Child development 6–9 months

Your baby loves to touch and grasp and to ‘make things happen’, that is make things shake and bang or move towards them. These activities are great fun and also help them to understand that they have an effect on the world, they can do things to it.

Your baby is learning about up and down as well as coming and going, and will love to play games that act these things out.

Your baby will love to

have you look into their eyes and chat
lie on their back and grab their feet
lie on their tummy and reach for a brightly coloured toy or piece of paper
have you play ‘here is your nose – here is mummy’s nose’
drop a toy from the highchair or pram over and over and delight in watching you pick it up and give it back to them
play ‘ahh boo’ as you bring your face quickly down to their tummy
play ‘peek-a-boo’ as you hide your face behind a book or cloth and say their name when you come out.

Babies need most of all to be with and to have fun with people, especially their parents and others who are close to them, such as their brothers, sisters and grandparents. People are much more interesting than things.

Safety

A moving baby who puts everything in their mouth needs to be watched all the time because they can quickly swallow small objects or creep into unsafe places. Babies are not able to understand about danger. Lock away unsafe objects or put them high out of reach.