At what age does a child begin to sit?

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The time when a child begins to sit on his own is very individual.
Many fathers and mothers want their baby to develop quickly and correctly, and the outstripping achievements of their peers begin to cause concern, especially for young parents. But you should not put your desires above the health of your child. There are certain norms for the development of children, which are confirmed by the knowledge of specialists in this field. And the question of at what time should a baby sit on his own is a very serious one, because the future health of the child depends on it.

Approximate dates

The spine of a newborn baby cannot be in a vertical position - the muscles of his body are not yet developed. Therefore, doctors do not recommend specially seating the baby; he must do it himself. If the baby is developed enough, he will definitely sit up on his own.

Gradually, a growing child develops neck muscles and learns to hold his head. Every week he develops new skills, and soon the children learn to roll over onto their backs. The next step is learning how to sit down.

On average, attempts to sit down begin at 5 months. It’s clear from the baby’s behavior that he wants to do this, because when you sit, you can see many more objects! In this case, some parents take the baby by the arms and pull him towards himself, and he tries to sit up. At the same time, it is unlikely that he cannot do this on his own, although some children manage to sit up from a reclining position.

A child of 5–6 months will constantly fall in different directions when trying to sit up. There is no need to panic - this is normal. You should not constantly help the baby; he should try to hold on on his own. The main thing is to make sure that the place where the baby falls is safe.
By 6 months, many children's muscles become stronger, and they sit on their own for a short time, periodically falling onto their side or back. Gradually, staying in this position becomes longer and amounts to about an hour a day.
At the age of seven months, many children sit independently, but still for a short time, because the back muscles are still poorly developed.
At 8–9 months, most children are already sitting well. They can change their body position on their own, for example, sitting up from a lying position and lying back down.

Parents should remember that these are approximate standards. Each baby develops very individually at this age, so a deviation from the norm for several months is not considered a violation. It has been noticed that even in one large family, each child’s achievements are individual and may differ by several months, be it a boy or a girl.

Is it possible to place a child on purpose?

Every mother wants her baby to develop faster, and when the child begins to sit up, parents receive significant relief.

Most children at 5 months can already hold their back if you help them sit up. Some parents are in a hurry to quickly cover the baby with pillows, thinking that this will help consolidate the result. Especially representatives of the older generation are very fond of giving such advice. But you need to be as patient as possible and wait until your baby is ready.

By deliberately seating your baby before he starts doing this himself, you can seriously harm his spine. If the child does not sit up on his own, it means his back is not yet strong enough and is not ready for this load. But even if the baby sat up on his own at 5–7 months, you cannot fix him in the “sitting” position with pillows!

How can you understand that the time when a child should sit independently has not yet come? The baby falls on its side, its back rounds while sitting. Children should not be deliberately placed before the age of seven months.

Sitting early puts a lot of stress on the spine, but in infants it is still soft, the cartilage can easily move. Such haste in the future is fraught with curvature of the spine, deformation of the pelvic bones and other negative consequences.

When does a child begin to sit independently?

Of course, all children are individual - some sit down earlier, some later. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), the interval between 6 and 9 months is considered normal. The baby can begin to sit at both seven and eight months. If the child does not have problems with health and development of the musculoskeletal system, he will begin to sit up independently before 9 months.

Attention! Under no circumstances should a child be seated until 6 months of age! Neither independently nor with support! Because before six months, neither the child’s spine nor his muscular corset are ready for such a load as a sitting position.

Photo source: shutterstock.com

The role of massage in baby sitting

It seems like the time has come, the baby should be held in an upright position on his own, but he just can’t do it. Parents begin to worry and find out at what months children begin to sit with friends, parents and specialists.

Even if the baby is six months old and he is not able to perform this action, it’s okay. It is necessary to wait until the spine becomes stronger.

The child is 8 months old, but there are no changes at this age? It's time to help him and start giving him a massage. After all, when a baby is inactive, all his muscles are in a relaxed state, so they need to be helped to become stronger. This especially applies to children with dystonia.

You can sign up for a baby massage at your clinic, you can contact good private specialists, or perform the procedure yourself. It is important to work on the neck area, elbow joints and back area.

There are several massage rules:

There should be nothing foreign on your hands; they need to be washed.
During the massage process, it is necessary to communicate with the baby so that the procedure evokes only positive emotions in him. Hand movements should be soft and not cause pain. Do not put pressure on the spine.
The massage should be done no earlier than 30 minutes after eating; the baby should not be hungry.
If the baby is sick, has a fever, or has bad urine or stool tests, the procedure must be postponed until he recovers or the reasons are clarified.

The massage includes stroking, kneading and rubbing and is carried out for 20–30 minutes. The technique looks something like this (it’s good if you find a specialist who will show you the technique):

Place the baby on your stomach and stroke the back from bottom to top and in the opposite direction;
Then, use your fingertips to make spiral movements in different directions along the ribs. We perform these manipulations 5–8 times;
We knead in the direction from the lower back to the neck on the lateral back muscles 3–5 times;
At the end, we stroke the baby’s back.

When the child begins to sit, you should watch him: in the correct version, his head should be slightly tilted forward, and the upper part of the spine and neck area should be straightened. The arms are a support, the lower back is slightly bent, the legs are spread. If he sits in a different way, it means this skill has not yet been formed.

Is your baby ready to sit down?

However, the fundamental factor in order to begin planting the baby should be the readiness of his body for this. How to check if your baby is ready to sit? You need to watch him, checking the skills he has mastered.

If the baby is ready to sit down, then he has already learned:

lie on your tummy for a long time;
lying on your stomach, confidently hold your head, lift your chest from the support, firmly resting your arms;
turn from back to side, come back.

But if the baby does not try to roll over from his back even onto his side, when trying to sit him down, he falls to the side, and if he sits, then with a round back - his body is definitely not yet ready for such changes.

How to determine whether this is an individual feature, or whether there is cause for concern? The presence of pathology is usually accompanied by obvious signs:

when trying to sit a baby at 7–8 months, he immediately falls to one side;
he has an obvious developmental delay (cannot hold objects, does not babble, does not smile, etc.);
the baby often worries for no reason and is capricious;
the baby has pronounced strabismus, he bulges or rolls his eyes;
the child is underweight;
he has increased or decreased muscle tone;
The fontanel takes too long to overgrow.

Exercises to strengthen muscles

If a baby cannot sit up on his own even at 9 months, this is not a reason to panic, but a consultation with a doctor will not be superfluous. He will determine if there are any health problems.

In addition, every mother should know several exercises that can help the baby. For example, these:

The baby is lying on his back, take him by the arms, he will try to sit up. We hold him in this reclining position for several seconds. We repeat the exercise. You can lift it by one hand or the other, in turn, very carefully.
Turn the sitting child's back to you. Use your hands to support your baby's elbows. He must reach for objects, take them out and return to the starting position.
Place the child facing you. Hold it by the handles and swing it from side to side. You can hum some children's song.
The walking exercise strengthens the muscles. Hold the baby by the armpits, he will begin to move his legs reflexively.
From a lying position, bring the child’s legs/arms to the wall - he will begin to push off. These exercises will strengthen the muscles of your legs, arms and back.
The “figure eight” exercise will improve muscle tone: move the baby along the water surface in the form of this number. Squats in water are also useful.

Water procedures are very useful - all the baby’s muscles are well trained, and the load on the spinal area is very small. You can perform a whole range of exercises in the bathroom, and if possible, it is better to sign up for the pool.

Riding on a large ball, on the back and on the tummy trains the baby's muscles well. The baby will really like these exercises, especially if you talk to him constantly.

If the baby crawls well, but does not yet know how to sit, then you should not panic even at 9 months. Many parents are very worried about this, but they just need to help the baby a little. The main thing is that there are no problems with the musculoskeletal system or any neurological disorders. In due time he will sit up without outside help.

Gradually teach your baby to sit in a high chair. You need to start with a few minutes, then increase the time. The seat tilt should be no more than 40–45 degrees.

How to help your child learn to sit

The main thing is to remember that the parents’ task is not to teach, but to help them sit up on their own. You cannot force events so that scoliosis and flat feet do not appear in the future. Help in this case is to strengthen the child’s back muscles.

The following exercises are recommended for this:

Give your baby a massage from a very early age. Massage your back, arms, legs, chest and tummy.
From the first days, practice placing your baby on his tummy; this exercise perfectly strengthens the muscles of the back and neck.
If possible, visit the pool. Movements in water have a general strengthening effect on the child’s body. And classes with an instructor will allow you to purposefully strengthen your child’s muscle corset.
Be sure to do daily exercises with your baby after he turns 1 month old.
Children have a well-developed grasping reflex. Let your baby grab your fingers with both hands and pull himself up on his arms, but no more than 30–45 degrees. Allow to remain taut for no more than 30 seconds, carefully place on a flat surface. Repeat 4-5 times, several times a day.
Rolling over strengthens the back muscles well. It is important to ensure that the baby easily and willingly turns in both directions. If a child is reluctant to roll over, for example, from his stomach to his back or vice versa, he needs to be stimulated with toys so that he begins to roll over evenly in both directions.
Encourage your baby to crawl. Crawling perfectly strengthens the muscle corset. You need to stimulate not so much sitting as crawling.
Exercises on a fitball will be useful for strengthening a child’s muscles. Place your baby on his tummy on the ball and rock him from side to side. You can increase the amplitude of the swings, you can swing in a circle clockwise and counterclockwise. You can lightly bounce on the ball.

Photo source: shutterstock.com

Boys and girls: is there a difference?

The question of when boys sit down and when girls sit down is a matter of much debate. On average, girls develop the ability to sit a little later. Regardless of the child’s gender, you need to wait until he starts sitting on his own.

Once upon a time, doctors believed that if a girl was placed at the age of four months, she would develop a curvature of the uterus. It has now been proven that such violations do not appear for this reason, but there is still no need to rush. A girl can start sitting up at 5 months, and if at the age of six months she herself makes such movements, then this is normal.

For boys, this process can begin a little earlier. The muscle corset of the future man begins to strengthen after 4 months. If the baby makes good support on his hands and tries to sit up, he needs a little help.

In general, gender does not affect the age at which a child begins to sit. The child sits down upon reaching a certain physical development.

Useful tips

To make caring for a baby easier these days, there are many devices. But parents should know which aids may be harmful at a certain age of the baby.

It is not recommended to use baby tables and car seats without a lying position before 6 months. Today there are many models of car seats on the market for any age. The main thing is that the baby lies or reclines, but does not sit in it;
A baby kangaroo carrier is very convenient for moms and dads, but it should also not be used for children under six months old. It will have a negative impact on the fragile spine;
If you are carrying a baby in your arms, then you need to lightly press him towards you so that he seems to be lying on you. In this position, the load on the spine will be minimal.

All normal parents want their children to be healthy and strong. It is important to remember here that a lot depends on their attitude towards the child. Any failures in the development of a baby at a very early age can later result in serious problems. Now you know at what month a child begins to sit and what not to do so as not to cause harm. Therefore, be more attentive to the health of your children!

At what age do children learn a skill?

Age guidelines for when a child should sit independently are only approximate. There are children who master the skill much earlier, and there are those who do it much later.

Average age is 7 months. But even if a child does not sit at 8-9 months, this does not mean that he has a serious illness; perhaps laziness or temperamental characteristics prevent him from mastering the skill.

And sometimes a baby’s personal preferences prevent him from adapting to certain norms; for example, some babies are much more interested in crawling and exploring the space around them than staying in place. Late mastery of the skill of sitting can be caused by a complicated pregnancy, difficult childbirth, as well as health problems in the baby itself. If at 8 months the baby does not attempt to sit on his own, it is better to consult a specialist.