Baby Steps | 9 μηνών+

Active, moving, rolling, crawling, determined, and sometimes demanding. First words. Copies simple actions and instructions. Beginning to pull him or herself up, starting to cruise around the furniture and may start to walk.

What babies can do
• A very physical stage of development, more crawling, rolling, bottom shuffling and cruising around furniture.
• Sits up well without support.
• Plays pat-a-cake and enjoys other nursery rhymes.
• Drinks from a beaker.
• May start to say dada and mama.
• Babbling fully developed and more tuneful.
• Gets excited when they hear familiar action words such as ‘drink’ or ‘dinner’.
• At 9 months old the baby likes to sit close to main carer.
• By 12 months the baby often cries when left with someone they do not know.
• Still explores objects by using hands and mouth.
• Understands simple instructions.
• Reaches out well to pick up objects.
• Loves contact and cuddles.
• Lumpy foods as well as milk feeds are part of the weaning process and should be well established.
• Uses fingers to feed which is to be encouraged. 
• Starts to use a fine pincer grip (thumb and forefinger) when holding smaller objects.
• Pokes at small objects with index finger. 

• Loves to pass toys/objects to an adult and pass it back again. Baby does not realise it but starting to take it in turns and enjoys this game with close family member.
• By 12 months old the baby is quite skilled at using hands. They love touching, moving and organising objects and enjoy putting things in and out of a container or dropping things to see what happens to them.
• At around 9 months really starts to manipulate toys, or any object for that matter. 

• Enjoys repetitive play and this can be anything as simple as pulling off socks.
• Teething continues – parents may need to buy teething ring and more bibs if their baby continuously dribbles at this stage.
• First words start to emerge at this stage amongst all the babbling – usually at around 13 months.
• Starts to wave bye-bye.

Routine and parenting
Routine usually fully established by the end of this stage and parents are much more confident. Baby needs supportive adult supervision at all times. Both parents may be back at work and they need baby products to make life easier. Good stage to encourage  independent play and early concentration with small bricks or cubes and first books to look through with carer. First birthday celebrations being planned. When toddlers first start to walk they only need to spend short periods of time in their shoes as they need to get used to walking and gripping the floor in bare feet. This helps to develop their balance and stability. 

What items are required at this stage?
Clothes – ongoing as growth is rapid in the first year and needs to accommodate the change of seasons. First shoes when walking is established.
Products – a back carrier can be perfect for this age group (and for dads to use) for walks etc. It also gives parents more flexibility and freedom (useful on holiday too). 

Toys – interested in all toys but best to encourage one toy at a time. Too many toys at playtime can mean that children fail to play with any one toy properly. Play also to be encouraged between adult and baby to aid better interaction. Stacking beakers, books, musical toys, pop-up toys, pull and push toys, posting and sorting toys and balls are all very good for this age group.