Nine Month Well Child Visit
Vaccines
No vaccines are needed at nine months unless your child needs to catch up on any missed vaccinations.
Feeding
Offer formula or breast-milk until twelve months.
Work towards weaning off of the bottle.
Offer small pieces of soft or mashed table foods.
Encourage self-feeding even if messy.
Always supervise eating.
Avoid choking foods (nuts, popcorn, carrots, raisins, hard candy).
General care and safety
Use a rear-facing infant seat in the back seat of the car until twenty pounds or one year old.
Put baby to sleep on his back.
Do not use soft bedding or soft toys in bed.
Lower the crib mattress.
Childproof your home.
Brush baby’s teeth with a soft toothbrush and water.
Do not use baby walkers.
play
Talk, sing, and read to baby.
Play games and music.
Use body movements and actions to teach language.
Play peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake.
Start naming parts of the body and the environment.
Avoid using the word "No".
Nine Month Child Milestones
Physical and motor skills
Crawls, creeps, rolls, or scoots.
May cruise along furniture.
Sits independently.
Pulls to stand.
Grabs objects with finger and thumb.
Bangs, throws, drops objects.
Passes toy from one hand to the other.
Reaches for toys or desired object.
Sensory & cognitive skills
Responds to his own name.
Understands a few words such as "no" and "bye-bye".
Jabbers and imitates words and gestures.
Finds dropped objects and toys.
May be scared of strangers.
Hates to be separated from parents.
May awaken more at night.
Developmental Health Watch
Although each baby develops in her own individual way and at her own rate, failure to reach certain milestones may signal medical or developmental problems requiring special attention.
If you notice any of the following warning signs in your infant at this age, discuss them with your pediatrician.
No fright of strangers by 12 months.
Extremely fearful in all settings.
Does not get upset when separated from parent.
Unable to sit independently.
Any loss of previously learned skills.