When does the baby learn to sit up on his own?
Sitting up without support is one of the big developmental milestones for babies in their first year of life, before standing up and walking. In order for him to be able to do so, he must have made some progress at the motor and cognitive levels, and be able to control his trunk upright without support.
As for when the baby learns to sit up on his own, the truth is that there is no golden rule for all babies, since each one has their own pace of development. Just as not all babies get their teeth at the same age , nor do they start to crawl or walk at a specific age (some may start at nine months and others at fifteen months), the same thing happens with learning to sit up on their own.
It is around six months that they start trying to sit up on their own and manage to sit without support by seven to nine months . But there’s also no need to worry if your baby doesn’t do it yet.
Sitting in babies
Seatedness is the sitting position or to remain seated autonomously. It must be borne in mind that for a baby to be able to sit, it is necessary that they have previously reached small milestones in their development that will allow them to control the posture of their head and trunk in a vertical position. Check out more interesting articles on our PM Blog.
To do this you will need to have sufficient strength in your neck and back muscles, which you will have acquired naturally. For example, by sitting on your lap while you support him, or when you hold him in your arms in a sitting position, even though we support his back, it helps him practice controlling the weight of his head.
It also helps to spend a few minutes a day lying on your stomach, on your belly , which will help you gain strength in your arms, neck and back, in addition to preventing plagiocephaly (flat head) by varying the usual position lying on your back.
Before sitting down the child will have to be able to turn over by himself. That is, if we lay him on his back he turns face down, or vice versa, as well as rolling, crawling and staying semi-sitting.
Does he learn by himself or do we have to help him?
The baby at some point will sit alone, for sure. There is nothing that you have to do to help them , much less is it something that has to be forced before they are maturely prepared.
One of the most frequent doubts is whether sitting it down early hurts the baby’s back. And although to cause damage, bad posture has to be kept constant for long periods of time, it is not advisable to place a baby in a position for which his muscles are not prepared . The posture will not be natural, but forced.
It makes no sense to bring the process forward, since the baby’s development should not be a race, but an opportunity to adapt to the environment. What we can do is offer an engaging and motivating context for the baby to make progress on their own.
a new perspective
By staying seated, he discovers a new perspective unknown until now, which had only been in a lying position. This will make him now able to reach objects and explore other skills.
This is now the stage where they start to become more interested in grasping and manipulative toys as they have both hands free to touch them, put them in their mouths and experiment with them. In addition, this phase of sitting is closely linked to crawling, which allows him to move independently and begin to discover the world on his own.
To avoid accidents
This new ability in your baby makes you have to be very aware of his safety in the home environment to prevent accidents .
When he is starting to stand on his own but is not yet strong enough, his trunk and head may fall sideways, forwards or backwards, risking hitting the floor or a table.
For this reason, it is convenient that you always place it on the floor , so that it cannot fall off the sofa or armchair and place cushions or pillows around it to cushion the fall. If you have it, a nursing pillow is an idea for this.
It is also recommended that you place corner pieces on the furniture to avoid bumps or cuts with points. When he learns to sit you should not leave the baby unattended at any time, and if he also crawls, you will have to be careful with plugs, stoves, drawers and doors. Take the necessary security measures and allow him to explore freely.
