What are the stages of learning to sit?
As your baby grows stronger and develops their motor skills and muscle coordination, you will start to see them test out what they can do. You’ll probably also notice them start to get frustrated when they can’t do it straight away!
Some of the stages of learning to sit that you will notice your baby doing include:
1. Tummy Time Push Up – Your baby should have a lot of tummy time to help build his or her tummy muscles and develop back and arm strength. As your baby builds their strength, you will notice them using their arms to push their head and torso up off the floor and looking around. This is a good sign that they are building the muscles needed to sit.
2. Propping Up – Your baby might try and prop themselves upright, in a semi-sitting position, against furniture or their toys. You will probably go into their room in the morning and find them leaning against their crib bed. Again, this is a good sign that they’re developing well and becoming more curious about what they can do and their surroundings.
3. Wobbly Sit – Once your baby has started to master the above, you will see them attempting to sit upright on their own – at first they will probably only be able to manage to do this for a couple of seconds before wobbling and laying back down and that’s perfectly normal. They are building their balance skills, which are different to their physical development.
4. Tripod Sit – Before sitting upright completely on their own, most babies will adopt the ‘tripod pose’ – this is where they sit up right mostly, but use their arms out in front of them to hold themselves up. You will probably see your baby do this repeatedly as they continue to build the balance they need, and sit upright on their own for prolonged periods.
Some babies might do all of these stages, some might only do one or two, every baby is different and if you don’t notice these particular stages, that’s natural! What’s important is that you do notice your baby becoming more curious as they grow, and starting to see what they can with their body.
