All babies are unique little beings, each with their own personalities and developmental profile. At ECAS, we know that developmental milestones come in a broad range, and not all skills occur at the same time for all babies. The good news is, for all but a few babies, these skills all eventually emerge without additional support.

The skills below are to be used as guidelines only. If your baby is not reaching these milestones by the end of the ninth month, it should not cause you concern. Just use your instincts! Call your pediatrician and he/she will refer you to your local early intervention team.

Your baby should be able to do the following by the end of the 9th month:

• Sits independently
• Gets in and out of a sitting position without assistance up to 10 months
• Crawls forward on hands and knees
• Pulls to a standing position on furniture
• Transfers objects from one hand to another

• Bangs objects on table
• Babbles consonant sounds with inflection similar to adults
• Waves bye -bye or clap hands
• Imitates gestures, e.g. banging an object together or on a surface
• Begins to show stranger anxiety

• Holds own bottle
• Drinks from a cup held for him/her
• Feeds self cracker/bites from the front of mouth
• Looks for family members or pets when named

• Your baby is unable to get in and out of the sitting position
• Your baby is unable to crawl on hands and knees
• Your baby scoots on bottom to get to toys
• Your baby is not babbling consonant sounds, (m,n,b,d,w,y,p,t,g,k)

• Your baby is unable to imitate familiar gestures e.g. clap hands, wave bye- bye
• Your baby is not able to look at you and follow you with his/her eyes while you walk around
• Your baby is unable to look up from his/her toys when you call by name
• Your baby is not smiling, giggling and looking at you while playing social games, (e.g. pat a cake, peek a boo)