As I discuss in another post, a 6-month-old child doesn’t necessarily need to be able to sit up.
Children generally achieve this milestone much later – according to the Denver scale, it may happen as late as 11 months. You can leave your child in a sitting position for longer periods of time only when you have made sure he or she knows how to get into the sitting position without help.
At about 7 months of age, it is a good idea to see how your baby is doing when put into a sitting position.
It is expected that, at this age, an infant can maintain the position for a short period of time. If this doesn’t happen, it should raise a red flag. If the the child still cannot maintain a short-term sitting position at 9 months, you should consult a specialist.
The fact is that the majority of 6-month-old children are not ready to sit up on their own. (Though there are “super babies” 😉 who sit up at six months with no problem.)
WHY AREN’T BABIES READY TO SIT UP ON THEIR OWN?
We already know that making very young babies sit up is not recommended. You might wonder why is it physically impossible for babies to sit by themselves at younger ages?
It will be easier to answer this question once you focus on how exactly babies move when getting into the sitting position. 🙂
THE ART OF SITTING UP!
To begin, why don’t you take a look at the way you get up in the morning?
Usually, you will just sit up directly from lying on your back, right?
Well, if you do, this is a real strain on your spine and has nothing to do with the way babies sit up. If you want to know how to sit up properly ask any woman who has ever been pregnant. 🙂
With an 8- or 9-month belly, you roll to the side closest to the edge of the bed; one leg goes down, then the other; you push away with your arm, sit on the side and then… viola, you sit up! Hooray, mission accomplished! 😉 Sounds familiar? 😉
Babies sit up in a very similar way 😉 – or, actually, they most commonly sit up in one of the two following ways:
NUMBER 1:
Get into a sitting position from a side sit.
This usually happens when the baby knows how to rotate from the tummy position. While moving about, the child gradually gets into the side lying position. This is how he or she plays and develops physical balance. At around 9-10 months, babies achieve a side sit – and, from there, they finally sit up. This overall process resembles the way in which we sat up while pregnant. 😉
NUMBER 2:
Getting into a sitting position from all fours.
When babies are on all fours, they explore other possibilities and positions. Very often it is then when, by accident, the child moves to a side sit – and later fully sits up. After a while that position will become boring to the little one and he or she will go on to explore further positions.
As you can see, the sitting position usually happens in a spontaneous way and is a natural consequence of achieving previous stages of development. That is why there is no point in forcing a child to sit up when he or she is not ready.
Of course, there are children who do everything early. Indeed, they can start crawling at the age of 6 months (greetings to Zuzia here). Those babies would probably sit up sooner as well. However, most children will achieve this milestone between 9 and 11 months.
FUN FACT:
Pediatrician Emmi Pikler noticed that the ability to crawl and sit up usually happens at around the same time (perhaps with a four-week gap). The order of these events might vary from one child to the next. That is, some children first sit up and then crawl – or the other way around. Child Neurologist Vaclav Vojta came to the same conclusion.
Do you have questions about sitting up??? Please put them in the comments below. 🙂
This might interest you: >>> GO <<<
As your baby grows, how you play with him or her changes. Be sure you are helping to develop your baby’s skills through play. Check out my ideas for playtime from birth to first steps in the following e-book:
