Schedule

When our son was 9 months his schedule looked like this:

wake between 6:00 - 7:00, then breakfast
nap #1 at 9:00 - 10:30
lunch at 11:30
nap #2 at 1:00 - 3:30
dinner at 4:30
bedtime with bottle at 6:30

While I don't think you need to be robotic and rigid with a schedule, I do think you are on the right track with establishing some sort of predictable pattern for what you child can expect throughout the day. Routines can be very comforting and provide stability for young children. They know what's coming next and are typically less anxious. Having a routine for naptime and bedtime is great because once the routine starts the child understands "hey, it's time to get ready to sleep". Once I started a schedule, our baby slept predictably for the nap times listed above and slept from 6:30 - at least 6:00 every night without waking.

By 9 months my little one was pretty consistent.

7-7:30am wake up
7:30-8am breakfast
10am 2 hour nap
12pm lunch
3pm 2 hour nap or less
4pm snack time (if awake)
6pm Dinner
7:30pm bath time
8pm bedtime

I try to keep first nap and everything else after on time. Wake up and breakfast differed now and then, but pretty much stuck to it.

Hi M., I'm so glad you asked the question, because I've been wondering if the pattern my 9month son has established is "normal." He just turned 9 months and he is very consistent in his eating/sleeping patterns.

* Wakes up between 6:30-7am, nurses, naps for about an hour.
*Up by 9am, cereal w/ milk between 9:30-10am
*Nap between 11-11:30 (bottle right before nap), up by 12:45pm
*Lunch between 1-1:30pm
*Nap between 3-3:30 (with a bottle), up usually no later than 4:15
*Dinner between 5-5:30pm
*Nurses when I get home about 6pm (just for a few minutes)
*Final nursing between 7:30-8
*To bed by 8pm

M.

I really didn't have my son on a schedule until he was about 9 months - it just became pretty obvious about then that he did better on a schedule at that point. It especially kept him from waking at night. He would get up around 6, nurse and go immediately back down until about 8:30. Then he had breakfast, napped at 10 for about 2 hours, had lunch at noon, napped at 2 for 2 to 3 hours and bedtime was at 6:30. As soon as I started putting him down earlier at night (before he'd go to bed around 8 or 9), he started sleeping longer through the night and did not wake like he had been before. As he's gotten a little older, his naps have shortened a little and he generally gets up at 7 now and stays up until naptime at 9 or 9:30, moving his afternoon nap to about 1pm. Just remember that every kid is different - some want to sleep more than others. I always thought my son never wanted to sleep, but when I stuck to that schedule at 9 months (despite his original protests), he started sleeping like a dream. He would always wake up happy. I really think that he was not getting enough sleep before. Oh, and remember to always be flexible - if your baby doesn't get as long of a nap as usual or wakes up grumpy, you might want to adjust other naptimes/bedtimes. Anyway, hope that assists you! Good luck!

M.,

I really don't think there is any typical schedule for a 9 month old. With mine, I sort of went with the flow and gave him something to eat whenever we ate. Gave him food when he was hungry and let him nap when he was sleepy. Just don't let him nap to late in the day or he'll wake up at night. And no eating or drinking after bedtime at night.

My little sweetie who is 9 months old today gets up at 7am,has breakfast, has nap 1 around 9am till around 10am, she may get some milk and then lunch around noon. After lunch around 1 or 2pm she takes a nap for about an hour or hour and a half. then she has milk/snack and dinner at 5-5.30pm and bed at 8pm.

The meal times are more set but her naps I judge when she is tired but she tends to do the same thing every day more or less. I know babies like routines. I think a typical 9 month old does have a routine - maybe not so rigid that you could set your watch to it but a general one. If my sweetie doesn't sleep as much for whatever reason during the day, then she goes to bed a little earlier eg.7-7.15pm. I wish she took 3 naps but she really only takes 2 at this stage.