles for your baby:
Feeding with a bottle
These two videos discuss how to practice responsive feeding with a bottle while still breastfeeding, but they also apply to people exclusively feeding with a bottle, regardless if you are providing breast milk or formula in the bottles. "Responsive feeding" means you follow your baby's feeding cues about when they are hungry and full and let them determine how much they will eat.
Peeing/pooping
Now that your baby is 9 months old they will still pee a lot but the pooping habits may change as your baby eats different types of foods. Regardless you only need to be concerned if:
- the poop is hard or very watery consistently
- the poop is dark black, a shade of red, or pale
- your baby has less than 6 wet diapers in 24 hours
If any of the above concerns occur, let your child's healthcare team know.
Safety
At the age of 9 months your child will likely move around the home one way or another. Now you really need to make sure the home is safe, as they can likely reach anything on the floor, pull things down from higher up, and may start trying to climb on objects in the near future. They will also put anything they can into their mouth. I will go through several of the primary safety concerns for infants and toddlers in the cards below, and you can read through the "Helpful Websites" for more general information.
Helpful websites
*This website is based in Australia so any discussion of laws or what is required may not apply to the United States.
Below are several different safety topics, click on each topic to learn more about them.
General
Car safety
Ingestions
Choking/CPR
Sleep
Toys
Falls
Water/Bath
Burns/Fire
Equipment
Outdoors
Home/Pets
Vaccines
If your child got their regular shots at the 2, 4, and 6-month check-ups, they will not need any shots at the 9-month check-up, though they may receive a flu vaccine (if it is the flu season) and a COVID-19 vaccine. Your baby may need additional doses of the flu and COVID-19 vaccines for full protection, so you can ask your pediatrician about scheduling for this before the 12-month check-up. If your child is behind on shots, you can see which ones may be given below:
- Hepatitis B - this protects against a virus that can infect the liver
- DTaP - this protects against:
- Diptheria (a rare illness)
- Tetanus (a disease from a bacteria that can kill people, has no cure, and can be caught by cutting yourself on certain things in the environment)
- Pertussis (a bacteria that causes whooping cough, an illness that can make babies stop breathing (and thus die) and older people cough for 100 days)
- Hib - this protects against a bacteria that can infect the brain (as well as other places in the body)
- PCV20 - this protects against bacteria that can cause pneumonia, ear infections, and other infections
- IPV - this protects against polio (a rare illness)
Flu and COVID-19 shots are separate, but the others are combined into 2 or 3 shots. These have been given to millions of people and we know that they are safe and effective. If you would like more information, look through the "Helpful Websites" listed below:
Helpful websites
Common questions
Many parents have similar questions about their 9 month old babies. Feel free to look through some of the most common ones below.
FAQ
General topics
Normal things that seem troublesome
Various conditions
Conclusion
Enjoy your time with your baby! As sleep-deprived as you may be, many parents are surprised at how quickly the time flies. If you are unsure about how any of this information should be applied to your child, make sure to check with your child's healthcare team.