Comparing. It’s what we do. From pregnancy to milestones, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t compared themselves to the next person. Even if you say you don’t. . . you do. It’s natural. Especially as someone who is so public and often looks at social media, I see babies around the same age or younger who are milestones ahead of Vivienne. It’s quietly frustrating. As a mom, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your baby pushing milestones… so when they don’t happen the first thing you do is think, “What am I doing wrong?”

Vivienne took her time sitting up. We practiced, I researched ways I could help improve her muscles, and still… she flopped over almost immediately. I saw babies that were a month or two younger already sitting up! Were these moms doing something that I wasn’t? Then one day… she sat up, and stayed up. This has been the case in a lot of situations. I am well aware that she is on her own schedule.. learning, developing, and doing it in a timeframe that’s best for her. All children are different. So, why do we still feel the need to compare?

I thought a little bit more about it and decided to do a social experiment. How different are these babies?

Two nights ago, I asked all my mama followers with babies in the 8-12 month range to DM me some information about what milestone their baby is currently at. Unfortunately, not all answers were the same and some included additional information such as teeth, sleep, etc. Which was totally fine! Regardless, I had a point. It was a social experiment to see where babies are currently at in milestones in a certain age range. In this case, I asked for people who had 8-12 month old babies to answer. I received over 100 responses in a few hours, where I spent the rest of the evening hand typing each one out. With the information provided to me, I created graphs to showcase those answers to get a better idea of where these babies were at.

The conclusion?

I’ve included a examples from some mamas for each month (cause its fun to read) as well as the overall graph (nerd alert).

8 months

• Our boy is 7.5 months old and just started pulling up on things to stand this weekend. He sits up on his own, but its been happening way more lately. He’s got four teeth (we can’t believe it) but he will only eat from a food pouch and hates all foods.
• My guy is not currently interested in crawling whatsoever. Will sit unassisted for some time if you get him there. And just recently started Feeling Littles and doing BLW.
• Crawling for 2 months now, stands on any piece of furniture he can reach, learning to blow kisses, babbles and pretend “coughs”, separation anxiety has peeked this month, eats 2 vegetarian meals a day, allergic to eggs, loves blueberries and drinking smoothies.
• Sitting up but doesn’t like it very much so she falls over. She’s working on crawling, loves to talk, her first tooth just started to poke out today.
• Sitting up, been doing BLW and loves it. Doesn’t crawl or walk and doesn’t see a need to roll over either.
• My baby has 9 teeth, crawls all over the place, he just learned that he can pull himself up on things and stand, so not ready for that yet. We have started BLW but mainly prefers nursing.

9 months

• No crawling or standing yet. Just started eating more solids this month she doesn’t really like baby food so she eats grown up food in small pieces. Says dada all day long and mama when she cries.
• Crawling like crazy and pulling herself up to standing position. Trying to take steps but is a little wobbly. She’s eating all solid foods chopped up but not words yet.
• Babbling, crawls everywhere but loves to pull herself up and stand (unassisted for 5 seconds before she falls). She also loves to push her walker around the house, very active, she really isn’t into food, prefer breast milk.
• Crawling and pulling herself up, no teeth, still on purees.
• 9 month old boy, Mack! He’s been crawling since 6.5 months. He stands on his own for a few seconds, walking with assistance, babbles but no words yet, he’s more quiet. Still eating mostly purees due to a few things 1. my anxiety 2. severe allergies. Basically, he’s advanced in his physical stage. I am interested in seeing what other mamas say!
• Currently walking assisted but very eager to walk on her own. She just started eating Whole Foods on her own.

10 months

• Sitting up but not crawling yet. Eats real for like cut up fruits and veggies and says mama and dada.
• Crawling, cruising along furniture and standing by herself, dances, and eating has been a struggle for us.
• 10 month old twins, both hitting their milestones at different rates. One started to crawl at 6 months and the other at 8 months. One pulling himself up at 7/8 months and the other at 9 months. One baby has 8 teeth and the other has 2.
• I have a baby girl, she was actually born a few days after V! She will be 10 months this Saturday. She’s sitting up, crawling around, walking with a walker. She pulls herself up on everything and can stand for a few seconds at a time by herself. She’s just started eating finger foods in the last month or so but she seems to love it so far.
• My baby girl is sitting up, rolling, standing. Not walking or crawling yet, its more scooting. We started with pureed baby food at six months old. We started her on solid foods at 9 months and she now just prefers solid finger foods. Not really interested in the pureed foods anymore. She is still getting 25oz of breastmilk per day. She says mama, dada, Ben Ben, and uh oh before she drops things.
• My son, Mikey, is non stop active. He is crawling, standing, jumping in his crib while holding the bars. He is eating table food. He’s trying to go into a standing position almost every time we put him on the floor. He is eating solids and has been for about 5 months now. He is still not sleeping through the night.
• We were in the same hospital at the same time. She always has been a little head of the game developmentally. She is almost walking on her own. Says mama, dada, and bye bye. She does not eat Whole Foods but does eat everything pureed.
• Standing on his own with no hands and about to walk, 7 teeth, eats some whole foods but mainly pouches and via spoon. will kind of say mama and dada.

11 months

• Breastfed and BLW since 6 months. Started to walk at 10 months, just got her first tooth, talking up a storm and is still nursing 4-5x a day.
• Scooting and trying to stand up. She is not really interested in crawling. Does a combo of baby food and real food. She has two bottom teeth since 6 months and now is in the process of 4 on top.
• Crawling, sitting up, standing up, walking while holding onto the furniture, talking gibberish. Not eating solids, still only likes her bottle and purees and will sometimes eat puffs.
• My daughter just started walking. She was crawling at 6 months, and sitting up at 5. She eats Whole Foods and has loved everything we have given her.
• I have an 11 month old Thea. She is sitting up, crawling/climbing everywhere and everything. Pulls her self up and down and can scale tables but hasn’t taken her first step without holding on to something. She talks, yells, and laughs all day. She eats table food, mama was her first word, popped 4 top teeth. She got the bottom 2 at 7 months.
• Crawling, taken a couple solo steps, eats Whole Foods, says dog and dada.

12 months

• Our little boy is 12 months old. He is currently crawling and walking. About 10-15 steps on his own, or if we hold its hand a little longer in steps. Food is my weak point for him being a mummy. I get so scared of choking. He eats practically what we eat now, just more info finger foods. We do leave cutlery out for him now. Then some foods I would avoid. He isn’t talking yet, but knows how to communicate in other ways. He says mama, dada, ni-night, Tata.
• crawls, stand, says dada/mama, and doesn’t eat much solids.
• My son just turned 12 months last week and is running at full speed (started walking at 8 months). He is talking baby babble, as well as saint words such as mama, dada, grandpa, ball, no. He eats to survive, but enjoys carbs the most. He is still breast fed in the morning, before his two daily naps, and after evening bath.
• Sitting up since six months and crawling since 9m and eating every food possible. He’s trying very hard to walk but not 100% by himself and says hi to everyone.

To explain a little bit more about the graphs, these are showcasing the milestone that the mama specified was current at their baby’s age. So, as you can see… some babies are still only pulling themselves up at 12 months where other babies are full on walking at 9 months. Two people said that their baby was not yet sitting up at 8 months, which was basically the same category Vivienne was in as she didn’t actually sit up until about 9 months old.

The bottom line, all babies are different. Which we knew… yet, its kind of fun to see it in front of you and read where other people are at during the same month as your baby. For me, 10 months was so fun to read through, especially the mamas that were around my same due date. Did you see the one where the mom was at the same hospital as me at the same time? How cool is that? Her girl is already walking… but I’m not comparing 😉

Would love to hear your feedback on this post as its a little different then what I normally do.

xoxo
Lola