Nine months: most babies now sit by themselves, babble “mamama” and “bababa”, lift their arms to be picked up and may be shy with new faces. Here is what most babies do by 9 months, four easy ways to play this week, and what to check as more food arrives in packets.
What most babies do by 9 months
From CDC's 2022 checklists: things at least 3 in 4 babies do by this age. A guide for a chat with your pediatrician, not a test.
Shows several facial expressions — happy, sad, angry, surprised
Looks when you call their name
Reacts when you leave — looks, reaches for you or cries
Smiles or laughs at peekaboo
Talking and listening
Makes lots of different sounds like “mamamama” and “bababababa”
Lifts the arms up to be picked up
Thinking and exploring
Looks for things that drop out of sight, like a spoon
Bangs two things together
Moving
Gets into a sitting position alone
Moves things from one hand to the other
Rakes food towards themselves with the fingers
Sits without support
Every baby has their own timing
WHO followed 816 healthy babies in five countries, India among them, and timed six movement milestones. Each bar is the window in which 98 of every 100 of them got there.
Sits without support4–9 mo
Stands with help5–11 mo
Crawls on hands and knees5–14 mo
Walks with help6–14 mo
Stands alone7–17 mo
Walks alone8–18 mo
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Your baby: 9 months
Sitting alone is nearly done for most babies by now, but crawling, standing and walking run much longer — walking alone came anywhere from about 8 to 18 months.
Play together this week
Five or ten minutes each, with things already in your home. Do them in any language you speak at home.
1
Dupatta peekaboo
5 min · nothing to buy
You need: A light dupatta
Hold the dupatta up in front of your own face. “Where's Amma?”
Drop it — “Peekaboo!” — and laugh together.
Then hide a ball under it and let your baby pull it away to find it.
Stay close. Cover your own face or a toy, not your baby's face, and put the dupatta away after.
Laughs at peekaboo
Looks for things out of sight
2
Steel band
5 min · nothing to buy
You need: Two steel katoris or lids, and a wooden spoon
Sit your baby on the floor and bang two lids together — clang!
Hand one to each hand and wait for them to try.
Play a beat, stop, and let them play it back.
Bangs two things together
Passes things hand to hand
3
Up, up, up!
5 min · nothing to buy
You need: Nothing
Before you pick your baby up, hold your arms out and say “Up?” — then wait.
When they lift their arms, scoop them up with a big “Up!”
Do it every time today. It becomes their first way to ask.
Lifts arms to be picked up
Looks when you call their name
4
Finger-food picnic
10 min, at a meal · nothing to buy
You need: Soft pieces of the food you already cooked — well-cooked carrot, banana, idli
Put a few soft pieces on the high-chair tray or a steel plate.
Let your baby rake them in and get them to the mouth their own way.
Mess is the point. Name each food as they pick it up.
Stay close. Sit with your baby the whole meal. Soft pieces that squash between your fingers; no whole nuts, grapes or hard raw pieces.
Rakes food with the fingers
Sits without support
What your baby eats and uses now
More of your baby's food now comes from a packet — cereals, purées, teething biscuits, puffs. Turn each one over and check the ingredient list for:
Scan a label
Free. No sign-up. Pick 6–12 months on the result to check it for this age.
Naming what your baby is looking at, and saying “Bye, I'll be back” each time you leave, makes words and goodbyes familiar.
If something worries you
You know your baby best. If your baby is not doing some of these things yet, or has stopped doing something they used to do, tell your pediatrician — at the next visit, or sooner. CDC's advice is not to wait: acting early is what helps most.
Born early? For the first two years, pediatricians usually count from the due date — the corrected age.
In India, your pediatrician can also refer you to the District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) at your district hospital, part of the government's Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.
Questions CDC suggests taking to the visit:
What do you and your baby enjoy doing together?
What does your baby like to do?
Is there anything your baby does, or does not do, that worries you?
Has your baby stopped doing anything they used to do?
Was your baby born early, or do they have any special health needs?
Pikabee