9 Month Babywise Schedule - Mama's Organized Chaos

William is 9 months old and so many things are going on! And with that comes interesting stories. Never fail, we have a great story this time! Of course, it’s all about poop. (But I’ll come back to this story in a bit)…

William is so loving. Gosh I just love his baby kisses and the smell of him snuggled up to me. He squeezes my face in his hands so hard, and makes the cutest little gurgle noises to say “I love you”. He says “MAAA” for Mama, and I am just over the moon every time.

His schedule got a huge overhaul due to Caroline’s school starting up. We had to rearrange his naps to get inline with pick up and drop off times. I’ll review his new schedule for feeding times and naps below.

And just a side note- every single time I mention something to a doctor- if I express any sort of concern or worry, no more than 2 or 3 days later, William starts mastering that milestone. Every time! The same thing happened with Caroline.

I keep it in and know not to worry. I know it’s no big deal. I know he’s doing what he needs to do and that these little things that I notice are not cause for concern. So I don’t mention it. And just when I FINALLY get around to mentioning it, William proves me wrong.

This happened with sitting. We had the infants and toddlers program come out and evaluate him- mostly because he was a preemie (at 34 weeks 2 days), but also because he seemed behind with his core muscles. He wasn’t even trying to sit at 5 months. But, 2 days after they visited and evaluated him, he was sitting on his own!

This time, it was all about straws. I have tried every single cup. Every cup. Every straw. Everything! I also tried miracle 360 cups. The only thing William would drink from was an open cup. He loves water, but he just had no clue what to do with a straw. 2 days after mentioning it to the doctor, he had mastered it. Amazing.

I only even mentioned it because he doesn’t seem to be drinking enough, and he’s getting constipated at times. So, there I was at his 9 month appointment, talking about straws and trying to get more liquid in him.

9 Month Old Babywise Schedule

As I mentioned, William’s schedule had to get changed. But, it wasn’t because he needed a change. We simply had to change his schedule because of Caroline’s new school time. It was right in the middle of his nap, and we had to find a way to make it to drop off and pick up times.

Knowing we had to work around her school time, we had some big changes to make. Caroline is in an afternoon pre-k this year. It is even in the middle of her nap, so she is just no longer napping. Yes we still give her quiet room time though every day!

William’s schedule had to just be flexible. Here’s what we came up with:

9 Month Feeding and Nap Schedule

7 am wake up and feed bottle #1

8 am solid food breakfast

9 am to 11 am nap #1

11 am bottle #2

11:45 am solid food lunch

1:30 pm to 3 pm nap #2

3 pm wake up and leave immediately for school pick up

4 pm bottle #3 (he has to wait until 4 pm for his bottle while we pick up big sis)

5/6 pm solid food dinner

6:30 pm bottle #4 and bedtime routine

He had to go back down to a 2 hour wake time in the morning, and a 2.5 hour wake time midday. Those were both longer during month 8, so I wasn’t sure how he was going to handle going down earlier for naps.

Somehow he managed to fall into this schedule very nicely. We had no issues at all. He even makes it 3.5 hours in the evening without a nap no problem. He’s doing fantastic on this schedule!

Eat

William is drinking 4 bottles a day, and eating solid food 3 times a day. He is now guzzling water during mealtimes as well, since he mastered the straw cup!

Bottles

4 times a day, William gets a bottle. He is offered 6 ounces each time. There are days that he drinks every last drop, and there are days that he refuses a bottle all together. He’s pretty inconsistent, but typically he just leaves an ounce or so.

Solid Food

I can’t cut food for him fast enough. He eats so much, and so well. I am so impressed.

His pincher grasp is perfect. He can pick up the tiniest of things and eat them. With slippery food, he focuses in and takes his time. He is so determined and very patient. It’s incredible to watch.

He eats everything. Meat, veggies, fruit, pasta- anything. We just cut up bite sized pieces of what we are eating and he loves it. It’s super easy now, since there is only one meal prep for each meal. He also seems to have outgrown the “oat” allergy that he may have had when he was little.

We also started introducing plates this month. He’s doing really well with it!

Water

We’ve been trying for months now to get him drinking out of a straw cup. No luck. I tried all sorts of different cups, and even spent $16 on a special “honey bear straw cup” that was supposed to be really helpful for infants. Still no luck.

I was trying so hard, because William really should be drinking more, and he’s interested in water. He loves drinking from open cups. But I am not patient enough to sit there and hold it for him at the table! He needs to be independent with a cup, which is why I was hoping for something with a lid!

I am not a fan of sippy cups. I know it’s not good for teeth development long term, so I try to stay away from them. We use straw cups and miracle 360 cups.

My husband found something called a “transitional sippy cup“, however, and we decided to give it a shot. I filled it up with formula for one of his bottle times. He sucked it right down!

At lunch, just a few minutes later, I filled it with water. It worked, he still remembered how to do it! He was drinking from a cup.

I immediately tried a straw cup. He had it! It was like a light bulb came on, and he just knew that he needed to suck to get the liquid. Prior to this he was just chewing on the straws. I was amazed!

So, he’s drinking more, and Mama is happy!

Wake Time

William is desperately trying to crawl.

I put him on the floor. He sits for all of a few seconds. Then, he is on his belly trying to get places. The problem is, he is still in that phase of not knowing what to do!

He gets super upset and tries so hard. He just doesn’t know how to do his legs and arms at the same time yet. He’s so close though!

He tries and fusses. I let him work through it, but eventually, I help him back to a seated position. Not long after, he’s back at it, on his belly fussing and trying to crawl. We repeat this all day long.

Crawling is one of my favorite milestones. Babies just sit where you put them. They interact with the toys that you put around them. But, when they can crawl, they can go do what they want! I love seeing their interests. I can’t wait for William to start crawling.

I know my life is about to get harder when he does master this skill, but I just love the insight it brings to what he’s thinking about and interested in. Also, it will bring some quiet back to the house since he won’t be fussing so much, he’ll just be on the move!

Potty & Diapers

All of my fuss over straw cups was due to diapers LOL!

William has wet diapers all day, but they are lightly wet. He was only pooping every 4-5 days, and it was hard. Poor guy. But, there was nothing to do. He wouldn’t drink more bottles, and was hardly drinking what I offered, and he wasn’t understanding cups yet.

So we pushed on, and I am so glad that he’s drinking water easily now!

With all of this, he was no longer consistently pooping in the potty for our early potty training. He just went in his diaper. Well, I was so glad.

Here’s our notable story that I mentioned above…

So, he poops in his diaper this time. I was so glad, because out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something IN his poop. Now I just gave away the ending to the story, but as I saw that, my mind raced back to about 5 days prior, when we were at his 9 month check up…

We had just finished his 9 month check up, and he had to have 2 shots. He had two little circle band aids- one on each thigh. We walked out of the room, and headed to the front desk to schedule his next appointment.

As I was walking, I noticed that one of the band aids was missing. I didn’t think anything of it. I figured it had already fallen off somewhere. I looked on our clothes, and didn’t see it. Oh well, right!?

I was holding William in my arms and headed to the front desk. As I scheduled his appointment, I got my phone out to check dates. I set him down on the floor. He had nothing in his hands, and he doesn’t crawl yet, so he was fine there by me.

A few seconds later, he was turning purple and gasping for air. I grabbed him and watched him. Gasping quickly turned to gagging and he looked like he was going to throw up. It was all a matter of seconds, and he was fine. It was so scary in the moment, but I had no clue what had happened, and he was fine just like that. I figured he maybe didn’t feel well after the shots.

I watched him for awhile, and all was fine.

Fast forward 5 days or so, and I was standing there changing his poopy diaper. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that BAND AID in his poop. I knew exactly what it was. I gasped and realized that he’d choked on a band aid and turned purple! He’d then somehow gotten it loose and gagged, then swallowed it!

OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS! I was so rattled by this. I had no idea where that band aid had gone, but I never saw it in his hands. I never saw it in his mouth. Nothing. And I was with him holding him. I set him down and was still watching him. This still happened. And it could have been HORRIBLE. He could have kept choking on that band aid.

How scary that in an instant something like that can happen. I still get rattled thinking about what could have happened.

From now on, those band aids are coming off immediately!

Sleep

William is taking two naps. His first nap is 2 hours, and his second nap is 1.5 hours. I have to wake him from his second nap every day. Every day. It breaks my heart, because he’s so content.

I have to wake him to get to pick up on time for his big sister at school. We have no choice. I hate that I can’t prioritize his sleep more.

I love that he is so flexible, however. He got a schedule overhaul and just went with the flow. He could use more wake time, but this is what worked, and he did well with it. He could keep sleeping for his second nap, but he gets woken up and put in the car. He rolls with it and never complains.

Bedtime is at 6:30 pm and he sleeps a full 12 + hours, until 7 am. He goes right to sleep and does incredible.

He’s just now realized that he can roll over to his belly at night. So there’s that. He doesn’t wake himself up, but it did cause a few rough starts to naps and bed for a few days. He’s got the hang of it now, though and gets himself nice and comfortable.

Life With Two

Life with two kids is hard and amazing and wonderful and frustrating. It’s knowing that neither is getting the attention that you want them to. It’s knowing that you can’t do things perfectly for both children all the time.

It’s knowing that sleep isn’t getting prioritized during the day exactly as you’d like for your youngest. It’s calming down your oldest because the youngest is bothering them, and they are feeling like they don’t get enough attention.

It’s watching them smile at each other and laugh, and knowing how strong their bond is. It’s watching your baby turn his head whenever his big sister enters the room.

It’s feeling your heart explode a million times a day.

It’s watching them together, and wishing April was here with them. It’s knowing that she would have had an incredible bond with her big sister. It’s knowing that her brother wouldn’t be here if she was. It’s brutal.

It’s immense, fierce joy and love, and sadness and wishing their was more of you to go around all at the same time.