If you clicked on this post you might be struggling with setting a routine for your 9 month old baby. And maybe you’re like me, at home with a toddler and 9 month old and finding it very difficult to set a schedule that works for everyone. Ultimately if you want to have a productive day, you want a happy baby. And a sleepy baby is a fussy baby. So I’m here to help!
With that being said, all babies are different. So even though our schedule looks similar to most 9 month old schedules, our routine is unique. But hopefully what works for us will work for you as well!
To make your life simpler, I’ll jump right into it!
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If you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick outline of the schedule we follow! If you can, stick around for the details below where I’ll be sharing exactly what most of our days look like plus tips and pointers! I’ll also be sharing a few of our favorite items that we use every day!
7:30-8:00am
My daughter, Everly wakes up around the same time every morning. I immediately go get her from her crib, bring her to my bed and nurse her while we wait for her older brother to wake up. As a general rule of thumb, you’re going to want to start your baby’s day with lots of sunlight. I have black out curtains in Everly’s room but lots of natural light in my bedroom. If it’s dark your baby will more than likely fall back asleep and then they won’t be ready for their first nap.
8:30am
After nursing Everly for about 15-30 minutes I change her diaper. I usually keep her in pj’s because she tends to get super messy during breakfast. If she leaks through her clothes I either leave her in a diaper or throw her in a simple onesie. For breakfast I either give her oatmeal, avocado toast, banana, scrambled eggs, or if I don’t feel like cleaning up a huge mess, she loves the happy baby creamies.
9:30am
I have a 3 year old and I also need to feed myself and have a cup of coffee so we’re usually finishing breakfast around 9:30. We have no where to be or anything to get ready for so we have slow mornings. And I’m very thankful for that and never take it for granted! After I clean up I lay Everly on the living room floor where her and Emmett play with each other or with their toys.
10:00-11am
At this time Everly will start showing sleepy cues. Which can range from eye rubbing and smushing her face into the carpet to fussing and crying. Now this is where our routine becomes a bit out of the ordinary. When she was younger I would swaddle her or put her in a sleep sack, turn her Hatch Sound Machine on, nurse her in the glider in her room and lay her down in her crib. However, since she started eating solids, she’s never ready to nurse before her morning nap.
She’s full from that morning nurse and breakfast. And although she’s a great sleeper at night, she is not the one to self soothe in her crib for nap time. So our new routine is anywhere from 10-11 when she’s ready to go to sleep, I lay her in the swing in the living room, cover her with a blanket (I’m always close by usually on the couch working or scrolling lol) and put cartoons on for Emmett. And she falls asleep within 10-15 minutes. If she fights her nap, I can almost always put Encanto on Disney and she gets sucked into it immediately and goes to sleep during the first song haha!
11:30-12pm
Unfortunately even if she doesn’t fall asleep until 11, she won’t sleep later than 12. So I try to aim for her to fall asleep shortly after 10. Once she wakes up she’s ready to nurse again and needs another diaper change. We might play for a little while or I put her in the jumper or sit her in the playroom with Emmett. It really just depends on what I need to do. But usually her and Emmett both play while I make lunch.
12:30pm
For lunch she really enjoys penne with olive oil or pita with hummus, but I try to keep it quick and simple. If you’re interested I get a lot of meal ideas from Jessica over on @pineconesandpacifiers and if I’m ever curious about a specific food or need to know how to prepare it for Everly, I search for it on solidstarts.com.
1:00pm
If she’s really messy after lunch, I give her a bath. This tends to help her sleep better during her second nap as well. We play, read books and just hang out until nap time.
1:40-3:30/4:00pm
Three days out of the week I also work part time as a babysitter. I’ve been with the same family for years and our kids all get along so well and it gets us out of the house for a few hours. With that being said, I have always scheduled my kids’ nap around the same time I have to leave for work otherwise they get really fussy in the car. So on the days I babysit, Everly sleeps from right before 2 until about 3:15. And then when we leave at 6pm, she falls asleep in the car for about 15-30 minutes. This isn’t the perfect schedule but it works for us!
The days I don’t babysit look a little different. As I mentioned earlier, I used to be able to nurse her and lay her in her crib for nap time. But unfortunately Emmett gets really cranky around the same time and they keep each other up. Emmett would be off his nap completely but he doesn’t get enough sleep at night. So here lately I’ve had to throw both of them in the car around 1:40 and drive through the neighborhood until they fall asleep.
This isn’t ideal for everyone and I certainly don’t love wasting gas but sometimes there’s no other way and mama needs happy babies! Plus every once in awhile I’ll use this time to treat myself to a sweet tea or iced coffee.
What do I do while they sleep until 3:30 or 4? I use my hot spot on my phone to work on my computer, read a book, create content for social media or scroll social media lol.
If you don’t have a toddler at home you could try laying your baby in their crib or swing for nap time instead of driving them around. But if you do have to make a trip, you could always transfer their seat to a stroller and go for a walk while they nap!
4:00-6:30pm
Once Everly wakes from her nap, I change and nurse her. We wait to have dinner with daddy around 6:30 so I usually offer a snack if she’s too distracted to nurse. We play with Emmett, she crawls around the house while I clean, cook, etc., I lay out pj’s, we snuggle, we spend time together until daddy gets home.
7:00pm
Dinner is pretty quick for us. And for the most part I give Everly whatever we’re having for dinner. This allows her to feed herself so I can eat.
7:30pm
If dinner is really messy and she didn’t have a bath after lunch, I’l give her one at this time. I don’t bathe her every day because a lot of times she’s just hanging out at home and I don’t want to dry out her skin. If you don’t know Everly from Instagram then you probably don’t know she has a LOT of hair! Haha! I only wash her hair once or twice a week but she often gets food in her hair that I have to rinse out.
The remainder of our bedtime routine consists of brushing her teeth, applying lotion, combing her hair, getting dressed for bed and nursing on both sides while we read a story.
8:30pm
Sometimes bedtime is earlier and sometimes it’s a little later. But I try really hard to have her laid down by 8:30pm! Getting a toddler ready for bed is much harder than getting a 9 month old ready, so every night is a little different for us. Everly sleeps really well at night. I would say 90% of the time she sleeps through the night. Some nights she’ll wake up once around 5am and sometimes if she’s teething or having an off night, she’ll wake two or three times. But I think having a solid routine, black out curtains and our Hatch Sound Machine make a huge difference!
Conclusion
Your routine doesn’t have to be perfect! And if you were struggling with mom guilt, hopefully this post brought you some reassurance! I personally struggle with feeling like I’m not doing a good enough job for my kids because I don’t have a daily schedule with everything perfectly lined out. Whether that’s not having prepped meals or my baby refusing to sleep unless she’s in the car, these things tend to make me feel like a bad mom. But I’m not. And you’re not! You simply reading this post proves you’re putting forth effort and that you love your baby! And man are they lucky to have you!
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