9 Month Old Baby Schedule
This article outlines the average 9 month old baby schedule, including feedings, solids, naps and night sleep.
9 month old’s sleep
At this age, if you are not lucky enough to have a baby who sleeps through the night, most 9 month olds can sleep all night without a feeding and take two naps. However, some babies, in my experience, do better with one feeding after 4 or 5 a.m. and sleep longer than not feed and get an early wake-time. I would need to know your specific situation to make a recommendation, but just recognize that all babies are different, but by this age I would not expect more than 1 feeding, typically, if any at all. Your 9 month old should be taking 2 naps per day for a total of about 2-3 hours per day plus 11-12 hours at night. If you’re having trouble with naps, you might be interested in helping your baby nap.
All babies vary, but here are some rough schedules you can use to make your own for your unique baby.
I should warn you that I am in the camp that breast milk or formula should be the primary nutrition for the first year and solids come secondary. Below are the amounts we recommend. For more information on starting your baby on solid food, visit our sister site, Your Baby’s Start To Solid Foods. It includes recommendations about how and when to start solids, as well as helpful information on food allergies, recommended products, baby-friendly recipes, and more.
Amounts per day:
• At least 3-4 nursing sessions per day or 26-32 ounces formula or combination of both
• 2 servings (1 serving = 1-2 Tablespoons dry) baby cereal
• 1-2 servings grain (1 serving = 1/2 slice bread, 2 crackers, 1/2 cup Cheerios, or 1/2 cup whole grain pasta)
• 2 servings (1 serving = 2-4 Tablespoons) fruit
• 2 servings (1 serving = 2-4 Tablespoons) vegetable
• 2-3 servings (1 serving = 1-2 Tablespoons) protein
• 1 serving Dairy (1 serving = 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/3 cup cottage cheese or 1 oz grated cheese)
• You can also offer cooked egg yolk (but possibly no egg whites until 1 year old due to allergens — check with your doctor)
The first schedule is what I call a “staggered” approach. My first son did better nursing fully and then having solids a bit in between nursing sessions. He was a little hungry but not famished. He just didn’t do well with stopping nursing mid-way to eat solids.
Sample 9 month old schedules
7:00 – Wake and Breast milk or Formula
9:00 – Breakfast
10:00 – Morning Nap (at least 1 hour)
11:00 – Breast milk or Formula
1:00 – Lunch
2:00 – Early Afternoon Nap (at least 1 hour)
3:00 – Breast milk or Formula plus snack
5:00 – Dinner
6:15 – Begin bedtime routine
7:00 – Breastmilk or Formula and Bedtime (goal to be asleep at this time)
If your baby doesn’t mind a more “consolidated” approach to eating, like my second son, here is another type of schedule:
Schedule 2
7:00 – Wake, 1/2 Breast milk / Formula feeding, breakfast and other 1/2 BM / Formula
10:00 – Morning Nap (at least 1 hour)
11:00 – 1/2 BM/Formula, Lunch, and other 1/2 BM/Formula
2:00 – Afternoon Nap (at least 1 hour)
3:00 – BM or Formula Feeding plus snack
5:00 – Dinner and 1/2 BM / Formula feeding
6:15 – Begin bedtime routine
7:00 – Small BM/Formula feeding and Bedtime (goal to be asleep at this time)
Note: When giving any feedings during your bedtime routine, be careful not to create sleep associations.
Looking for more sample 9-month schedules?
We have over 40 sample schedules for all ages in our e-Book, Mastering Naps and Schedules. Banish naptime battles and regain control of your day (and your sanity) starting today!
You Might Also Like:
- The 8/9/10 Month Sleep Regression Explained
- The 8-10 Month Sleep Regression Survival Guide: EXPANDED EDITION (Members Area article)
- Custom Schedule Maker (for members only)
- Mastering Naps and Schedules (Members Area digital e-Book)
- Chat Live with a Sleep Consultant (for members only)
- Night Weaning Quiz: Is Your Baby Ready To Night Wean?
- 8 Month Baby Sleep Coaching Case Study (Members Area case study)
- How To Put Your Baby On A Schedule (Members Area audio tele-seminar recording with founder)
- How to Nap Train (chapter in Mastering Naps & Schedules)
- Day-by-Day Nap Training Plan (Members Area article)
Want FREE sleep help that you can put to use right away? Download a copy of our free guide, 7 Common Napping Mistakes! The guide is available to download instantly, which means you can start using the techniques in it as early as today. So download now, and learn why your baby is not napping – and what you can do about it.Click here to learn more about how to get your free guide.
A better daytime schedule could be just a few clicks away. So don’t wait – download now, and start your journey to better napping today!
What is your 9-month old’s schedule? Share below!
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How do you know whether your baby wakes in the 5 o clock hour and will go back to sleep versus ready to start the day? You mention:
“Although many babies can go all night without a single feeding, in my experience, some do better with one feeding after 4 or 5 a.m. and sleep longer than not feed and get an early wake-time. I would need to know your specific situation to make a recommendation, but just recognize that all babies are different.”
I’ve tried to feed and put him back in the crib..sometimes he just cries and moves around the crib..sometimes sleeps but only a short amount of time (30 mins if I’m lucky).
After he has milk around 5 o clock hour (am), he usually appears awake. Should I just keep putting him back in the crib every morning anyways? I’m trying to fix very early wakings but not sure what to do..he seems to only sleep 9-10 hours a night
Hi @Fiona, thanks for writing. I am sorry you’ve been experiencing early wakings! Here is an article that gives some tips specifically in regards to early waking that may help you figure out where the issue is coming from: https://www.babysleepsite.com/how-we-sleep/baby-waking-too-early/
I hope this helps! If you can’t figure it out and need more help, please contact us directly at contact@babysleepsite.com and we can help point you in the direction of other resources that can help. Hang in there!
Hi I have a 9mth old girl, who is breastfed and has solids as well…I am up literally all night sitting up feeding as she does not sleep through the night up every half hr on a good night and during the day on a good day she will have half hr-1hr sleep if I’m lucky so exhausted tried Just putting her down but she just screams soon as she gets put down…she has been like this since birth has only ever slept 4hrs during the night once and that was at 6wks old
@Chantelle – Thank you for reading and for sharing with us. We’re so sorry to hear that your little girl has had such a tough road with sleep – we know how exhausted you both must be! If you haven’t considered any form of sleep coaching yet, please check out this brief article on how to get started: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/baby-sleep-training-what-when-how-get-started-now/ Please let us know if we can be of any help to you during this journey as our only goal is to help your family sleep better!
My almost 9 months old son goes to bed with 8 oz. formal with 2 tablespoon of baby cereal added at 10pm per our family’s preferences. He wakes between 7:30-9 am. He gets a 7-9 ounce bottle of formula every 4-5 hours and averages 4-5 bottles a day and 1 sitting of baby food with a jar of fruit and a jar of vegetables. I’m slowly introducing finger foods but he does extremely well with baby food and no allergies thus far. He gets his 2 naps of 1-2 hours a day. So far this works for us as we have a 24 pound 30 inch baby boy!!! The more solids I introduce will allow me to cut back to 7 ounce bottles as I can give him snacks in between. Every baby is different so as long as your baby is healthy and getting enough breast milk/ formula and adequate sleep you’re probably doing a great job!
@Devin – Thank you for reading and for sharing with us. It sounds like this indeed is working well for you all! We’re so glad to hear your little guy is eating and sleeping so well! Thank you, again, for sharing!
Hi,
I have a 9 month old. She was always on a schedule very similar to your examples. The only thing was we were rocking her to sleep for 10-15 min and lay her down to her crib. And we were OK with that. BUT, last week she had a cold and wanted to sleep in our arms. Now we need to rock her for hours. Whenever we lay her down, she wakes up, stands up in her crib and cries. What should we do?
If I work with you for consultation, is cry the only way? I don’t want her to cry to sleep.
Thank you.
@Hil – Thank you for stopping by our sleepy little village! I’m so sorry to hear that your little girl’s sleep seemed to regress once she got sick – unfortunately, this is a very common thing that happens with babies who otherwise sleep well. Please rest assured that our team is made up of all moms and we all wish to limit tears as much as possible (we’ve all been where you are!) so, no, a full-on crying method is NOT the only way and is rarely how we guide our families, unless it’s their preference. We’d love to work more with your family and help you all get back on track. You can read about our services here: http://www.babysleepsite.com/services or if you would like more help deciding on which package will work best, reach out to our Client Relations team here and they can help you with your choices: http://www.babysleepsite.com/contact Hang in there, Hil.
Hi,
Thanks for sample routine.
No day is same here, no routine yet. I find our 9 months old getting very upset last few evenings.
I’m getting myself ready to start a routine from tomorrow morning, week before our 4 year old daughter goes back to school.
We’ve 2 parties on next week, 1 in the house (just tea and cake).
How do you adjust the bedtime to family occasions?
Hi @Mumoftwo – thank you for writing to us! Juggling schedules can be so difficult, and working around family gatherings is something I’ve had to deal with many times. It is going to totally depend on your baby how flexible they can be, but I would first get your baby on a schedule so their sleep is predictable, and during this time, I would recommend not going “off book” and taking any outings that would disrupt their scheduled naps and bedtime. For us, as my baby got older, it has become easier to push him past bedtime a little, but there have been many times I’ve had to leave an event early (leaving my husband and my older son to party on!) to get the baby home to bed. I take it on a case by case basis, personally. If you want specific help for these situations, let us know and we’d be happy to help. We’d love to work with you on getting a schedule in place and any other sleep issues that may be going on. To work with us directly please visit here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-toddler-sleep-consulting-services/
I hope this helps!
Thank you Janelle.
Should nap times be the same time every day, or should I adjust them based on the time my baby woke up? For example, on the days he sleeps 7pm-6am, I make naps 9 and 1? And on the days he sleeps 7pm-7am I make naps 10 and 2? Or is it always 10 and 2, no matter what?
Hi @Steph, thanks for your comment! It is likely if he woke at 6 that you would need to move the nap earlier. 😉 Whenever my boys were small I would watch them and if they started acting ready for a nap and it was too early for our normal schedule, I wouldn’t push them to stay up, and straight to bed they would go! I hope that helps. 🙂
I have twin boys, 9 months old.
7am Formula
8am Breakfast
**play time**
930am Nap
11am Formula
12pm Lunch
**play time**
1pm Nap
2pm Formula
**play time**
4pm Optional 30-45 minute nap
5pm Formula
7pm Dinner
730pm in bed
Thank you @Amanda Campbell for sharing the schedule that is working for your boys!