Milestone Moments: 9-12 Months

Tips from a Physical Therapist

Here are some tips from a physical therapist on ways to encourage your 9-12 month old to get moving!!

• When your child is sitting and playing with toys on the floor, try placing the toys in all directions around them, so that they have to reach and move to both sides with both hands.
• While on the floor, have a support surface such as a play table, ottoman, or soft coffee table close. You can place their toys on top of the surface and encourage them to pull up to standing.
• When playing with your child at a support surface, move the toys out of their reach to both sides and have them cruise along the surface to retrieve them. You can also place the toys on the ground beside them and have them squat down to get it and either lower into sitting or stand back up at the surface.
• Push toys are GREAT!! They encourage your child to begin taking steps, but also require them to use their core muscles while they are doing so. They also put their legs in a better alignment as opposed to a baby walker. 
• You can play with your child sitting on your leg (or a small step), with their feet on the ground, and hold their hands to help them push to standing. Then you can begin working on their balance in standing by changing up how much assistance you are giving them. This is also strengthening their legs by standing up and then sitting back down over and over.
• Transitions are key at this age! They should be starting to move freely and safely from sitting to hands and knees, to standing at a surface, to walking at that surface or using a push toy with handheld assistance. Use their toys or yourself as incentive to move throughout their environment.

Tips from a Speech Therapist

Language development happens best during play! Here are some ways to play to help your child develop:

• Get on the floor with your little one to play, whether it is with bubbles, blocks, cars or reading their first words in a picture book. Just make sure during this play time that you are labeling objects so your child can learn to associate those pictures with what they are called. 
• When at home or out of the house, bombard your child with language and vocabulary so that they can associate the words with real objects.
• Play in the mirror. This helps your child learn to imitate facial expressions or imitate familiar sounds.
• Avoid using “baby talk” when speaking with your child and instead use real words when calling them by their name. This will also teach them what their name is!
• Babble familiar sounds face-to-face. Examples are (b, m, p, d).
• Waving is a great way to teach your child to communicate. It is important for them to understand saying "goodbye” when they are leaving.

Tips from an Occupational Therapist

See the below occupational therapy tips on ways to engage your 9–12-month-old child.

Play with Baby

• Present smaller toys such as blocks, little people, shapes, and shape sorter, etc. to promote reach and grasp.
• Offer a variety of toys with switches, knobs, and buttons such as pop-up toys, toddler hammer benches, and button operated light and sound toys.
• Limit TV time and smart phone exposure (no exposure is preferred).
• Bang objects together, exchange objects between baby and caregiver, and play hide-and-seek games with toys.
• Read books, pointing out hidden pictures (Highlights Magazine has a baby subscription). Board books are a great exploration tool for baby at this age.
• Fill small bottles with a variety of items like pasta, noodles, beads, rice, etc. and secure for vision development and use of two hands together.
• Promote strength and fine motor skills by tying ribbons together and placing in a wipe container or old tissue box, or try placing Velcro around toilet paper rolls for pulling apart promoting use of two hands together.
• Make a texture board to provide exploration of a variety of textures using things around the house.
• Encourage social and fine motor development through waving 'hello' and 'goodbye.'
• Container play and supervised exploration of mom and dad’s pots and pans will promote strength and exploration because baby will love placing and removing objects in and out.
• Present toys to either side as well as in front of baby to promote reach and grasp.

Engage with Baby

• Allow baby to explore in a safe yet challenging environment by removing all unsafe items from lower cabinets and replacing with above mentioned pots, pans, spoons, ladles, etc. Always restrict use of unsafe cabinets with safety latches.
• Utilize tummy time as tolerated because baby should be interested in moving and getting around.
• Present pillows, blankets, soft climbing gyms, etc. on the floor for varying surfaces to promote strength needed for mobility as well as for development of coordination and control of hands and arms.
• Provide varying avenues for movement including swinging, sliding, rolling, crawling, floor time play, and add in social engagement by naming colors, objects, animal sounds, etc.
• Laundry baskets are a great tool for filling, dumping, and pushing/pulling to promote fine motor and strength skills. They are also fun for sensory development. Just place baby in basket and take them for a ride.
• Introduce baby to hygiene through modeling and holding of hairbrushes, toothbrushes, etc.

Eat with Baby

• Begin slowly introducing textures to touch and taste through feeding and play as tolerated–don't rush or push them because this can cause further regression of skills (this can include various safe household items, sand boxes, and dirt piles with supervision if your child is mouthing objects).
• At mealtimes, present baby with his own spoon and encourage banging, mouthing, and chewing.
• Begin introducing baby to straw cups.
• Supervised finger feeds are encouraged to increase strength and grasp.