Sitting up: Guidelines for making baby sit up for solids

The average range for babies to come to sit on their own is between 6-9 months. Solids need to be started at 6 months in sitting upright only as feeding the baby lying down is dangerous. Read here why its important for the babies to come to sit without help.

The question is how do you start solids in sitting if you baby cant sit up by themselves? 

If your baby is 6 months old and not coming to sit by themselves yet, here are the guidelines for making the baby sit up for solids.

1) Please know that making your baby sit up propped up with pillows behind their back or in a bumbo before 6 months will actually delay their learning. Read how and why here.

DO NOT PROP BABY UP BEFORE 6 MONTHS

2) If baby is not coming to sit by themselves at 6 months, check if all other pre-sitting factors are present. See this info graph.

3) For introducing solids (see why semi-solids or liquids are not nutritional here) the baby has to be upright. This is the ideal position as it reduces the chance of choking and allows baby some freedom to move head away to refuse food or lean forward to throw up if needed.

These are the 2 positions we recommend for starting solids.

4) When you first make the baby sit, it is likely that you will see slouching. Read the various stages of sitting posture here. The important thing to watch for is whether baby is using hands and making attempts to push off the floor. If baby is not trying to do so within 7-10 days of being made to sit up, Please consult a PT immediately. Your baby may need help with some shoulder strengthening.

5) If you have made the baby sit on the floor and they can maintain the ring sitting posture or even try to sit without support, try to get them to reach for toys in various directions. More opportunity for this sort of trunk work will help the baby figure out the combination of movements between head, shoulders, core and hips.

6) The key to gaining a new skill is practice, fail, practice, fail, practice, get it. If baby is made to sit for long periods, their motivation to learn to come to sit reduces drastically. You can do some sitting during the day, this time should not exceed more than time on the tummy on the floor. The baby still needs spend most of their awake time on their tummy to learn how to move from tummy to sit independently. If you want more specific guidelines, based on your child’s movement history and skills, contact us at theyearlinghouse@gmail.com for a consult on Skype/in person.

7) Some babies catch up with some easy changes in the way toys are presented or how they are held etc. Some babies don’t. Since there is no way to predict this, we recommend that you stay in touch with a PT at least once a month to make sure there is progress. As we have discussed in the earlier articles, there are many subtle pre-sitting skills that need to be in place, which are often missed by parents.

The only thing that will trigger natural development of milestones in all babies is floor time and tummy time. (here)

If, in spite of this, babies are not catching up with their milestones, it is better to get help right away rather than wait and watch.

Happy Parenting

11/28/2015

Puja.