May 26, 2011

A Tip for Teaching Your Baby to Sit

By Anna Hamman

Some babies learn to sit early on and others will take longer. If you are reading this, please make sure your baby is at the stage where they are strong enough and have the neck control to start sitting. It is different for every baby, but most babies develop this skill around four to eight months.

The best way to teach them to sit of course is to sit with them on the floor and interact and support them as they start to topple. This is important to do regularly---but you can’t do this all day. So here’s a tip for helping them develop the muscles for sitting when you cannot sit with them. This can be done with materials you already have around the house, so you don’t have to spendg money on a product designed specifically for this purpose.

  • Take a large plastic storage crate or bin or washing basket that is rectangular, sturdy and large. (I found the plastic storage bins are really sturdy, especially the clear ones, so that the baby doesn’t feel closed in.) 
  • Place your baby sitting up in the bin with supports of rolled towels or blankets on either side of them until they are strong enough to sit without needing the supports. 
  • Put toys in front of them to encourage them to reach and shift their weight, and to help their fine motor development. The sides of the bin and the towels will support them if they lean. A baby-safe mirror in front of them also encourages interaction, movement, and language development. 
This is a photo to show how it can be done. In the beginning, as the baby is learning, you will need more rolled towel supports on either sides of the baby than displayed in this picture



1 comment:

  1. it's like a mini play pen! i bet she loves having her toys within easy reach.

    ReplyDelete

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