With each new month, the baby not only grows, but also acquires certain skills. Thanks to them, he will be able to successfully interact with the world around him and discover it from new sides.
Correct sitting position
Modern pediatricians have identified a number of skills that a child must independently master by a certain age period. If it so happens that he is experiencing difficulties with something or is not at all capable of any action, it is likely that it makes sense for parents to turn to specialists.
In the first months, the baby is mainly in the playpen and crib. Usually he lies down all the time, tries to roll over, and eventually begins to walk. During walks he is placed in a stroller.
Closer to six months, the child becomes interested in learning about his body and abilities. He tries to grab, hold objects, and twitch his legs. By the beginning of the seventh month, as a rule, the first attempts to sit up and even crawl appear. However, it happens that the child does not sit at 9 months.
Why is this happening?
If parents notice that, despite the age of 9-10 months, the child does not sit down on his own, you need to take into account that this may not always be an alarming signal. And although age periodization marks the time of development of certain skills, it must be taken into account that the individual characteristics of the child’s development also play an equally important role. In this regard, the age range for each of them may differ by several months. And it is quite possible that he will develop the ability to sit independently a little later, but will be able to consolidate it better.
The cause of developmental disorders is birth trauma
Otherwise, the reasons for a child’s inability to sit up independently may include:
- Intrauterine growth retardation.
- Hypoxia at the stage of intrauterine development.
- Anemia diagnosed in the mother during pregnancy.
- Intrauterine infections.
- Congenital malformations.
- Difficult childbirth; C-section.
- Birth injury.
- Low Apgar scores.
- Prematurity or postmaturity.
- Premature birth.
- Rapid birth.
- Excess or lack of amniotic fluid.
- Muscle tissue dystrophy.
- Rickets.
Why doesn't the child sit and crawl?
The child does not sit at 8 months
Usually, before sitting down, the baby learns to crawl.
Baby crawling is a fun pastime
There are some warning signs why a 9-month-old baby won’t sit up on his own or crawl:
- At 7-10 months the child does not try to sit up, has poor balance,
- At 9 months he cannot pick up and hold an object by himself,
- There is a lack of body weight,
- Hypertonicity of the baby's muscles,
- Protruding eyes or squinting
- Excessive child anxiety
- Long-term non-overgrowth of the fontanel.
If you have any of them, you should contact a specialist.
Note! You need to carefully monitor the baby: how he moves, how quickly he gets tired, what he does during the main period of time while awake.
Find his “weak points”, take them into account and start training, massage, gymnastics.
How to teach a child to sit independently?
When discussing the development of certain skills in a child, we should not forget that not a single skill can develop on its own without objective prerequisites. This rule also applies to the ability to sit up independently.
Baby's body position when sitting
What can motivate a child to try to sit up at 9-10 months? This may be an interest in the subject and, as a result, a desire to reach for it. Also, a child’s attempts to sit or crawl are intermediate steps in mastering more complex skills, for example, walking. Therefore, the first step in teaching a child to sit independently is to create appropriate motivation. For example, a parent can place bright toys near the child’s bed that he can only reach while sitting. Or by providing him with greater freedom of action thanks to a more spacious playpen, bed, etc.
Sit training rings
Proper consideration of age characteristics is another important condition for teaching a child a new skill.
Health problems
Some children are diagnosed with serious illnesses at 6 months. They are often the cause of poor development of the musculoskeletal system. The most dangerous diseases include:
- Genetic abnormalities. One of the most common is Down syndrome.
- Weak muscle corset.
- Pathologies of the central nervous system: cerebral palsy, epilepsy attacks.
- The child has rickets.
- Dysplasia in the baby's hip joint.
- Dystrophic disorders of muscle tissue.
- Obesity developed due to overfeeding of the child.
When a child does not sit at 9 months, the reason for this may be any of the above situations. If the time has come for the baby to learn to sit, but he categorically refuses to do this, you should find out what contributed to this. It is possible that the child needs qualified medical care and subsequent treatment. The sooner the problem affecting the fact that the child does not sit at 9 months is identified, the faster he will begin to develop in accordance with age standards.
When is the best time to teach a child to sit independently? Tips and tricks
Most children, by the age of six months, are trying to take a new position that is still unusual for them. Despite the fact that the ability to sit does not appear immediately, the child quickly understands that this will make it much easier for him to play, manipulate objects that are new to him, etc. Another reason why this happens at six months is that the muscles of the back, abdominals, and chest are quite well formed by this period. Thanks to this, at six months the child already has a fairly good level of physical fitness for sitting independently, even without support - this does not cause him additional discomfort or create difficulties.
Sitting training should be done regularly
However, it is necessary to teach a child following the following rules:
- Girls need to learn to sit on their own somewhat later than boys. For example, if a boy can try to sit up at five months, with girls it is better to wait until six months. Such a measure is quite understandable from the point of view of the peculiarities of the physiology of the female body: placing a girl too early can provoke a bend in her uterus and other complications.
- In order for the child to feel the need to independently look for support for the body, it is necessary to gradually deprive him of support from the outside (for example, remove pillows from behind his back that he could lean on before, sit him as far as possible from the headboards of the bed, chair, etc. ). Getting used to additional support will not only slow down the child's acquisition of sitting skills, but may negatively affect his posture in the future.
- You can also help your child master a new position in space with the help of games in the playpen. It is desirable that it have sufficient internal space, and also be equipped with a sufficiently large mesh, holding on to which the child would be able to both stand up and sit down without resorting to outside help.
- If you notice signs of fatigue in your child, you should not force him to sit for too long; just put him on his back - this will allow the child to relax and the muscles to get the rest and unloading they need.
Massage for a child has a strengthening effect
What exercises can help a child learn to sit independently?
You should start teaching your child to sit down with the simplest exercises that do not require much effort. They need to be performed an hour after eating. Mandatory conditions must be for the child to be in a good mood and feeling well. Clothing should be light and not restrict movement.
Independently turning over - the beginning of training
- Starting position: lying on your stomach. The child’s task is to try to lie over his back from this position, and then return to the original position. If he is unable to do this on his own, you can help him by getting him interested in bright objects or toys - interest in a new object can help the child take the necessary position. It is also acceptable to lightly push the child with your palms under your feet.
- The starting position is the same, lying on your stomach. The child is given the parent's thumbs. His task in this case is to rise and fall upward, holding on to them with his hands and using them as support. To begin with, the child will need two hands, but over time, as this skill develops, he can get by with just one. If the child cannot cope, it will be acceptable to support him under the knees. There is no need to rush him - it is very important that the child learns to independently find support and feel balance when necessary.
- In order for the child to try to stand up or sit down on his own, he can also be seated on his knees, giving him the palms of his hands as support. This will allow the child not to use external support, but to look for it on his own. This exercise can also be a good alternative to the traditional, but less effective, sitting of the child on a bed with many pillows.
- When your child masters these exercises, you can move on to more complex ones. For example, invite the child to stand up from a lying position on his back, gently holding his hands. Since this exercise requires more tension from the child, at first it will tire him more than others. That's why you can get by with three to four repetitions.
- You can develop a sense of balance in a child by sitting him on a hard surface and holding his palm with one hand and his legs with the other. In order for him to learn to maintain balance, he is swayed from one side to the other. Since at first the child may encounter some difficulties in performing this exercise, at first he can be protected a little by placing pillows around him to soften possible blows.
Fitball exercises for teaching sitting are very useful
What are the stages of development of motor skills of a child of the 1st year of life?
Sometimes mothers do not adequately assess the development of a child’s motor activity in the first year of life. It happens that a mother boasts that her child is already standing in a crib at three months old, while she is pleased that he is so well developed beyond his age. You can hear from another mother that her child is not yet sitting at 9 months, and she considers this normal, since the neighbor’s child is also not sitting at this age. Let's see how right they are.
The development of a child up to one year old, namely the development of his motor skills, can be defined as follows:
- At three months the child holds his head;
- Sits at six months;
- At 9 months he crawls and stands on a support;
- Walking at 12 months.
For a long time this was considered the norm of development, but now in more detail. In the first month of life, the baby’s hands are clenched into fists, the arms and legs are bent at the joints, and his movements are chaotic.
In the second month of life, the arms and legs straighten slightly, muscle tone decreases, the child can already turn his head, unclench his fists and spread his arms to the sides. He begins to show motor activity, you can put him on his tummy and he will raise his head. If you place him vertically, then his reflexes immediately kick in: he rests his legs on a hard surface and tries to walk. This does not mean that at this age you can teach a child to walk, but if there are no such reflexes, then this may indicate the presence of neurological abnormalities; you should definitely visit a pediatrician at this age.
In the third month of life, the child’s motor activity increases, he can already pick up objects, and if you put a finger in his palm, he will grasp it. Moreover, a sick child has increased muscle tone and can grab your finger quite strongly. If a child is placed at the crossbar and this very crossbar is placed in his fists, then he will stand, but not due to good development, but perhaps due to increased tone. This indicates that the child is sick.
Safety precautions when performing exercises and other recommendations
Before teaching a child to sit independently, you need to make sure that his physical development allows him to begin mastering a new skill. Readiness criteria may include the ability to lie on the stomach for a long time, confidently holding the head, arms resting on the chest, as well as the ability to roll over from one side to the other.
- It is very undesirable to seat a child using additional restraints for the body.
- If a 10-month-old child cannot sit up on his own, he should be kept in a kangaroo for no more than half an hour. Failure to comply with this condition will lead to increased stress on the spine
- At the stage of development of sitting skills, the stroller must be equipped with a special hard backrest, which makes it possible to be in a semi-sitting position. You can also use a sling or special walker.
Regular exercises will help your child sit up independently
The child's readiness to sit
Caring parents who pay enough attention to their child can quickly determine whether their baby is ready to sit. The main task of adults is to support the child in his development. Forcing a baby to sit will not lead to a successful outcome. Therefore, it is very important to determine whether the child is ready to start sitting independently. When the baby is not ready at all, it is easy to determine by the following situations:
- Attempts to sit him up always end with him falling to the side.
- The presence of a round back in the child when he is dropped off.
- He makes no attempt at all to roll from his back to his side and vice versa.
Also, by some signs it is very easy to determine how ready a child is for new achievements:
- He can lie on his stomach for a long time confidently and without fatigue.
- In a lying position, the baby easily holds his head, leans his body on his hands, and easily lifts his chest above the surface.
- It spins well, often turns over from back to side and vice versa.
If, based on personal observations, the conclusion suggests itself that the child is ready to sit, but for some reason does not want to do this, you need to try to help him. To do this, there are a huge number of techniques and exercises to strengthen the muscles and spine.
Do I need to contact a specialist?
Closer attention to the child’s health should be paid in cases where the child does not make independent attempts to sit up even further – at 10, 11 months.
In this case, parents have reason to suspect that the child has delayed motor development, or delayed motor development. Since both disorders together can cause mental development delay, it is necessary to begin their correction as early as possible.
If you suspect a delay in motor development in a 9-10 month old child, or disorders of a neurological nature, you must definitely seek advice from a specialist. In such cases, as a rule, a course of special therapeutic massage and other correctional and developmental procedures are prescribed.
All babies develop according to their individual abilities. Many parents are faced with the fact that a child of 10 months does not crawl, and wonder about the norm of this phenomenon. For some children, the absence of such a skill at the age of 10 months is indeed considered normal
.
Most likely, the child at this stage of development acquires other skills
, for example, learning to pronounce new sounds or actively playing. Adults are very often impatient and do not know how to notice very important nuances in the development of the baby.
It happens that a child is born a little earlier than expected, then adults simply do not have the right to ask the child to crawl or sit at the age of 10 months. In this case, you need to pay attention to the corrected age.
Of course, one of the most important skills in a child’s development is considered
. Parents should remember that the more and more actively the child crawls, the faster and more efficiently his muscles will develop, which begin to work according to the laws of spirals inherent only to them. According to the approved standards for the development of children under one year old, the baby should begin coordinated crawling at 8 months. However, remember that standards are developed based on averages, so some children acquire the skill of crawling earlier, and some - later, and a certain group of children skip this step in development and begin to walk immediately.
If a child is 10 months old and does not crawl, you can encourage him to do so using motivation.
. For example, by choosing the right toys and a specific place for games. Experts advise parents to be in the baby’s plane (on the floor) more often, so that the baby’s interest in moving will increase.
Possible problems in the baby’s development can only be determined by observing and checking him. If a child at the age of 10 months does not crawl, it is better not to draw your own conclusions and especially not to experiment with exercises.
The baby's first skills touch and delight the parents: he smiled, he turned, he sat down, and he crawled. However, the baby’s development does not always follow this scenario - there are many children who begin to sit up at 4 months, and there are toddlers who cannot sit on their own even at 8 months, but crawl perfectly.
Parents of children who do not want to sit at the right time (according to generally accepted medical standards) try to help the little ones and teach them to do this on their own. Is it necessary to do this, says Evgeny Komarovsky.
How to tell when your baby is ready to sit
Baby is not crawling at 8 months
Some children do not crawl at all, but immediately begin to stand up and try to walk. Others begin to crawl and do it in a unique way. Komarovsky notes the following methods of crawling:
- On the belly,
- On knees.
He also says that the crawling stage is very important for the future health of the baby's back. In addition, while crawling, the little one begins to get tired and tries to sit on its side. This is the first sign that he may soon sit up on his own. The child quickly hones his skills and within a short time is already sitting down with a straight back.
The child sits down while crawling
You should not immediately sound the alarm and ask questions everywhere why a child at 9 months does not sit down on his own. It is likely that the baby was born fidgety, he likes to crawl around the apartment. Maybe he has a balanced character, so he is able to stay in one position for hours without feeling discomfort.
Norms
According to existing medical standards, by which pediatricians evaluate the development of babies, most toddlers begin to sit at 6-7 months. However, these figures are so arbitrary, says Evgeniy Komarovsky, that they can be ignored. All children are different, they develop according to their own individual pattern and each has their own standards.
A child who does not sit at 7 months does not suffer from this at all.
But his parents suffer and complain, who want their child to in no way lag behind the neighboring children in development.
The very formulation “he must sit at a certain age” is incorrect. According to Komarovsky, not a single child in the world owes anyone anything. He will sit, crawl and walk when his spine and back muscles are ready to take on such a load.
What should a child be able to do at this age?
Every parent should know what a child should be able to do at 9 months. He usually already has a set of certain skills. At this age, babies already know how to sit down from any position. They easily move from one position to another to crawl and move actively. They know how to kneel if there is support nearby. At this age, a child holds the body quite easily; it is not difficult for him to perform active actions. He can sit with a straight back for a very long time without getting tired. She may try to rise from this position by holding onto the hands of adults or the sides of the crib.
These standards are indicative as each child develops at his own pace. Therefore, if the baby does not sit at 6–7 months, this is not a problem. Especially if he compensates for his reluctance to sit by active crawling and good activity. It’s another matter if he categorically cannot do this at 9 months. All responsible parents must know what a child of this age should be able to do. This knowledge will help them identify the problem in its development in time and begin to eliminate it.
What should parents do?
First, visit a doctor. If something in the baby's development is causing concern or embarrassment, this is the first thing they should do. The child needs to be shown to an orthopedist, pediatric surgeon and neurologist. If these three specialists do not identify any diseases of the nervous system, musculoskeletal system or other alarming causes in the baby, then nothing else needs to be done.
Such a baby will definitely sit down, says Evgeny Komarovsky, but only when the time comes.
And this process will happen on its own, without any participation from mom and dad.
What can't you do?
You can’t sit children down too early, because sitting for a child, according to the doctor, is not beneficial at all.
The later the baby does this, the straighter his back will be, the straighter his legs and arms, and the more correct his posture. Sitting down early creates a strong load on a spine that is weak and not ready for it, which is why later children have numerous health problems.
The best thing a baby's mom and dad can do is not help him sit, stand, or take his first steps.
Often parents who catch their baby trying to sit down immediately send the baby to the sofa, cover it with pillows and sit down, and are glad that their child is developing the fastest. It is more correct to develop crawling rather than sitting, because it is during this process that the baby’s muscles and bone skeleton are strengthened and prepared for sitting and walking.
Another mistake that modern parents often make
— jumpers. They hang a child who does not yet know how to sit in a vertical position so that he can jump. Adults think that this way it strengthens the motor system. In fact, early verticalization can be very dangerous for the baby. Jumpers and walkers are not the most successful acquisitions, and it is better to put them away in the closet.
At what months does a child sit up?
The children's nervous system develops in waves, with periods of rapid growth called “developmental leaps.” That’s why parents often observe global changes every day. If at six months the child tries to roll from his stomach to his back, then at nine months he can sit up on his own from any position. It is no longer difficult for a child to sit with a straight back for a long time.
The child learned to sit
Important! If there is doubt that the child is developmentally delayed and no skills are observed, this is not always a pathology.
Often the long development of one skill is compensated by the rapid, if not simultaneous, development of another. Under no circumstances should you rush your baby or force him to sit down or hold him in this position. Otherwise, nothing will come of it except for him to scream furiously and worry.
Also in the ninth month, he acquires the first walking skills: he kneels, tries to crawl, stand up and reach for support.
It is worth understanding that everything is relative. According to pediatrician Evgeniy Komarovsky, the worst idea for a mother is to teach her child to sit down. The best thing to do is to give him freedom to explore the world and not help him with his first steps and sitting. Every baby is unique. If, after consulting a doctor, no instructions were made, then the child is completely healthy and will soon sit up.
How to train muscles
Evgeny Komarovsky advises that babies from 5 months should not sit down, but should be placed on their stomachs on the floor, on a spread blanket or blanket. Place bright toys a couple of meters from him, and in every possible way encourage him to move on his belly or in any other way (on his stomach, with support on one leg and arm, whatever you like).
Great workout for all the muscles needed for sitting
- This is an evening strengthening massage, as well as bathing. Water treatments can work wonders. No one is canceling daily gymnastics, which it is advisable to start doing immediately upon arrival from the maternity hospital.
However, when the baby starts sitting, it will definitely become clear which muscles are his weakest: if he sits with a round back, then we can talk about weakness of the back muscles and neck muscles, if he falls back, his abs are weak, and if he falls over, on the side - the lateral muscles need support.
Take a close look at your child, take into account his “weak points” and train.
Striving for the “golden mean”
Some parents are in a hurry to develop their child physically. They begin to sit him at 5 months, explaining their position by the fact that their baby is already ready for new achievements. In doing so, they make a huge mistake. The baby’s musculoskeletal system at this age is still too weak. She is not ready for these forced activities. In order not to harm the child, you cannot sit him down on your own at either 5 or 6 months. A fairly active baby with good development will want to sit down as soon as possible. When a child holds his head up and turns over on his own, he will be able to do everything as nature requires without the help of adults.
Of course, it must be taken into account that the child’s overall activity depends entirely on the parents. Many people forget about this and let the baby’s development take its course. They do not train him to turn from his stomach to his back and back, do not massage him, and do not monitor the norms of his vigorous activity. A too passive attitude towards a child’s development can also harm him. Noticing that by 9–10 months the baby is still not sitting, they run to the doctors, and they discover a pathology that should have been treated several months ago.
Time in this matter is the most valuable gift that should not be forgotten. That is why the “golden mean”, demonstrating when you need to start teaching your baby to sit, is the age of 7 months. If he does not want to do this, it is necessary to figure out why the child is not sitting. At 9 months this may be due to a serious cause.
Myths about sitting
- It is believed that girls should not be placed before 6 months of age
- this is fraught with cervical bending and other pathologies in women's health. This is not true, says Evgeny Komarovsky. Both boys and girls do not need to be seated until they are six months old, and not only because in girls there is something wrong there and it can get damaged. Children should not be seated at all until they are six months old. From the point of view of developing a strong spine, there is no difference whether it is a boy or a girl. - A boy can be held in his arms as early as 3-4 months.
This is not true, says Komarovsky. Such forgetting is dangerous and scary; it increases the number of young people who, due to spinal diseases, are not only unfit for the army, but also cannot lead a full active life. This type of sitting is especially dangerous for large, plump boys—their load on the spinal column increases significantly.
