Babywise Sample Schedules: 9 Months Old

Sample schedules for an 9 month old using the Babywise method. This is the 10th month of life. Baby schedules for 39-44 weeks old.

9 month old baby

This post tells you all about what to expect with your 9 month old Babywise baby. This is the tenth month of life and baby is 9 months old moving toward 10 months old. I will walk you through what to expect during this month, share what my kids did during this month, and share sample schedules from other Babywise babies from this month.

There is a range of weeks here because the weeks and months do not perfectly line up with each other.

Babywise Baby Tenth Month Overview

During this tenth month of baby’s life (from 39-42 weeks old), you can expect the following:

EAT

Some people go to 3 liquid feedings a day. I stick with 4 until beyond one year old. If you are breastfeeding, I highly recommend you stick with four liquid feedings a day, also. If you are formula feeding or pumping and feeding through a bottle, your baby might be able to do three liquid feedings a day.

Your baby should be having solid foods three times a day by this age. This will be a breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast should be your first feeding and lunch should be your second feeding.

Dinner can be either your third feeding or your fourth. Pick the one that works best with your schedule. Two of my kids did third and two did fourth. Either one works.

You might have a snack at some point in the day. A logical place would be after the afternoon nap to hold baby over so baby can eat dinner with the family.

Keep in mind that the solid foods should come right after your liquid feeding. If you are feeding your baby a liquid feeding and then 1-2 hours later doing a solid feeding, you are feeding your 9 month old more often than you fed your newborn. Just like full feedings were important for a newborn, they are important for a 9 month old. A 9 month old can go 3-4 hours between feedings. Keep the same feeding principles you established way back in the newborn months. 

SLEEP

Most babies will be at two naps a day, though some will still have that short third nap.

There is a sleep regression for many babies around ten months old. If your baby hits this regression, it does not mean it is time to drop to one nap. Stick with two naps a day. 

You might need to shorten a nap and/or extend waketime length. Your typical 8-9 month old will have 120-150 minutes of waketime length. Your average 10-12 month old will have 120-180 minutes of waketime length. See the Cornerstone for Good Naps for a handy chart that will tell you the range for waketime length for all ages.


Read: Optimal Waketime Lengths


Before you try different waketime lengths, I highly recommend you try to increase your exercise and/or stimulation levels. For most babies in this age range, increasing physical and mental stimulation gets baby sleeping well again.

When the body is physically tired, it needs sleep to recover. When the brain is mentally tired, it needs sleep to recover and to process what was learned. 

9-10 month olds need older, more mature toys. 9-10 month olds need to be stimulated. Up until this point, the world was stimulating enough just as it was, but by this point, your baby knows the world around her quite well and she needs to have things mixed up some. 

Read more about this in the Importance of Exercise and Stimulation for Sleep.

Find my toy recommendations for 7-9 month olds here.

See my toy recommendations for 10-12 month olds here.

DISCIPLINE

Discipline will be more of a part of your day as your baby becomes more mobile and more curious. Discipline means to correct and guide. Your baby can be taught “no” and can learn to listen to that. Babies who learn self control tend to have fewer tantrums as toddlers. They have started life out learning they can’t do and touch whatever they want and handle that correction better if they have had expectations at a younger age. 

Action precede beliefs, meaning that your baby can learn to obey even before she can understand why. Her actions come before her belief that it is a good idea to obey.

Read Discipline Foundations for Your Baby for more. 

INDEPENDENT PLAYTIME

If you haven’t started Independent Playtime yet, it isn’t too late. Do it. If you do not know how to get started or why you should bother, head on over to this post: Independent Playtime: The Ultimate Overview

Blanket Time is another great independent activity for your child to do each day in addition to Independent Playtime (not instead of). If you have to choose one or the other, go for Indpendent Playtime. 


Read: Blanket Time Full Guide


SCHEDULE BASICS

Most babies this month will have the following in their schedule:

  • Eat 3-4 times a day. Again, I don’t recommend 3 times a day if you are breastfeeding. 
  • Should be able to eat finger foods and be eating solid foods. Remember, solid foods happen with the liquid feeding (immediately after or immediately before). 
  • Have 2-3 naps a day. Most will be at 2. You will see in the sample schedules below that McKenna took 3 naps a day sometimes, so never push your baby if your baby still needs 3 naps. 
  • Sleep 10-12 hours at night.
  • Have Independent Playtime each day. This will typically be 30-45 minutes long. Read more about Independent Playtime Lengths here. 

You will see in sample schedules below that something kind of amazing at this age is schedules don’t really change much (if at all) from week to week. For so long, every week can really look very different from the last, and as baby gets older, things become more consistent. 

9 month old sample Babywise schedules pinnable image

Babywise 9 Month Old Sample Schedules

Here are the sample schedules used by my Babywise babies for this age range.

39 Weeks Old

McKenna: (read her full summary for 39 weeks here)

8:15 AM–wake, nurse, solids (prunes or peaches and oatmeal)
9:45-10:00 AM–nap
12:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (green veggie and applesauce. Sometimes mix with blueberries).
2:10 PM–nap
4:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (yellow veggie and bananas or pears).
5:30ish PM–dinner with family. Finger foods and what we are having.
6:45 PM–nap. Some nights, she stays up until 7:00. Since most of this week included this nap, I am including it in our schedule.
7:45ish PM–wake, nurse, PJs, story, bed

Brinley: (read her full summary for 39 weeks here)

8:45–nurse with solids (fruit, cereal, yogurt). Indepenedent Playtime happens in this block.
10:15–nap
12:45–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, cereal)
2:30–nap
5:00–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, cereal, finger foods) 
7:30–feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00.

40 Weeks Old

McKenna: (read her full summary for 40 weeks here)

8:15 AM–wake, nurse, solids (prunes or peaches/apricots and oatmeal)

9:45-10:00 AM–nap
12:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (green veggie and applesauce. Sometimes mix with blueberries or cherries).
2:10 PM–nap
4:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (yellow veggie and bananas or pears).
5:30ish PM–dinner with family. Finger foods and what we are having.
6:45 PM–nap. Some nights, she stays up until 7:00. Since most of this week included this nap, I am including it in our schedule.
7:45ish PM–wake, nurse, PJs, story, bed

On nights we dropped the third nap, we did:

7:15-7:30 PM–nurse, PJs, story, bed.

Brinley: (read her full summary for 40 weeks here)

8:45–nurse with solids (fruit, cereal, yogurt). Indepenedent Playtime happens in this block.
10:15–nap
12:45–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, cereal)
2:30–nap
5:00–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, cereal, finger foods) 
7:30–feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00.

41 Weeks Old

McKenna: (read her full summary for 41 weeks here)

8:15 AM–wake, nurse, solids (prunes or peaches/apricots and oatmeal)
10:00 AM–nap
12:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (green veggie and applesauce. Sometimes mix with blueberries or cherries).
2:10 PM–nap
4:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (yellow veggie and bananas or pears).
5:30ish PM–dinner with family. Finger foods and what we are having.
6:45 PM–nap. Some nights, she stays up until 7:00. Since most of this week included this nap, I am including it in our schedule.
7:45ish PM–wake, nurse, PJs, story, bed

On nights we dropped the third nap, we did:

7:15-7:30 PM–nurse, PJs, story, bed.

Brinley: (read her full summary for 41 weeks here)

8:45–nurse with solids (fruit, cereal, yogurt). Indepenedent Playtime happens in this block.
10:30–nap
12:45–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, cereal)
2:30–nap
5:00–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, cereal, finger foods) 
7:30–feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00.

42 Weeks Old

McKenna: (read her full summary for 42 weeks here)

8:15 AM–wake, nurse, solids (prunes or peaches/apricots and oatmeal)

10:00 AM–nap
12:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (green veggie and applesauce. Sometimes mix with blueberries or cherries).
2:10 PM–nap
4:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (yellow veggie and bananas or pears).
5:30ish PM–dinner with family. Finger foods and what we are having.
6:45 PM–nap. Some nights, she stays up until 7:00. Since most of this week included this nap, I am including it in our schedule.
7:45ish PM–wake, nurse, PJs, story, bed
On nights we dropped the third nap, we did:

7:15-7:30 PM–nurse, PJs, story, bed.

Brinley: (read her full summary for 42 weeks here)

8:45–nurse with solids (fruit, cereal, yogurt, finger foods). Indepenedent Playtime happens in this block.
10:30–nap
12:45–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, finger foods)
2:30–nap
5:00–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, finger foods) 
7:30–feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00.

Kaitlyn for the month:

7:30–nurse + solids
8:50–nap
11:30–nurse + solids
1:00–nap
3:30–nurse
5:00–nap
7:00–nurse + solids then bed (I woke her up earlier than 4 hours because I wanted her in bed for the night to get 12 hours of sleep)

At 9 months, I started trying to drop the third nap. It was a weaning process. We started by shortening it over time. It got down to the point of being only 1 hour long, then 45 minutes. Then she would have some days she wouldn’t need the nap. Those days, I would feed her at 6:30 if needed so we could get her in bed earlier.

The Tenth Month Sample Baby Schedule Graphic

43 WEEKS OLD

McKenna (Read her full 43 week old summary here)

8:15 AM–wake, nurse, solids (prunes or peaches/apricots and oatmeal). This is when we do a bath and independent playtime10:00 AM–nap
12:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (green veggie and applesauce. Sometimes mix with blueberries or cherries).
2:10 PM–nap
4:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (yellow veggie and bananas or pears).
5:30ish PM–dinner with family. Finger foods and what we are having.
6:45 PM–nap. Some nights, she stays up until 7:00. Since most of this week included this nap, I am including it in our schedule.
7:45ish PM–wake, nurse, PJs, story, bed
On nights we dropped the third nap, we did:
7:15-7:30 PM–nurse, PJs, story, bed.

Brinley: (Read her full 43 week old summary here)

8:45–nurse with solids (fruit, cereal, yogurt, finger foods). Independent Playtime happens in this block.
10:30–nap
12:45–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, finger foods)
2:30–nap
5:00–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, finger foods) 
7:30–feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00.

44 WEEKS OLD

McKenna: (Read her full 44 week old summary here)

8:15 AM–wake, nurse, solids (prunes or peaches/apricots and oatmeal). This is when we do a bath and independent playtime. We then do sibling playtime.
10:15 AM–nap. On Monday, she needed the nap at 10 since she had missed a nap at church.
12:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (green veggie and applesauce. Sometimes mix with blueberries or cherries). She then “helps” me put Brayden in rest time (which just means telling him to go) and Kaitlyn down for her nap. This is then free play with me in the same room.
2:10 PM–nap
4:30 PM–wake, nurse, solids (yellow veggie and bananas or pears). Then time with Daddy.
5:30ish PM–dinner with family. Finger foods and what we are having. Then time with family.
6:45 PM–nap. Some nights, she stays up until 7:00. Since most of this week included this nap, I am including it in our schedule.
7:45ish PM–wake, nurse, PJs, story, prayers, bed
On nights we dropped the third nap, we did:
7:15-7:30 PM–nurse, PJs, story, prayers, bed.

Brinley: (Read her full 44 week old summary here)

8:45–nurse with solids (fruit, cereal, yogurt, finger foods). Independent Playtime happens in this block.
10:30–nap
12:45–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, finger foods)
2:30–nap
5:00–nurse with solids (veggie, fruit, finger foods) 
7:30–feed, then bedtime. In bed by 8:00.

Reader Sample Babywise 9 Month Old Schedules

melissa said…
9 month old BOY

6:00-6:45am: wake-up/stay in bed
6:45am: diaper change/dressed
7:00am: b/f
7:30am: breakfast (rice cereal and fruit or waffle/pancake…)
8:00am: playtime
9:00am: diaper change / nap
10:30am: wakeup / diaper change
10:45am: bottle of formula,8 oz
11:30am: Lunch (meat, veggie, starch)
12:15pm: diaper change / story
12:30/12:45pm: nap
2:30pm: wake-up
2:45pm: b/f & snack
3:15pm: outdoor walk or indoor playtime
4:30pm: (optional nap if fussy, and if mama remembers)
5:00pm: dinner & family time
6:15pm: bathtime & quiet time activity (I have a two-year old as well, which is why this time begins so early).
6:45pm: b/f & 3-4oz bottle of formula
7:15pm: To Bed

Ryan & Amber said…
9 month old little girl

7:30 – wake/nurse
8:00 – breakfast
8:20 – Mommy works out (baby in stroller or at gym daycare)
9:00 – IP time
9:20 – wind down routine
9:30/45 – nap (I’ve noticed the last 2 days she’ll take a better nap if up 2.25-2.50 hours instead of just 2 hours, so I’m tweaking her waketime)
11:30 – wake/nurse
12:00 – lunch
12:20 – jumparoo, physical skills or errands
1:30/2:00 – nap (same as above with nap length)
3:30/4:00 – wake/nurse
6:00 – nurse/dinner
6:30 – bathtime
7:00 – in bed

The end of the day’s a little crammed in there, but it works for us. When I start weaning her, I’ll just give her a snack at 3:30/4:00

Katy said…
9 Months girl

8:00 – wake up, nurse, solids
9:50 – nap
11:50 – wake, nurse, solids/finger foods
2:00 – nap
4:00/30 – wake, nurse
5:15 – solids, finger foods at dinner
7:30 – nurse
8:00 – bed

amykpt said…
9 month old boy7am wake, 6 oz formula

730 breakfast
930-11 nap
1115 6 oz formula
1145 lunch
2-345/4 nap
345/4 6 oz formula
6 dinner
630 bath, bottle, bed by 715/730

D & H said…
Our schedule at 9-months (boy):

6:30am wake, nurse, solids, IP, bath
8:30am Nap
10:30am Nurse, solids, errands/outing or playtime
12:30pm Nap
3pm Wake, nurse, play
5:30pm Nurse, Solids & finger foods for dinner, family time
7:30 Bedtime routine (song, scripture story, prayer, nurse, pajamas & diaper change) then in bed by 8:00pm or earlier

Emily Anne Russ said…
9 month girl. Eliza.

6:30am wake/stay in crib
7am get up/nurse
7:30 breakfast
8:00 play/go for a walk
9:30 nap
11:00 get up/nurse
11:30 lunch
12:00 independent play in pack n’ play/or errands
1:00 read/play with mom
1:30/1:45 nap
3/3:30 get up/nurse
3:30 snack/errands/or free play
6:00 dinner with family
6:30 bath
7:00 nurse/bed

Alan Tierney said…
My little girl is 9 weeks old and her schedule which she has kind of fallen into herself is…

Change to day clothes, change & feed: 0700 – play with after for a while
Nap: 0830 – 1130
Wake, change & feed: 1200 – play after
Nap: 1400 – 1600 ish
Wake, change & feed: 1700 – play after
Nap: 1830 – 2030
Bath: 2030
Change into PJ’s & feed: 2100 – read to after
Nap: 2330 – 0100
Try to ‘Dream Feed’ at 0100
Sleep till 0700
She has quite bad nightmares so her ‘nap time’ is disturbed sometimes with this.

katie martin said…
9 month old boy:

6:45-wake/stays in crib
7-nurse/breakfast(banana and oatmeal
8-IP/get dressed
9-nap(2hours on a good day) Always on the go with the 3 year old/running errands in morning so not always at times only a 45 minute nap.
11-wake/nurse/lunch
12-IP/some sort of floor activity
1-Nap
3-wake/nurse/snack (usually sits in bumbo while sister has art time.
4:30-sometimes has a cat nap depending on how the morning nap went. If not then just plays with sister on the floor.
5:30-6- nurse/Dinner
6:30- Bath
7-Bed

jennc said…
9 month boy

8 a.m. – Wake/nurse/play
9 a.m. – Solids/play
10 a.m. – Nap
12 p.m. – Wake/nurse/play
1 p.m. – Solids/play
2 p.m. – Nap
4 p.m. – Wake/nurse/play
5 p.m. – Solids/play
6 – 7:30 p.m. – Family time/play/bath
7:30 p.m. – Nurse & bed

Katie {My Paisley Apron} said…
9mo girl

7 wake, nurse/bottle, solids
9 nap
11 wake, nurse/bottle, solids
1:15 small bottle, nap
3:15 wake, bottle, solids
6:15 bath
6:30 nurse/bottle, stories
6:50-7 bed
5am short nursing, back to bed

valerieadele said…
9 month old boy: Currently, we are in the process of dropping the 3rd nap, as well as adding minutes to Independent playtime.

6:45-7:00 Wake/4 oz formula
7:30-8:00 Breakfast: cereal & fruit
8:00-8:15 Independent playtime in pack n play
8:15-8:45 Play on playmat with mom or dad
8:45-9:00 Read story
9:00-10:30 Nap
10:45-11:15 Lunch: green veggie, fruit & yogurt & 4 oz formula
11:15-12:45 Outdoor play (usually swimming right now being that it’s July)
12:45- 1:00 Read story
1:00-2:00 Nap
2:00-2:15 Snack & 6 oz bottle
2:15-2:30 Independent playtime
2:30-3:45 Baby hangs out with mom or dad (run errands, household work, prep for dinner, play)
3:45-4:00 Read story
4:00-4:15/4:30 Catnap (trying to drop this one, but until his second nap gets longer, he needs this one)
4:30-5:00 Dinner (cereal, yellow or orange veggie, fruit & 3 oz bottle)
5:30-6:00 Play in pack n play or on playmat while I fix dinner
6:00-6:30 Sits in highchair and has finger foods while family eats
6:30-7:30 Plays with mom & dad (stroller ride, Wednesday evenings-Bible study)
7:30-7:45 8 oz bottle, bedtime routine
8:00-8;15 Baby is asleep

Marissa said…
8-9 months old:

6:00-6:30 – Wake and nurse
7:00 – Solids
8:30-9:00 – Morning nap
11:00ish – Wake and nurse
12:00 – Solids
1:30 – Afternoon nap
3:30 – Wake and nurse; solids for a snack immediately after
5:45 – Solids
7:15 – Nurse and down for the night

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6 thoughts on “Babywise Sample Schedules: 9 Months Old”

  1. This is SO helpful. Do I have to keep pumping at 10pm (before I go to bed) at this point once baby is 10 months old? I imagine this has something to do with my milk supply/breast storage capacity. I have plenty of milk frozen, etc. and am still breastfeeding 4x a day.

    Reply
    • You most likely do not need to keep pumping at this point. Some women do need that fifth feeding, so pay attention to things, but I did just four feedings with all of my babies and it was totally fine.

      Reply
  2. My son just turned 9 months over the weekend and we’re in the process of dropping the 3rd nap. He doesn’t nap long enough to get us through the day. I see that you have a short wake windows, should I scale back his wake windows?
    His schedule now (on a good day…)
    7am wake, 7:15 feed
    8:15am solids
    9:15-10:30/10:45 nap, 11:15 feed
    12:15pm solids
    1:00-2:15/2:30 nap, 3:15 feed
    4:15 solids
    5:00-5:20 catnap, 6:15 feed
    In bed by 6:35, asleep 6:45

    If he has a later day where he wakes up from his last nap around 3, he goes to sleep at 6. I’m really struggling with his naps…always have.

    Reply

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