9 month old not standing, no words

[NewMomma21]

Hi everyone,

Posting in the hope I’ll get some reassurance.

I have a 9 month old. I thought he was reaching milestones but recently I’ve become a bit worried. I am in a parenting group with other 9 month old and he seems to be the only baby who is not pulling up to stand. He will stand briefly with some support from furniture but mostly drops to the floor.

Although he is vocal he also seems to be the only baby in the group who is not saying dada and mama. Other babies have up to 8 words and we don’t even have dada.

He has commando crawled since about 8 months and has been sitting since about 5.5 months but now I feel he has stalled completely compared to other babies.

I know comparison is the thief of joy but I’m really starting to worry that he is not progressing.

Has anyone any experience of similar? Thanks

I do know how it feels - one of my dc wasn't sitting when all the other babies were. But there is a big range of normal with this stuff. My dc were both late to stand, also to walk but both completely normal now.
I think 9mo is early for words, isn't it around a year for first words?

DD had only just got the hang of sitting without falling over at that age. She crawled the week before her first birthday, pulled up to standing at around 13 months and walked at 15 months. She had a couple of words on her first birthday.

She turned out to be clever and physically capable of being sporty but not interested enough to do the practice involved at being anything beyond a hobby athlete.

Yess 9mo is young for words with aby purpose- around 1 year is only a few words too not 8!
Mine wasnt standing at 9 mo either, but did walk at a year so dont worry at all x

Don’t worry, they all do things at their own pace.

I found with my DS that he would stay the same for ages and then suddenly make progress really quickly and then pause again.

My DS definitely didn’t say anything approaching a word until much much later. He’s 16 months now and has only just started to say things that resemble words in the last month. Before that it was just babbling and the occasional dada.

Does he have his 10-12 month review with the health visitor soon? Maybe look up the ages and stages questionnaire.

I dont know any babies thatvwalked before 12 months!my DD didnt walk until 16 months,

I wouldn’t be worried at all. One of mine had Dada, Mama and Cat (‘at) around the 9 month mark and was walking by 1, but my other is 17 months and has around 8-10 words and doesn’t reliably walk. She has an older sibling to do her fetching so just just points and says “that” and it appears in her hand!

I don't know any babies that talked at 9 months 😱

Did you mean to say other 9 month olds? I doubt any 9 month olds can say 8 words...please don't worry! Re not walking - my son only started walking independently at 11m. If you are concerned you should speak to your GP but I think they will probably say the same

Thanks so much for the replies which have eased my worries a bit.

Its very hard not to worry when other babies seem so far ahead even though rationally I know the range of normal is big at this age. I just felt so anxious when people were saying their babies had mama, dada, grandpa,cat hiya, bye bye and my son has nowhere near even one word.

I sometimes feel like I’m wishing my life away for him to catch up but I can’t help but worry given I spend lots (all) of my time playing, reading, singing with him.

If anyone has any suggestions of anything more I can do to encourage standing or language development I would be grateful

Apologies yes, I should have said in a parenting messaging group with the parents of other 9 month olds. Sorry for the confusion 🙂

I've also never known a nine month old to talk.

I have a 9mo too and your DS sounds fine to me! I'd say it's very unusual to have 8 words used properly in context at this age. None of my friends' babies around this age have anywhere near that many words.

I quite like milestones and motherhood on instagram, lots of tips on there for play ideas to help gross motor development (FWIW I just checked on her page and it suggests pulling to stand is expected around 9-10 months, but not a cause for concern unless there's no signs of it emerging at 10-11 months).

No 9 month old is saying 8 words op. Your baby sounds absolutely fine to me - stop comparing.

9 month olds don’t have 8 word!

He sounds perfectly normal. Ignore the competitive parenting!

Mine walked at 16m and talked about 12m. She was a big talker and knew loads of words very quickly but 9m is too early

Our DS didn’t start trying to commando crawl until 10 months 😂

He also didn’t have any words at all at 9 months, really not that unusual!

He’s 14 months now and runs around on his own! Can say a few words and understands a lot too. So much can change so quickly.

They develop at their own pace, reading and singing with baby is great but you really don’t have to do anything out of the ordinary your baby will get there 🙂

The people in your parenting group are quite simply talking nonsense. No 9 month old baby has 8 words and whilst I do know a child who walked at 9 months that child was definitely the outlier.

Unless they are counting 'ba' and 'ga' etc as words I am pretty sure none of these babies are saying 8 words at 9 months. My mum group of 8 babies are all between 12-14 months and none of them are saying more than mama, dada, maybe the odd no. And only one of them is walking properly, the rest are all in various stages of taking their first few precarious steps and then falling.

My baby is one and only recently starting crawling. Cannot stand or say mamma or dadda either. If you really must compare look at peer reviewed journal articles about normal child development (ranges).

Either you have an unusually forward clutch of babies in your group, or you have a few Billy Bullshitter parents in it. I know which I’d have my money on.

Your little one sounds like they’re doing great for their age. It’s virtually impossible not to compare, but you might find things easier if you try and compare to the average, not just those who are (apparently) unusually early to do things.

Honestly some parents are just overly optimistic about their kids ability…. Either that or they’re a show off and tell fibs… walking/ talking at nine months is very very very advanced

DS could only just sit upright at that age! Now he stomps around like a good’un and is frequently running about shouting about something or other. I worried too but there really is a range of normal. He didn’t walk til he was 13 months, started pulling up to stand about 10 or 11. He probably had one word for months to begin with and then it suddenly all came like a flood.

For me this is why parenting groups are the devil, there are always babies and children who’ve done something faster; running and swimming at the same time 🤣🤣🤣

Honestly though they all develop at their own pace , you said yourself you had no concerns until you compared against others in the baby group.

No 9 month olds have 8 words… their parents are lying… as previous poster have said maybe mama.. or gaaaaagaaaaaa etc and you can make of it what you want.

Honestly go enjoy these months, they fly by, you don’t need to add worry to the mix

One to walk, two to talk.
He sounds fine-it all evens out in the end. plus I’ll bet a quid that all those other babbling prodigies are being over sold…!

For context my now 7 year old crawled at 5 months but couldn’t sit till nearly 10
months… all at different times!