Your baby’s sitting up independently is also considered as a developmental milestone. A child will be able to sit up once it gains head control and the neck muscles are strengthened. Every baby takes its time in reaching this milestone. Sitting up is usually followed by the other milestones namely crawling and walking.
Tracking the developmental milestone:
- Gaining of head-control- a child cannot learn to sit up unless they have gained a head control. When the child reaches 16 weeks of age, the neck and shoulder muscles rapidly start strengthening. As a result the child learns to raise its head and hold it while lying on its stomach.
- Propping up- once the child gains head control, it will now try to prop up on its arms and hold its chest off the ground. This attempt will look like a mini pushup. It may take repeated attempts of this movement in order to ultimately manage sitting up without assistance.
- Sitting up momentarily- by the age of 5 months, the baby usually learns to sit up, unassisted, for a few moments. Repeated motions of propping up as mentioned above gives the child enough practice. By 6 months of age, a child can sit up alone for an average period of 30 seconds. But the child also shows a tendency of toppling over as the balance of the body is not yet fully gained. Hence, it is necessary for someone to be around or at least keep cushions around the child so that they don’t suddenly topple over and hurt themselves.
- Sitting up steadily- by the time the child is 7 months of age, they are a lot steadier in their sitting up motions. By this time the child gains a balance over their body. They learn to use their hands to steady themselves and also to reach out for various objects while sitting unassisted. This is an important step in this developmental milestone.
- Lunging at things- once the child gains complete control over sitting independently the natural urge will be to lunge at different things around from that position. This usually leads to crawling. It is very important to keep valuables out of the child’s reach during this time as the child gets very mobile during this time.
Parent’s role:
Parents need to encourage the child to make movements which will help them gain head control like making them look up at objects while lying on their chest. Once the child learns to prop up into a sitting position, parents can help the baby to balance by making them reach out to get different interesting objects in front of them.
Again, each child takes its own time to develop a skill. In case the child shows unnatural delays in such development, one can consult a doctor. Also it is mandatory for the parents to stay close to the child when they try to sit up as they might topple over without warning.
