Month 9
Key points
- Your nine-month-old may be crawling, pulling to stand and even cruising along furniture.
- Socially, your baby may be communicating with sounds and gestures, showing their likes and dislikes.
- Fresh produce (vegetables and fruit) provides a variety of flavours that satisfy your baby’s developing taste buds.
By nine months, your baby may be confidently crawling, pulling themselves to stand, and exploring the world around them with curiosity and increasing independence. They might be babbling more, recognising familiar faces across the room and showing clear preferences for favourite foods, people and toys. Developmental milestones are general and may be different for each baby, depending on lots of variables. Speak to your health care provider if you have any concerns.
Your baby’s food and nutritional intake are changing too. Breast milk and/or infant formula still provides essential nutrients to support their continued growth and development. Solid foods are starting to play a bigger role in their diet, so now is a good time to start to build healthy habits and help shape their taste preferences for the future.
Did you know? Babies are born with a preference for sweet flavours and tastes. This is due to the amniotic fluid in the womb as well as lactose (sugar) naturally found in breastmilk.
Nutrition at Nine Months
Milk continues to play a key part in your baby’s diet, providing important energy and nutrients such as zinc, calcium and Omega-3 fatty acids. Their usual milk should be offered along with more varied and textured foods that provide all-important iron as well as essential protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
At nine months, your baby is eating three small meals and possibly one or two snacks daily. They may enjoy exploring food with all their senses – grabbing and squishing food as well as chewing and experiencing different textures. It’s a great stage to offer finger foods like soft-cooked veggies or ripe fruit slices, and adapt your favourite family meals to suit your baby’s stage and appetite.
When Is It Recommended To Introduce Sugars?
The World Health Organization recommends no added sugars for children under two years of age. This is because introducing added sugars early can shape a child’s long-term preference for sweet foods, potentially reducing their interest in vegetables and other less sweet but nutritious options, like cheese or natural yoghurt. While babies naturally enjoy sweetness, it’s important to guide their developing taste buds towards a balanced diet without unnecessary sugars.
Avoiding sugars in the early years also supports healthy growth and development. High intake of sweetened foods during this time can create a preference for energy-dense, sugary foods, which may increase the risk of being overweight or obese and increase the likelihood of chronic health conditions later in life.
Added sugars are commonly found in processed foods such as fruit juice, sweetened yoghurts, biscuits and cakes. In contrast, naturally occurring sugars like lactose in unsweetened dairy and fructose in whole fruits have the added benefits of additional nutrients like fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Sugars are a type of simple carbohydrate and an important energy source for babies, so lactose plays a key role in your little one’s nutrition. As well as being the main carbohydrate in breast milk and many infant formulas, it may also help with calcium absorption for strong bones and teeth, as well as supporting gut health. It’s normal for babies to enjoy sweet flavours so offering foods without added sugar helps set up healthier eating habits for life.
Simple Meal Ideas Without Added Sugars
Keep meals wholesome by focusing on real, minimally processed ingredients. While it’s a good idea to offer your baby fruit every day, they don’t need it at every meal as even natural sugars need to be offered sparingly. The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend half a serve of fruit for children aged one to two years. This is equal, roughly, to half a medium apple, half a small banana, a kiwi fruit, a plum or an apricot.
Here’s a sample of a nine-month-old baby’s daily meals:
- Breakfast: Porridge oats with mashed pear and a splash of expressed breast milk or formula
- Lunch: Stewed lentils with mashed pumpkin and a side of chopped spinach
- Snack: Soft slices of avocado or roasted zucchini fingers
- Dinner: Minced turkey with quinoa and sweet potato mash
Check out Alula Me and My Child’s delicious recipes and meal ideas for your nine-month-old.
Weight and Height of a Nine-Month-Old Baby
At nine months, baby girls typically weigh around 8.2 kilos and measure approximately 70.1 cm. Boys usually weigh around 8.9 kilos and are about 72.3 cm tall. As always, every baby is different. Genetics, birth weight and feeding habits all influence growth.
Baby’s Visual Milestones at Nine Months
Your baby’s vision is now more refined, helping them spot, track and reach for objects with accuracy. Their eye colour might be final now, although you might still notice some changes over the next few months. By this stage, you might notice they:
- Recognise familiar faces from a distance
- Enjoy looking at picture books
- Focus on small details or objects from a distance
- Follow fast-moving toys or pets
- React to subtle facial expressions and gestures
Motor Development at Month Nine
Your baby is on the move! Tummy time may have turned into full-on crawling, cruising furniture – or even climbing! This is a great age to baby-proof your space and encourage supervised exploration. Many babies at this age:
- Push up into a sitting position and sit unsupported.
- Adjust posture when leaning forward without losing their balance.
- Bear their weight on their legs and make stepping movements when supported.
- Roll, wriggle or crawl across the floor, to get what they want.
- Pull to stand and stand holding furniture, or even cruise.
Encourage your little one to move by placing their favourite toy just out of reach. You can also help them practise crawling by placing the palm of your hand against the sole of their foot so they can use it to push off.
Social Development of Your Nine-Month-Old
At this age, your baby’s personality is shining through. They’re more communicative, affectionate and love social games. At this age, your baby may:
- Respond to their name and familiar voices
- Show affection through hugs, clinging or reaching out
- Copy clapping, waving or pointing
- Use gestures or sounds to get your attention
- Experience separation anxiety
- Imitate sounds and babble like they’re trying to ‘talk’
Reading books, singing songs and playing peek-a-boo are great ways to support their growing communication and connection.
Don’t Forget!
It’s important to remember that every baby develops at their own rate. Regular checkups with your health nurse or GP will be able to ensure your baby is on track – but always get in touch with them sooner if you have any concerns. For extra resources, you can also head to Karitane or Tresillian online.
What’s Next?
Your baby’s curiosity is in full swing at 10 months of age! From cruising and standing to growing independence at mealtimes, find out what’s coming up next in your parenting journey.
We are here to support you on your journey
Making decisions around infant feeding can be challenging and we hope we can help you through this journey.
We want to make sure you are informed and supported.
Before and during breastfeeding, it is important to maintain a healthy and balanced diet and it is recommended to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of age, as it provides ideal nutrition and promotes a healthy start in life.
We understand breastfeeding is not always possible, and when necessary, infant formula is the most suitable alternative to breastfeeding. Introducing partial bottle-feeding may interfere with breastfeeding your infant and it can be hard to reverse. Other considerations include the social and financial implications of feeding infant formula. We want to make sure your baby is as safe as possible, so please refer to the preparation and storage instructions for safe use of infant formula and be aware that any unnecessary or improper use of infant formula may cause health hazards for your baby.
Your choice, our support, always. With love.
If you require further information, consult your healthcare professional or learn more about the benefits of breast milk.
