A seven-month-old baby should sit well with a flat back. In addition to sitting up on their own, children can also crawl and stand up if they are supported by their arms. In rare cases, a child tries to walk, but the muscles are not yet sufficiently developed, which can lead to future deterioration of posture and temporary curvature of the legs. Therefore, it is quite common that if a baby crawls, this naturally develops him. And a 7-month-old baby needs to be prepared for upright walking and further development with the help of special play exercises and children's gymnastics.
Norms
Before moving on to considering the question of what exercises to do to get the child to sit down, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the norms of this process.
It is best not to rush the baby, but to wait until he masters the skill on his own. But when the time has come, and the baby still has not learned to sit on his own, perhaps he should be helped. Although there is no specific deadline in this matter, average indicators are noted:
- From 6 months, babies can roll from their back to their stomach. And with the help of their parents they try to sit.
- At 7 months, most babies can sit without support with a straight back. Moreover, in this position they manage to turn their body to look around. Some children sit from a standing position on all fours.
- From 8 months, almost all children can sit independently and reach from this position to an object of interest to them. During this period, they skillfully manipulate their hands and can take what they see fit.
- At 9 months, babies can sit up from any position. They also make their first attempts to stand on their feet.
Leg exercises
Gymnastics to strengthen your legs:
- Place crossbars (attached sticks) in the playpen that your baby can grab onto and try to stand up.
- An exercise called Butterfly. The baby lies on his back - take him by the shins, bring his knees to his stomach, then spread his legs to the sides and straighten. Bend again, but in reverse - first we spread and press our knees to our stomach, then we straighten them, holding them together.
- Place your baby on his stomach and lift him up into the air by his hips so that he is supported by his arms.
- Raise your straight legs to your forehead - alternately and together, this stimulates digestion.
- At seven months, a useful exercise for children is to hold it under the armpits and let the child push off with his feet, as if jumping.
- At the age of seven months, the baby can be placed in a walker, but you need to be careful because the baby can move very quickly in a walker.
Preparing to do the exercises
How to help a child sit up on his own? Classes should be based on special gymnastics. As for treatment, it should be carried out exclusively by a specialist. But most of the exercises are so simple that doing them at home is not difficult for parents.
Before you start gymnastics, you must adhere to the following recommendations:
- Exercises can be performed no earlier than an hour after eating.
- Before gymnastics, it is necessary to ventilate the room.
- The baby should be in a good mood.
- The child’s clothes should be selected from natural fabrics.
- The diaper must be removed.
- Before starting gymnastics, you should warm up the baby’s muscles with a bath or light massage for 5–10 minutes.
- All exercises must be performed slowly and smoothly.
- The fitball must be at least 70 cm in diameter. Choose a ball with a smooth texture and invisible seams.
- Before you start exercising on the fitball, cover it with a diaper.
- When performing exercises, hold your baby by the torso or hips.
- During classes, talk and play with your baby. He should experience positive emotions.
Strengthening the muscles of the back and neck
What exercises are needed to make a child sit? First of all, it is necessary to consider a complex aimed at strengthening the muscles of the back and neck.
Push ups:
- Spread a blanket on the floor.
- Place the baby on his tummy.
- The baby will try to rise with the help of his hands, lifting his chest off the floor.
By repeating these unique push-ups, the baby’s back will become stronger each time.
Consider the following exercise:
- Using a blanket on the floor, place your baby on her tummy.
- Place various toys at a distance of 30 centimeters.
- The baby, having become familiar with the goal, will crawl towards the toys.
Crawling uses all the muscle groups needed to sit independently. It is enough to perform a set of such exercises 2-3 times a day, and soon the training will give excellent results.
Exercises and massage
Gymnastics for a seven-month-old child should include elements of massage:
- Gymnastics for a seven-month-old child should begin with a tummy massage - the child should be stroked for five minutes, rubbed in a circular motion, kneaded, and lightly pinched and vibrated, warming up the muscles and skin.
- The child lies on his back, you need to cross your arms on the chest, make circular movements with your arms, move your legs, lightly pressing your knees to your tummy.
- Give your child your fingers to hold on to and pull to get him up. If your child doesn't have a strong grip, lift him up by his forearms. At seven months, children should have tenacious hands.
- Place the baby on his tummy, massage the buttocks, back muscles, but do not touch the spine. Rub the baby lightly.
- While lying on your stomach, lift your baby until he is kneeling. At the end of seven months the child should be able to kneel confidently and thus crawl.
- Place your child on your lap and do exercises with your hands, preferably in a playful way. For children aged seven months, meaningful finger exercises or palm exercises with a rhyme are suitable.
- Encourage crawling with brightly colored toys scattered on the floor.
- Lying on your stomach, raise your legs and support your baby's stomach so that he can try to walk on his hands.
Exercises for seven-month-old children should prepare them for walking; with the help of finger exercises and playing with their hands, speech, attention and hand coordination develop. In the next months, the child will begin to walk and the level of his development will be completely different, since he will be able to understand the world around him independently, without the help of his mother. Therefore, take care of safety - close the lower bedside tables by tying the handles, remove household chemicals and sharp objects from arm's length (better put them upstairs), there should be no tablecloths in the house, boil and cook on the stove, preferably on the far burners (if you cook on the near burners, boiling water may splash on the floor).
Exercise in pillows
To do this, you need to sit the baby on the sofa and secure it with a pillow, which will also serve as a support. After your baby sits down and straightens his legs, invite him to hold your hands. Perform rocking movements with a small amplitude. With the help of this exercise, the child learns to maintain balance.
After the skill has been honed, the task should be complicated. You can use your child's favorite toy for this. Hold the baby with one hand, and with the other, take the object and lift it slightly above the level of the baby’s hands. The child's main task is to break away from his mother and try to get the toy, while maintaining a sitting position for several seconds.
At first it will be difficult for the baby to perform this exercise. But the more often you perform this trick, the better the baby’s coordination of movements will become.
But you shouldn’t practice exercises for your child to do the splits on your own. Typically, children begin to be prepared to master this skill from the age of 3 to 5 years. It is best to entrust this important work to a professional choreographer. The teacher knows what exercises to choose to avoid straining muscles and ligaments, as well as what to pay attention to during warm-up and stretching.
Recommendations for parents
If the baby does not sit by six months, then you should not start looking for exercises to help the child sit up, or undergo a massage course. This is a very early age, so it is worth waiting a little and then starting training.
Let's see what experts recommend on this matter:
- Boys usually start learning at 5 months, and girls at 6 months.
- If by six months your baby makes no attempt to sit up, then start bathing him in the bathtub with a baby circle. He will actively flop around in it and kick the water with his legs. Such procedures will have a positive effect on strengthening muscles.
- Use a playpen with a large mesh that you can hold on to with your fingers and pull yourself up.
- Do not keep a child who cannot sit up independently in a kangaroo for more than half an hour. This is a serious load on the spine.
- Talk to your pediatrician, maybe you should take a course of massage.
- Motivate your baby to crawl. Mastering this skill strengthens the muscles, so in the future it will be easier for the baby to learn to sit independently.
Gymnastics with a child over 7 months old
The exercises we offer you with your child are intended for a mother with a child older than 7–8 months. Classes can begin when the baby has already learned to sit on his own, crawl and stand up while holding onto a support. Gymnastics should be done with a child when the little one is actively awake, well-fed and happy. The main thing is that he doesn’t get tired, then you can train longer, and the child will get great pleasure from communicating with you.
Exercises with a child: for arm and abdominal muscles
Drawing by Irina Dedusheva
You are sitting on the floor. Legs spread and knees bent. The child stands behind your shins, facing you. And you hold him tightly by the waist. Lie on your back, lift your legs off the floor. Hold the baby just as tightly and lift him up, keeping him parallel to the floor. When sitting down, place the child on his legs with straight arms. Repeat 8-10 times.
Exercises with a child: for the waist
Drawing by Irina Dedusheva
You lie on your back, the baby is on your chest. You hold it securely with both hands and turn first to the right, then to the left, without lifting your pelvis from the floor. The baby remains pressed against your stomach. Repeat 8-10 times in each direction.
Gymnastics with a child: for the abdominal muscles and legs
Drawing by Irina Dedusheva
You lie on your back, legs bent at the knees, feet resting on the baby, whom you hold facing you with both hands around the waist. Raise your legs slightly off the floor. The baby also moves up and ends up lying on your legs and feet. Repeat 8-10 times.
Gymnastics with a child: for the back and buttocks
Drawing by Irina Dedusheva
You're on your back. Legs bent at the knees, feet shoulder-width apart and moved closer to the buttocks. Place the baby with his stomach on his stomach, facing you, hold him behind his back. As you exhale, lift your pelvis up, forming a straight line from your shoulders to your knees, pulling your buttocks in. Repeat at least 10–15 times.
Gymnastics with a child: for the abs
Drawing by Irina Dedusheva
You sit on the floor with your legs straight and wide apart. The baby sits in front of you at arm's length. You hold him by the waist. Lie forward on the floor, try to reach the baby and kiss him on the back of the head. Then sit down again. Baby too. Repeat 6-8 times.
Gymnastics with a child: for the muscles of the buttocks
Drawing by Irina Dedusheva
You sit on the floor with your legs straight and extended forward. The baby sits astride your hips, pressing his back against your torso. You hold his hands. “Walk” on your buttocks. The little one also moves with you. Take 10–20 similar “steps.”
Adviсe
Sometimes it happens that exercises to make the child sit down do not bring results. Unfortunately, everything is limited not only by individual characteristics.
The presence of pathology is often accompanied by the following symptoms:
- When trying to sit a baby at 7 months, he falls to the side.
- The baby is capricious and nervous for no reason.
- The child has strabismus, and he also rolls or bulges his eyes.
- The baby is underweight.
- There is developmental delay, accompanied by a lack of smiling and babbling. In addition, the child is unable to hold objects in his hand.
- The fontanel does not overgrow for a long time.
- A state of hypertonicity or hypotonicity is observed.
If you observe one or more of these signs in your baby, contact your pediatrician. A timely solution to a problem most often produces positive results.
If the above symptoms are absent and the child does not want to sit, then do not force him. Perhaps the baby does not like your desire to teach him. Wait a while and let the baby try to master the skill on his own. But do not forget about the development standards of children under one year old.
By doing exercises to get your child to sit down, you will soon get good results. But remember that if the baby has not learned to sit by 9–10 months, then it is imperative to consult a specialist.
