Developmental Milestones at 6 months and 9 months

6 months

  • Gets to know familiar faces
  • Laughs to react with people or situations.
  • Looks into him/ herself in a mirror
  • Takes turns making sounds with people.
  • Sticks tongue out and blows
  • Smiles and Squeals
  • Start holding hands up to be lifted
  • Explores objects by putting things in his/her mouth
  • Reaches and grabs toys he/she wants (attempts to execute motor plan)
  • Closes lips when feeling full/ doesn’t want food anymore
  • Rolls from tummy to back
  • Pushes up with straight arms when on tummy (Gets into a crawling position)
  • Leans on hands to support him/herself when sitting up
  • Grasps a toy using both hands at once
  • Reaches and picks small objects using his/her fingers
  • Plays with his/her feet when laying on back

9 months

  • Become shy/ fearful around unfamiliar people
  • Be clingy to familiar adults
  • Showing facial expressions, such as happy, sad, surprised
  • Look at you when you call his/her name
  • Looks/ reaches to you when you leave
  • Smiles or laughs when you play peek-a-boo
  • Make sounds like “mamama” or “bababa”
  • Copying simple sounds
  • Lifts arms up to be picked up
  • Looks for objects (toys) when dropped out of sight
  • Bangs two objects together
  • Recognises family members
  • Gets into a sitting position from lying down and sits without support
  • Pulls to stand and take weight on feet
  • Pass things from one hand to another hand
  • Start crawling
  • Rolls over both ways
  • Starts feeding him/herself by ‘raking’ food into his/her body or mouth with his/her fingers

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). CDC’s Developmental Milestones. doi: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html/.

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SBCC. (2022). Developmental milestone checklist. doi: https://www.sbcc.sg/developmental-milestone-checklist/.