11 Month Old Baby: Cruising, Standing and Almost Walking

Your Baby at 11 Months Old

An 11 month old baby is often cruising confidently, standing briefly on their own, and using a pincer grasp to self-feed — skills the Canadian Paediatric Society lists at 12 to 14 months, which many begin earlier. Solids continue alongside breast milk or formula, with iron-rich foods at least twice a day. Total sleep is around 12–16 hours, usually with two naps. First steps and the switch to cow’s milk or a toddler formula are just ahead at 12 months.

Your 11 month old baby is on the edge of a huge milestone — walking. Cruising is confident, standing is steadier, and the determination to get upright and go is unmistakable. The first birthday, and the changes that come with it, are just around the corner.

This guide covers what’s normal this month: the surge toward walking, self-feeding and iron, sleep on two naps, and what to expect as your baby turns one.

Your Life This Month: The Parent Experience

The pre-walking stage is thrilling and a little nerve-wracking — lots of pulling up, wobbling and the odd bump. A cleared, safe space keeps tumbles minor and lets your baby practise freely. Bare feet indoors are fine and actually help build foot strength; save shoes for walking outside, and pick a pair with a flexible sole and a bit of grip.

It’s also a good time to look ahead to the first birthday: around 12 months, feeding changes (whole cow’s milk or a toddler formula becomes an option) and the next round of vaccines is usually due.

Look after your own wellbeing, too. If low mood or anxiety has been lingering, please tell your doctor or public health nurse — postpartum depression can develop across the first year and is treatable, the Canadian Paediatric Society notes.

Feeding Your 11 Month Old Baby

At 11 months, breast milk or infant formula still provides your baby’s main nutrition, with solids a growing part of each day. Keep breastfeeding as long as it’s comfortable, the Canadian Paediatric Society notes, or keep formula feeding. Use the package instructions for how to prepare each bottle, but let your baby decide how much to take.

Feed your baby sitting upright in a high chair, and stay with them the whole meal — never propped, lying back or in a car seat. Offer water in an open cup with meals, in small amounts. Keep salt and sugar out, and introduce common allergens one at a time, a few days apart — but don’t hold them back, since offering them early and keeping them in the diet regularly is what lowers allergy risk.

Iron stays the priority through the first year — about 11 mg a day for 7 to 12 months, per the Canadian Paediatric Society. Keep iron-rich foods coming at least twice daily, paired with vitamin C foods, alongside vegetables, fruit and full-fat dairy in a variety of textures. The pincer grasp makes small, soft finger foods easier — offer them supervised, sliced and softened to reduce choking risk.

If breastfeeding isn’t an option, the CPS advises a store-bought, iron-fortified, cow-milk-based infant formula until 9 to 12 months. Whole cow’s milk (3.25% M.F.) can take over once your baby is eating iron-rich foods regularly.

A note on formula this month. Iron leads through the first year — the Canadian Paediatric Society sets the 7–12 month need at about 11 mg a day and advises an iron-fortified formula if you formula feed. MOF’s organic HiPP Dutch Stage 2 is a follow-on formula designed for 6 to 12 months, iron-fortified to provide iron, DHA and vitamin D alongside your baby’s iron-rich solids. From 12 months you can move to whole cow’s milk or a Stage 3 toddler formula. Formula is a good choice whenever it’s the right one for your family.

Sleep at 11 Months: What’s Normal & How to Help

An 11 month old baby usually sleeps around 12–16 hours in total across nights and two naps, in the range the Canadian Paediatric Society gives for infants aged 4 to 12 months — the CPS notes that between 6 and 12 months, babies usually shift from three naps to two longer naps, in the morning and afternoon. Night waking still happens and is normal.

Standing and cruising can spill into the crib, and some babies pull up at bedtime and need a hand to lie back down. It usually settles. A consistent bedtime routine helps — the Canadian Paediatric Society suggests the “3 Bs”: bath, book, bed. Put your baby down drowsy but awake so they can practise settling; if they wake and cry, you can check and comfort without lifting them out, which helps them learn to self-soothe, the CPS notes.

Safe sleep reminder: always place your baby on their back for sleep, on a firm flat mattress with a tightly fitted sheet and no loose, soft items, in a crib with the mattress on its lowest setting. If your baby rolls onto their front on their own, you don’t need to turn them back. Check that nothing near the crib can be reached and pulled in — blind cords, mobiles, anything on a nearby shelf. Keep the sleep space bare: no bumpers, positioners, pillows, or infant nests and loungers. Car seats, strollers, carriers, bouncers and swings aren’t safe sleep surfaces; if your baby falls asleep in one, move them to their crib as soon as you can. The Canadian Paediatric Society advises back sleeping lowers the risk of SIDS.