The Growing Years, Months 9 & 10 # 4226

Many babies begin crawling during the ninth month. It is exciting for a baby to move around on his own, but scary, too!

Baby’s first efforts to crawl will probably be toward something like a favorite toy or you. Don’t be surprised if he falls on his face a few times while getting started. Keep him on a soft blanket or carpet.

Once he crawls, pulling to a stand isn’t far behind. Watch out! Baby may get up and not know how to get back down. He may cry to be rescued again and again. You can try to teach him to get down onto his knees or bottom. Be patient, he’ll learn soon.

Does baby like to drop things from his crib or high chair for you to pick up? This can be annoying. It’s a sign that baby’s memory is developing. Now he knows that the toy or food he drops will land on the floor, and he likes to see and hear it.

Don’t tie toys to his crib or playpen so he won’t drop them. The string can choke him.

Your Baby Wants You to Know

How I Grow:

I may crawl and turn around, while holding something in one hand.
I can crawl upstairs, too.
I may sit by myself and turn my body all the way around without losing my balance.
I stand for awhile if you hold my hand.
I poke my fingers into holes and other interesting places.
I pick up small things with my finger and thumb, and big things with both hands.
I pull myself up by holding onto furniture, but I may have trouble getting back down.

How I Talk:

I understand some words, my name and simple sentences.
I repeat one or more sounds over and over.
I listen to people talking and try to imitate the sounds.
I begin to say two-syllable sounds like “choo-choo,” “da-da,” “ma-ma.”

How I Respond:

I like to watch people scribbling on paper.
I like to perform for people. I love it when they applaud!
I sometimes want praise for my accomplishments.

How I Understand:

I try to figure things out by myself.
I know that if I look at things upside down or cover my eyes, they’ll look different.
I get upset if my toy is taken away from me.
I may remember a game, person or toy from yesterday.
I can tell what mood people are in by looking at them.

How I Feel:

I’m very sensitive. If I see another baby cry, I may cry, too.
I may become afraid of a lot of things that didn’t bother me before, like taking a bath. I’m afraid of heights.
I’m very determined and sometimes stubborn. It’s all part of my growing up!

How You Can Help Me Learn:

Talk to me. Listen to me. Take turns.
Praise me when I do something new. I need your encouragement.
Give me finger foods so I can practice picking up small things.

Children can be very different from each other. Don’t worry if your child is “early” or “late” in growth. This is important: look for and notice your child’s growth in each area. Then you can encourage each new ability.

Learning to Talk

Talking to your baby makes a difference. Research shows that when parents imitate and respond to baby’s sounds, it helps her to understand language.

Parents who respond when baby “talks” help draw baby’s attention to her own sounds. This makes language more interesting and important to her.

Encourage your baby to practice speech by playing games with her. When she makes sounds, repeat them back to her. Pause and give her a chance to answer.

Your imitation excites her and may cause her to repeat the sounds. Keep listening! You may hear certain tones of voice and sentence patterns in baby’s babbling.

Baby may have a sound, like “ba,” that she uses to mean many different things. These “words” mean real speech isn’t too far away. Between 9 and 12 months, she might have a real word or two mixed in with her babbling.

Baby Learns to Feed Himself

Does your baby hold most foods while eating? Or drink from a cup (with a little help)? These are the first steps in learning how to eat by himself.

If your baby always grabs for the spoon, you can make meals easier by using two spoons, one for you and one for baby. While he practices, you can feed him a few spoonfuls.

Let your little one try out his new skills at picking things up with his thumb and forefinger.

Praise baby for feeding himself, even if he is very messy. If the mess bothers you, spread newspapers, a towel or a plastic shower curtain under the high chair to catch dripped food.

By now, baby can eat most things the rest of the family eats. Just take his portion out before you add salt or other seasonings. Don’t give baby round, slippery foods (like grapes or hot dog circles) or small hard foods (like nuts, seeds or popcorn) that could choke him.

Fears and Insecurities

When baby can stand up by himself, he becomes aware of many new things, and some of them can be scary.

Many 9-month-olds become afraid of heights and will no longer climb down from chairs, even though they have before.

He may even refuse to be bathed in the big bathtub. Try bathing with him, or give him sponge baths in the tub.

Don’t laugh at his fears. They are just as real to him as your fears are to you. Comfort him, then encourage him to explore the things he’s afraid of. For example, let him touch the turned-off vacuum cleaner.

Baby-proofing: When Baby Can Stand

Once baby can stand, he can reach further and higher and reach things that were out of his way before. Look at each room in your home again and watch for new hazards:

Act: Don’t Just React

Researchers find that babies who hear “No” and “Don’t” all the time grow up to be less intelligent than other babies. Smart babies and children need to be able to explore and experiment.

If you find yourself saying “No” all the time, perhaps you should change things in the places where baby spends time.

Move that glass vase to a higher shelf. Put safety latches on the kitchen and bathroom cupboards. Move the outdoor barbecue to a spot where baby can’t go.

This will make life easier for you, and you won’t have to discourage baby’s curiosity so often.

Sometimes you have to say “No” to a baby. That’s OK. Just don’t overdo it. Besides, it’s easier to change your living room than to stop the curiosity of a child!

Reward Good Behavior

For babies under a year old, discipline is pretty simple. It means teaching limits through loving care and guidance. The key is reward.

Many parents only pay attention to their children’s behavior when it upsets them. This teaches a child that attention only comes when he does something bad.

Your attention is baby’s best reward. Use it to encourage good behavior, not bad!

When baby plays nicely with the cat or makes sounds and tries to talk, reward him with a smile or talk to him.

When he touches something you don’t want him to have, distract him by giving him a toy or point him toward something else.

Ignore behavior that is annoying but not harmful. Save “no’s” for times when baby’s safety is in danger.

Sometimes your baby won’t be happy with the decisions you make, and will fuss. You may even be tempted to give in to him.

Keep in mind that limits are necessary for your child’s safety and welfare. You can set limits while giving your baby the freedom to explore and grow.

Four Keys to Good Discipline

Prevent situations where baby might do something you don’t like. Move that canning jar to a higher shelf. Put a gate on the stairwell. If baby does something wrong, it may be your fault for not preventing it!

Ignore behavior that is annoying but not harmful. If baby pulls everything out of your sock drawer, just take a deep breath and ignore it. If you pay too much attention, it teaches her to do things like this to get the attention she wants from you.

Reward baby with your loving attention when she’s playing nicely. Don’t become one of those parents who only notice their children when they have done something wrong. Notice the good times and give your baby a smile, a laugh, a hug. Your attention is baby’s most important reward. Use it to encourage behavior you like.

Freedom within Limits. Your baby needs freedom to explore, but she also needs limits. You need good judgment to provide both. If a baby is kept in a playpen or high chair for much of the day, that is too little freedom, and too limiting. Baby needs “floor freedom” to explore. But that doesn’t mean the basement stairs or garage! That is too much freedom, and too dangerous.

Helping Curiosity Grow

Researchers who have studied young children report that curiosity is important for success in the early school years.

A child who is interested in the world around him and given the freedom to explore will observe and learn from it.

Formal teaching of babies is probably a bad idea. Young children learn best when they direct their own learning, not when you try to force something on them.

The first year is very important in laying the foundation for a lifetime of curiosity. You can help by making your baby’s world an interesting, stimulating place, and by joining in your baby’s excitement. Here are some ideas:

Seeing: Surround your 9-month-old with bright, moving colors in clothing, toys and room decor.

Hearing: Let your child listen to music on the radio, records or tapes. Make a “chime” mobile or hang wind chimes to catch a breeze. Talk and sing to baby.

Touch: Give your child textures to feel, including soft, hard, smooth and rough. Make a toy, blanket or ball from scraps of fabric, like denim, corduroy, velvet and satin. Touch your baby and let her touch your skin, hair and clothes.

Smell: Give your child chances to smell safe things, like soap, perfume, food, flowers and dirt.

Most of all, try to see and hear things as your baby does; share the experience. You can make learning fun.

Sisters and Brothers

This can be a hard time for baby’s brothers and sisters. Now that baby is moving around, she can get into the toys and favorite things of your other children.

It is common for older brothers and sisters to rush by baby as she tries to stand up, knocking her down. Or to roughly grab their toys back from baby’s grasp.

Baby will need to form a relationship with her brothers and sisters. As long as they are not hurting each other, you don’t have to break up every “fight.” But don’t allow hitting or hurting.

Squabbling teaches children to read each others’ moods, and sometimes helps clear the air. Hitting hurts without teaching.

You can help children get along. Give your older child a place of his own where “his” things are safe from baby. A drawer too high for baby will do, if he can’t have his own room. Or let him play on the kitchen table, away from baby.

Point out to your older child how much baby looks up to him. Suggest things he can do to play with the little one, like rolling a ball to her or “reading” her a book.

Try to give each child some of your full attention each day. Your children may resent the baby if she always interrupts their time with you.

Finally, don’t always take baby’s side when you do intervene. Separate the children for a few minutes without taking sides. You don’t want to always be in the middle.

Roughhousing with Baby

Researchers find that men and women play differently with babies. Men are more likely to roughhouse.

Some women would say that men are too wild! Men are more likely than women to swing babies around, lift them high and low, tickle and chase them.

Babies like this, although moms often worry. That’s OK. But moms might feel better if they knew that most men are like this, and most babies not only survive, but like it!

It’s fun to roughhouse with baby, and most babies love active play. But keep it safe. A few games are too wild for babies:

Don’t throw the baby into the air. She could fall if something distracts you. Instead, lift her over your head without letting go.

Don’t jerk a baby’s arm. If you swing the baby around in a circle, don’t hold her by her hands. This is too much stress for baby elbows and shoulders, and these joints could be dislocated. Hold her under the arms by her chest instead.

Some other fun and safe ways to play with your baby are chasing her as she crawls, or rolling her along the floor.

For more information on family issues, contact your county Extension office or the Family Living Office, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, 5717 Corbett Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5717, (207) 581-3448/3104 or 1-800-287-0274 (in Maine).

Published and distributed in furtherance of Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914, by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, the Land Grant University of the state of Maine and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating. Cooperative Extension and other agencies of the U.S.D.A. provide equal opportunities in programs and employment.

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Last Modified: 08/12/08
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How Baby Is Changing