Let’s be completely honest for a minute: 9 to 10 month olds are chaos. We love them to bits. Watching them learn new skills and hit milestones is incredible. But some days, their new habits leave you standing in the middle of the room rubbing your aching back, asking: “WHY?!”
Between learning to crawl and throwing food off the tray (which is why our dog is getting fat from baby food), life has become a daily challenge.
If you are currently surviving these exact 9 month old behaviour changes, here are five things I find annoying we are battling right now.
1. Unintentional Abuse (Biting, Slapping, and Kicking)
I think I’ve only been properly bitten once or twice, but GOD does hurts.
The only thing I can compare it to is when “Harry the Hamster” took a proper chunk out of my finger when I was 7 years old.
If it’s not the surprise razor sharp tooth bite, it’s the occasional slaps to the face when I’m carrying her around, or the accidental kicks during nappy changes.
She isn’t doing it on purpose, bless her, she just has zero concept of personal space or her own physical strength yet!
2. The “Pick Me Up, Put Me Down” Indecision Loop
At 9 months old, independence kicks in, but so does confusion.
She currently has no idea what she wants:
- I pick her up. She immediately arches her back, grunts, and gestures at a toy on the floor.
- I put her down next to said toy. This is apparently the worst decision I have ever made in my entire life, triggering immediate shouts verging on tears.
- She insists on standing up, wobbling all over the place, and almost face-planting directly onto the very toy she wanted.
The only time she is mildly content is when I am hovering at a 45-degree angle directly behind her with my lower back screaming in agony.
3. The Nappy Change Battle (a.k.a. “The Crocodile Roll”)
Nappy changes used to be an easy 60-second thing.
Now? It’s a wrestling match.
The second her back hits the changing mat, the legs start kicking like a olympic swimmer.
Then comes The Crocodile Roll.
She has worked out she can roll onto her stomach, so the moment the dirty nappy comes unhooked, she attempts to flip. Hang on kid, I need to wipe you down.
If I gently roll her back over and she’s furious.
If I try to do the change faster to get it over and done with she get’s even more crazy (shouting/kicking/arms waving about). You can’t win!
4. Gymnastic Nursing (And the “Dad Freeze”)
Watching my poor wife try to feed her right now is a comedy mixed with the patience of a monk.
We’re breastfeeding, and I see our daughter is swapping left and right, twisting up and down.
My wife even sometimes ends up in the “rugby ball hold” entirely on baby’s own terms.
Worse, at the slightest sound in the house, she pops off the breast to inspect the room.
This means if I walk into the living room while she is feeding, I have two options:
- A: Freeze entirely on the spot like a statue.
- B: Slow-motion back out of the room without breathing.
If I make a single sound, both baby and my wife immediately stop what they’re doing and stare at me until I leave.
5. Clumsy, Wobbly Standing on Danger Surfaces
She learned to crawl this month, and within a single week, she went from a slow shuffle to a hyper-speed.
I can be making dinner, put her down safely on her cushioned playmatt, turn around to stir the pan, and look back two seconds later, only to find she has zoomed across the kitchen and is attempting to pull herself up on a dining table chair.
It’s not a smooth, confident stand either. It is a clumsy, wobbly, top heavy shuffle.
I know she’s going to fall.
She knows she’s going to fall.
So I have to abandon dinner to sprint across the tiles and act as a human crash pad.
And don’t even think about moving her!
If I dare pick her up off the tiled floor and place her back on her soft, padded mat, it triggers tears.
How dare I disrupt her dangerous adventures?!
Final Thoughts: Hang in There!
If you’re currently dealing with baby slapping, changing mat escapes, or a wobbly stander who refuses to sit down, hang in there.
These 9 month old behaviour changes are exhausting, and your back will hurt, but it’s all part of them discovering their movement and independence.
Just make sure you have a good orthopaedic pillow ready for bed.
6 thoughts on “5 Challenging 9 Month Old Behaviour Changes (A Dad’s Guide)”