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Your 9-month-old

Try a toy
Babies this age will play with everything they can lay their hands on! You may notice your baby making a beeline for things they have been able to see in the distance but have never been introduced to, such as radiator pipes, sockets, and the video. Adapt everyday objects to fulfil your baby’s need to play with the ‘real’ things she’s seen you playing with and to distract her from hazards. For example:

• in the kitchen, keep one floor-level cupboard without a lock on it, filled with lightweight things, which are safe for your baby to play with, such as securely closed plastic food containers, or cereal boxes
• in the living room, empty some old CD or DVD holders and let your baby stack and play with them
• in the bathroom, let your baby play with clean, empty toiletry bottles
• in the bedroom, that pile of clean socks and underwear can be explored, stretched, thrown…

From your baby’s point of view, every room and cupboard is filled with interesting playthings. Share your ‘safe’ things with her and protect her from the harmful ones.

Summer babies
In the summer, take steps to protect your baby against the sun:

• don’t leave her in her pushchair in the sun
• make sure she wears a hat
• use a high factor cream suitable for children
• fit window shades in the car to protect her from sunlight.

If your baby gets sunburnt, reduce the heat and pain by applying cold wet flannels; then cover her skin with cotton and keep her out of the sun until she has recovered.

Heat stroke
If your baby suffers severe overheating as a result of being in the sun or because she has been wrapped up too warmly, she may become flushed and develop a very high

temperature. Other signs that your baby has heat stroke are: her skin is dry; she isn’t sweating; she may be confused and delirious.

If this happens to your baby, see your doctor immediately or go straight to A&E.

Winter babies
In the winter, your baby needs protecting from the cold and the rain. Some mums use a ‘cosytoes’ on a buggy, like a mini sleeping bag that attaches to the buggy and stays on better than blankets.

But remember, it is easy for babies to overheat. Remove all hats, coats and mittens as soon as you get back into the house. Even in winter, babies who are unwell and feverish need fewer clothes and bedclothes than usual.

Night waking
Around this age you may find your little treasure waking in the night and wanting to play, even if she has slept well before now, or she may wake very early. Why? Sleep is just too boring! A baby who is learning to walk, talk, and play in a hundred new ways every day just wants to get up and go.

If your baby is waking for a feed, try gradually reducing the amount of milk you give, either by giving a shorter breastfeed or by giving less milk in the bottle. For example, the first three nights 7oz, next three nights 5oz, next three nights 4oz, next three nights 3oz, next three nights 2oz.

You can then stop giving the bottle. Your baby may protest but it’s because she’s become used to waking up, not because she’s waking because of hunger

Babies this age

• are on the move
• assert their independence
• are able to distinguish between the familiar and the unfamiliar
• have a growing fear of strangers
• make a lot of different sounds, some of them with two syllables
• imitate sounds they hear
• play next to other babies.

Feeding a 9-month-old

Food before milk
By now, most babies are happy to have their solid foods before their milk. This change of order is a useful step on the path towards weaning. If your baby fills up on solid foods, he will gradually want less breast or formula milk. After a few days or weeks, you may find he drops the milk part of the daytime meals and hardly notices it. Your baby may be quite happy to have drinks, including milk, from a cup. He may still need a good milk feed at other times, though.

Foods your baby might love:

• rice cakes
• wholemeal bread fingers
• cooked vegetables mashed with grated cheese
• chopped hard boiled eggs
• cold cooked meats like chicken and beef, chopped small
• strips of fresh fruit.

Two-spoon game
Most babies want to feed themselves, but loading the food, turning the spoon and aiming it at his mouth are complicated tasks for a baby.

1. Letting him play with a spare spoon while you feed him; he will, more by luck than judgement, get some food on his spoon eventually
2. As he tries to move the spoon, it usually falls off so… swap spoons, and put the loaded one in his mouth. Sometimes he will grab the spoon as it comes towards him. Let him have it
3. You may need to help him find his mouth the first few times, but… with a bit of practice he will soon be able to load the spoon, and get the food in his mouth
4. Then there’s only the tricky bit left to learn, turning the spoon. He may need a while before he can crack this, as it needs his wrist joint to be well developed. Angled spoons may make the job easier.

Mopping up mess
Feeding himself may be fun for your baby, but it’s also messy.
Even if they cannot manage a spoon, many babies want to touch and feel their food. Put a plastic sheet on the floor under the high chair, or feed him in an area where the floor can be easily swept and mopped. Give the high chair a regular wipe over after each meal, and an occasional good scrub down.

For the next You and your growing baby guide Chapter, Sleep clinic, Click here