The mother and other relatives take every new skill of the baby with delight. Pride overwhelms, I want to immediately share with everyone the surprisingly significant news - the baby is sitting on the priest. But the same strong emotions, only with a negative sign, are experienced by women when their babies refuse to sit in due time. In this article, we'll find out when a child should learn to sit and how to help them learn this skill without causing harm.
Terms and norms
The ability to sit is quite difficult and requires compliance with a number of specific conditions. Firstly, the back muscles must be ready for this, and secondly, the baby's spine and hip joints must be sufficiently mature.
According to the established pediatric practice, it is believed that the average child should sit with support at 6 months, and already at 7 months the child begins to sit without support himself. Sitting down from a prone position without assistance, the baby, according to the standards adopted by doctors, should be at the age of 8 months.
However, these norms are therefore called average statistics because they do not take into account the individual characteristics of the individual child. And therefore, from the point of view of practice, it is wiser to assume that the baby begins to sit between six months and 8-9 months. The time to master a new skill ultimately depends on how well the muscles of his back, abdomen and arms are prepared. Having learned to sit, the baby will receive a significant expansion of his capabilities in learning about the world. In addition, such a pose is considered transitional to the ability to stand, and then move on foot.
More active guys can make attempts to sit down even earlier than six months, while less active ones may well hesitate until the last. There is nothing unusual or pathological about this either. Although much depends on how the pediatrician observing the child relates to the average standards. A specialist who does not bother himself too much can dryly state that the child is lagging behind the physical norms of development, which will greatly upset the parents.
Good child health professionals emphasize individual sitting times. The skill develops according to a certain plan, and attentive parents will certainly notice signs of a child's early mastering of a new skill if they know the characteristics of the stages of formation.
Skill development stages
Babies begin to prepare for the upcoming sitting well in advance. As all muscle groups and especially the muscle tissues of the back are strengthened, the baby begins to roll over, spin, try to take an upright position on the priest, leaning on the handles. In a physically developed healthy baby, the first such attempts can be observed as early as 4.5 months. The child, of course, falls, but he stubbornly tries to raise himself on his arm and sit down again.
The first stage is called the short-term sitting stage. The kid, even if he manages to sit down, cannot keep his body weight in this position for a long time and falls back on his side. It is at this stage that injuries to the face and head are not excluded, because when the baby falls, it may well hit its head on the side walls of the crib.
Already at the preparatory stage it is important to ensure that the baby falls safely - put small soft pillows on four sides of it. Attempts to sit down must necessarily take place in your presence, because the likelihood of injury or mechanical asphyxiation will remain in the presence of pillows.
The short-term stage is usually mastered in a couple of months. Then the baby begins to sit down and hold his weight for a short time, although he is still quite problematic with balance. The second stage of skill acquisition begins - sitting with support.
You can help the child maintain balance by holding him, gradually you can put the baby on his own hand. So, somewhat kosoboko, children usually do not sit for long - this is inconvenient and impractical, because he needs both hands for games and tactile knowledge of the world around.
It is the impossibility of fully owning both hands that stimulates the child to move to a new stage. Within a month, babies can sit without support, while the entire load falls on the spine. By the age of 8 months, many children can already spend quite a lot of time sitting, doing an interesting toy. It is at this stage that you can begin to move on to crawling, if the baby has not previously made independent attempts to move on its stomach or four limbs.
At the final stage (by about 9-10 months), the child can sit down on his own from a prone position. For some it comes easily, others clearly suffer, puff and struggle to do it quickly, but it doesn't work. The way the baby sits down doesn't really matter. Some do it with support on their hands, others - through an intermediate position on all fours, others are looking for something to grab onto in order to pull themselves up and sit down. The main thing is the result.
Why isn't the baby sitting?
Parents often turn to pediatricians with this question. But it is quite difficult to answer it unequivocally, because there can be a lot of reasons. So, if the baby was born earlier than obstetric term, the development of his bone and muscular systems requires more time: premature babies begin to sit down later due to their unwillingness to master a new skill.
An overweight baby, although it delights relatives with chubby cheeks and legs, will sit down much later than children of normal weight. If the baby has problems with the hip joints, which were identified even when the baby was a newborn, it is not necessary to sit him down.
Children for whom the appropriate conditions have not been created learn a new skill more slowly - the baby is tightly swaddled after six months, they do not do much, do not do gymnastics, massage, do not leave them for a long time with open hands and toys.
The temperament of the child is also important. There are calm and measured phlegmatic and melancholic people who simply do not see the incentive to accept a different position, they prefer to eat tightly and sleep longer. And there are mobile and inquisitive choleric and sanguine people who are difficult to keep from everything new, and therefore, by default, interesting.
If lack of skill is the only complaint of parents, there is nothing to worry about, it's just that the time for this baby has not come yet. However, if the lack of skill is accompanied by other symptoms - profuse frequent regurgitation, pallor of the skin, the child's lack of emotional reactions to mom and dad, the lack of the ability to roll over and confidently hold the head, then you should definitely consult a doctor.
A history of such pathologies as ischemia, cerebral hemorrhage after birth, cerebral hypoxia in the absence of attempts to sit down after 7-8 months is also a good reason to visit a neurologist.
Boys and girls - features and skills
On forums on the Internet, young mothers actively discuss the abilities and nuances of the physical development of children of different sexes. For some reason, it is believed that girls develop faster. This is not true. The time of the onset of attempts to sit down does not in any way depend on the sex of the child.
Another common misconception says that boys can be seated earlier, but even independent attempts by girls to sit down for up to six months should be resolutely suppressed. This is explained by the fact that the girl's reproductive system is designed in such a way that early verticalization can disrupt the anatomical position of the uterus in the small pelvis.
Actually, early sitting is not recommended for children of both sexes, this also applies to boys. And not because something irreversible and terrible can happen to the reproductive system, but because irreversible or intractable can happen to the spine and hip joints. For girls, early forced verticalization can lead to pelvic injuries, which in the future may indeed lead to problems with reproduction.
The question often arises whether it is worth stopping the girl's attempts to sit down before six months. If the baby is well developed, as evidenced by her independent and spontaneous attempts to sit down, then you should not interfere with your daughter. The same tactics should be followed with little boys. But if the child himself does not yet demonstrate any desire to sit, then it would be a big mistake to sit down the child, throw pillows and ottomans around.
Believing that this is how they help the child, the parents harm the child. Excessive stress on the spine ahead of the time established by nature itself for a particular child can lead to vertebral injuries, disruption of the hardening of the joints, which in the future can not only ruin the child's posture and gait, but also cause disability.
Exercise and gymnastics
Gymnastics should not be just “to sit down” exercises. This is a complex effect on the baby's body, which contributes not to the development of the skill itself, but to the development of the muscles of the baby. With developed muscles, both this and other skills can be easily comprehended by the child himself. Before gymnastics, be sure to carry out a light restorative massage. This will make the complex exercises more effective. Always carry out the exercises in the form of a fun game, otherwise the child will quickly get bored with the manipulation of his mother with his body, and he will begin to protest against such leisure.
As we already know, to sit you need to have developed muscles of the back, arms, abdomen. Therefore, be sure to include active and passive exercises to stimulate these particular muscle groups in your daily exercise. Here are some fun and helpful exercises.
"Rybka"
This exercise is done in water, such as a large bathtub during an evening swim. For it, you will need a special orthopedic inflatable circle on the baby's neck. It reliably fixes the cervical vertebrae and prevents the crumbs from going to the bottom.
Having put on the circle, put the child in the water on his stomach and roll it back and forth by the leg. Then leave him in this position, wait a little - the baby should turn on his back himself. In the water, turns are much easier and easier.
After swimming on your back, grab your baby by one handle and stimulate him to roll back onto his stomach. The more turns he makes during a swim session, the better. The exercise can be performed from a very young age - from 1 month.
"Swing"
Starting position - lying on your back. The surface must be hard. This exercise is not performed on a soft bed that cannot provide anatomically correct support for the spine.
Stretch your index fingers out to your child and let him grasp them. Slowly lift the crumbs body to a half-sitting position. There is no need to sit the child, just raise the upper body 45 degrees. Then also slowly lower the baby back.
The secret of this exercise is to do everything slowly. While doing it, the muscles of the arms and back are tense as much as possible. Exercise is recommended from 4-5 months.
"Pilot"
With your right hand, grasp the child lying on his stomach around the body and bring your palm under the chest, and with your left, support him under the legs.
Raise the baby above the surface of the massage table - while the baby reflexively tightens the back, buttocks and raises the head, spreading the arms to the sides. Hold it for about 30-40 seconds in this position and gently lower it onto your tummy back to the surface. Exercise is recommended from 4 months.
"Caterpillar"
This exercise is done in a prone position. You need to put a toy in front of the baby, but so that he could not take it. Pressing lightly with your hands on the baby's feet, stimulate his inertial repulsion and crawling forward. It will look like the characteristic bodily movements of the caterpillar during movement. Do this until the baby "crawls" to the target and grabs the toy.
"On the ball"
Exercises on fitball effectively strengthen the muscles of the back and abdomen. Put the child first with his back, supporting the legs on the ball, and gently rock him back and forth, to the right and left, and then in a circle.
Turn the baby onto its stomach and do it again. This will not only strengthen the muscles, but also develop the vestibular apparatus, which will definitely come in handy at the stage of mastering sitting, in which you need to be able to balance.
The opinion of Dr. Komarovsky
The famous pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky claims that a healthy baby does not need the help of parents, he will sit down and do it when he is ready. Moreover, there should be no help from the category of "disservice". Such, undoubtedly, includes such an achievement of humanity as jumpers.
Many parents are proud of themselves, having bought such a gift for a child. They hang the baby in jumpers and are sure that he hangs in them and trains in an enhanced mode.
In fact, according to Komarovsky, in jumps, the child experiences stress, but even more stress is experienced by the baby's spine. If the baby manages to push off the floor with his legs, then the situation is further complicated by the likelihood of getting a compression fracture and microtrauma of the vertebrae.
Komarovsky calls the most useful exercise laying out on the stomach. The doctor recommends that other muscles be purposefully trained only after careful observation of how the child is sitting (or trying to sit). If at the same time the back has a rounded shape, we can talk about weak long muscles of the back, if it falls on its side - you need to pay attention to the abdominal muscles and lateral muscle groups.
To plant a child forcibly is a parental crime, says Yevgeny Olegovich. Neither a stroller with its seat belts nor the welcoming space of soft pillows should be allowed to put a child who cannot sit on his own.
When the child begins to sit down, pathological postures should be avoided. Evgeny Komarovsky refers to them as a seat with legs bent at the knees, turned back. If you look at the child from above, his pose will look like the Latin "W". In this position, incredible loads are placed on the hip joints and knees, which can cause severe pathologies and deformities of the legs. In this case, the mother's desire and desire to help the baby will be quite appropriate - teach the child to sit correctly, and this will be the best help. Much more useful than the attempts of a mother to teach a child who is barely six months old to just sit.
About the age at which a child should learn to sit, walk, and so on, Dr. Komarovsky will tell in the next video.
