Developmental Milestone - 9 months

Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, and waving “bye bye” are called developmental milestones. Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, act, and move (crawling, walking, etc.).

Download the milestone checklists 2 Months to 5 years

9 Months

How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves offers important clues about your child’s development. Developmental milestones are things most children can do by a certain age.

Check the milestones your child has reached by the end of 9 months. Take this with you and talk with your child’s doctor at every visit about the milestones your child has reached and what to expect next.

What most babies do by this age:

Social and Emotional

• May be afraid of strangers 
• May be clingy with familiar adults 
• Has favorite toys 

Language/Communication

• Understands “no” 
• Makes a lot of different sounds like “mamamama” and “bababababa” 
• Copies sounds and gestures of others 
• Uses fingers to point at things 

Cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving)

• Watches the path of something as it falls 
• Looks for things she sees you hide 
• Plays peek-a-boo 
• Puts things in his mouth 
• Moves things smoothly from one hand to the other 
• Picks up things like cereal o’s between thumb and index finger 

Movement/Physical Development

• Stands, holding on 
• Can get into sitting position 
• Sits without support 
• Pulls to stand 
• Crawls 

Act early by talking to your child’s doctor if your child:

• Doesn’t bear weight on legs with support
• Doesn’t sit with help
• Doesn’t babble (“mama”, “baba”, “dada”)
• Doesn’t play any games involving back-and-forth play
• Doesn’t respond to own name
• Doesn’t seem to recognize familiar people
• Doesn’t look where you point
• Doesn’t transfer toys from one hand to the other