By 9 months of age, many babies have sampled a reasonably wide variety of stage 1 and 2 foods. Very often, however, a discussion with a parent at this age will reveal a “road block” in advancing to stage 3 foods. This is usually because of the complexity of textures found in these foods, and usually has no relation to the presence or absence of teeth. Interestingly, offering an infant any of the components of a stage 3 food is almost always a smooth process, but the combination of the ingredients is often not tolerated. If your child does not appear to enjoy or tolerate stage 3 foods, fear not: you are not alone!

We often approach the topic of foods in the 9 month old infant as “what not to give them.” While the dietary repertoire of the 9-12 month old age group is more liberal than it was earlier in infancy, we still recommend a gradual rate of food introduction, i.e., no more frequently than every 5-7 days. The “no-no” foods at this age include: honey (because of the risk of infant botulism); nuts, or any product containing them (most notable is peanut butter, because of the risk of nut allergy); whole milk, primarily because it is an iron-poor source of nutrition; eggs, or more specifically, the yolk (the yellow portion), again because of the risk of allergy to this food; shellfish; and more recently, FRESH mango, citrus, and strawberries, as these foods in their “off the vine” form may provoke allergies to them later in life. As well, if there are any other foods which either parent had/has a sensitivity to, we strongly recommend waiting until well after the first birthday before introducing them into your child’s diet.

You may have noticed that the days of finding your baby in the exact location you had placed them have long since come to an end. Mobility is one of your child’s strongest skills, and we certainly encourage nurturing this. Mindful of the fact that their judgment skills have not yet fully developed, it is up to us parents to allow them to explore in a safe environment. It is a good rule of thumb to “make believe” that your baby is one large developmental milestone ahead of where they really are, so that we can be “one step ahead” of them. For instance, if they are pulling up on the couch, treat this as if they are rather steady walkers. If they walk, pretend they are good climbers, and so on. The 9-12 month old infant often progresses through gross motor milestones at a faster than expected rate, so safety is a key issue. Take home message here: get your gates up sooner rather than later (at both the top AND bottom of the stairs), and literally get down on the floor and look at your baby’s environment from their level. The world has a much different appearance from this point of view, and can assist you in assuring a safe haven in which your child can explore and develop. Kitchen drawers may house innocuous materials (e.g., Tupperware, cloth towels, etc.), but the drawer itself may slide out briskly and can knock an infant down very easily. There are a litany of products available which are designed to protect your child while not limiting and adult’s access to these areas too much. Check the Consumer Reports website (www.consumerreports.org) for an unbiased review of these products.

What in the world is my 9 month old saying? Good question, because chances are we too would have difficulty deciphering their dialect. However, this is appropriate for their age group, as the initial stages of language typically involve the ability to respond to voices, words, etc. prior to their being as intelligible as they eventually will be. Don’t be alarmed if they appear to have a one word vocabulary, and use the same sound/word for everything they point at. The next 12-15 months will typically demonstrate a significant increase in the number of words in your child’s vocabulary, as well as their fluency.

By this age, many infants have started to experiment with the use of a sippy cup. The ability to transition smoothly from bottle to cup truly epitomizes the term “an art, not a science,” as the majority of babies require a bit of practice to accomplish this. It is not uncommon for a parent to tell us that their child drinks water from a sippy cup with greater ease than either breast milk or formula. This is an issue of mechanics, as most sippy cups have a valve in them which permits easier passage of thinner fluids (e.g., water) as opposed to those which are thicker (e.g., formula). Removing the valve usually solves this dilemma. Also, we strongly recommend that you purchase a screw-on top cup rather than one with a snap-on top, as snap-on becomes snap-off when these objects are used as throw toys.

Properly restraining your child in the car is one of the most important things that you as a parent can do to ensure your childs safety. If you have not already moved your child from the infant carrier car seat to a convertible car seat, it is most likely time that you do so. Most infant car seats have a length limit of 25-27” and/or a weight limit of 20 pounds. They must continue to remain rear facing until 1 year of age and 20 pounds. When you do install a convertible car seat, it is highly recommended that you have it inspected by a certified car seat inspector to evaluate whether or not it is correctly installed. Over 80 % of car seats are not installed correctly. Your childs car seat is designed to reduce their chance of serious injury if it is correctly installed. If it is not correctly installed the car seat may not be able to adequately protect your child in the event of an accident.

Between 9-12 months of age you should see the following milestones being met. Please be aware that there is a wide range of when children meet these milestones. If you have particular concerns about your child, please feel free to call our office and discuss this with us.

• Crawls (Some children never crawl before walking. This is also considered normal.)
• Pulls self to standing position
• May cruise while holding onto furniture
• Looks for object that has rolled out of sight