learning to sit up

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

Tess is now approaching 6 months and clearly wants to sit up on her own. We don’t put her in a sitting position much because we can almost guarantee that she’ll spit up if we do, even if she hasn’t eaten in hours. I realize that all babies spit up, and she doesn’t cry when she spits up (as opposed to when she’s having a reflux episode), but she does seem to get more fussy afterwards. So she doesn’t get much practice at holding herself upright. She doesn’t even care to be in her exersaucer for very long – acts like something is bothering her, gasping and gulping. But she SO wants to be sitting up. When she’s laying on her back she lifts her head and shoulders up off the floor like she’s doing situps. LOL! So I guess my question is do reflux babies have problems with sitting upright, in general, or does it vary from kid to kid? Will she be delayed in this area? She also hates to be on her tummy. She refuses to just lay her head down. She puts her arms down to her sides, lifts her feet and head up, and does this Superman flying thing grunting from the exersion the whole time until she finally just starts crying (she doesn’t know how to roll back over). Sigh. I really, really want her to be able to sit up on her own as I think she’ll be much happier but for now it just seems to cause problems. Input? Advice? TIA!

Karen

[Anonymous]

I had the same problem with Myles. He would spit up or throw up when I put him in a sitting position. That “tripod” thing that babies do (leaning way forward with arms out front to brace themselves) until they learn to sit up alone must put a lot of pressure on their little tummies.

Myles finally did learn to sit alone but not until he was 7 1/2 months old. At his six month check up I was concerned that he was not sitting up yet (both my girls were sitting alone at 5 months), and I had always believed that the milestone was expected by 6 months. Myles’ doctor told me that the sitting alone milestone is not really expected until 8 months, though many babies sit alone earlier than that.

For a long time I used a Bumbo Seat for Myles because it allowed him to sit upright without having to lean forward on his tummy. He loved it and rarely spit up or threw up in it. You can find tons of them on ebay. I worried a little that this would delay his learning to sit alone, but honestly from having been a nanny and being around alot of babies, and having three of my own, I really think that the age at which babies learn these things is built in. They just seem to do it when they are ready despite the things we do or don’t do to “teach” them.

Tummy time is a big problem with Myles, too. He’s always hated it and it often lead to throwing up, so I just avoided it for the most part. I do think tummy time is important though, so I’ve been working on it with Myles now that he is not throwing up so much. I read a few tips here and saw some on tv lately. One is to use a big exercise ball to lay them on their tummy and play with them. The other idea I read here and have been trying with Myles. Sitting on the floor with them, you lay them on their tummy across your lap so they are not flat on the floor. Myles likes this somewhat if he is distracted with some toys. You can also use a boppy under her to prop her up a little. I read that even a few minutes at a time is helpful, so that’s what I’m doing with Myles. He still doesn’t like it much but little by little he’s learning that it’s not all bad to be on his tummy.

And yes, it definitely varies from kid to kid. I’ve seen perfectly normal non-reflux babies sit as early as 5 months and as late as 7 months. I’ve seen some babies crawl by 7 months and others not until 11 months. My first walked at 12 1/2 months, my second not until 14 months. My doctor always tells me that there is a very wide range of normal for the motor development in infants.

So, anyway (my posts are too long, arent’ they?) I guess I would suggest the Bumbo Seat to keep her happy for short periods of time, but still give her opportunities to try sitting alone each day, and just keep trying short periods of tummy time.

[Anonymous]

OMG Aidan does the “baby tummy crunch” thing 2!!! the lifting head up when on back..I thought it was just him lol ! I got Aidan a boppy, it’s AWESOME..he can sit up by himself but it’s there when he falls back or to the side.He loves it, it makes him feel like he’s sitting totally by himself. As for the tummy time thing, I just decided to bite the bullet and let him learn there was no choice. He still isn’t thrilled about it but he knows by now that I’m not going to go rush and pick him up as soon as he starts crying but now that he can roll from side to side, back to front etc (he’s a little over 6 mos) I can’t MAKE him stay on his tummy. I wouldn’t worry about her being delayed at all, I never let my first have any tummy time because he hated it and he turned out just fine! Aidan also spits up more when he’s sitting, because he sort of folds himself in 2 when reaching for things, trying to figure out how to sit more upright, etc..but again I decided that as long as it wasn’t a whole bottle or a ton that it was ok. Everything varies from kid to kid (I threw out all those what to expect type books when my older one was about 9 months old). The “superman” thing is actually How Aidan learned to roll from his tummy to his back. He did that for a while before he realized that he had to sort of squish up and push with his legs to get over and he would just plant his face and cry as well until I picked him up (sometimes he would just give up and fall asleep) at about 5 1/2 months I would just put him on his tummy and literally make him stay like that for about 10 mins about an hour or so after he ate 3 times a day..he HATED it at first but like I said about 2 weeks or so of that and he sort of went from hating it to “tolerating” it…I can’t believe she does the sit up thing too-all my friends get such a kick out of him doing that!!! I always joke that if he keeps it up he’ll have a 6 pack by the age of one-lol

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input, ladies.

Christine – We have a Bumbo seat but Tess still manages to slump forward in it. I thought it would prevent that but not really. It’s not as bad as when she’s not in it but it still squishes her tummy and she spits up. We keep trying it, though. My first DD hated tummy time as well and so we just didn’t do much of it. We have put Tess on the Boppy before but not recently. I should get that out again and give it a try. Thanks!

Jill – LOL! Austin definitely isn’t the only one doing his crunches. We tried putting Tess in the Boppy for sitting but she always goes forward so it doesn’t help much at this point. Maybe once she gets a little stronger.

Karen

[Anonymous]

I hear you on the forward thing, Aidan did that for a while, but what I would do is put him in the corner of the crib with him in the boppy backwards so he could sit by himself, and I put the toys on top of the boppy so he could reach them without falling forward. Still not the best solution, but it kept him happy and sitting without falling forward while I cleaned his room (or sat in the rocking chair reading until he either got bored or I got sick of picking toys up from in front of the boppy and puting them back on it), plus with that, he would sometimes “fall” onto his tummy onto the boppy if he DID lunge forward enough and try to reach for whatever toys had fallen off.

[Anonymous]

Jill,

That’s a good idea! Thanks! Today Tess actually sat up on her own for a good 15-20 seconds several times. It’s so funny as she rarely falls backward or to the side… she just slowly folds in half until her toes are in her mouth. LOL! It makes ME want to spit up just looking at her! Hopefully she’ll build up those torso muscles soon (we know she’s doing her crunches) and then I won’t have to worry about this anymore.

Karen

[Author]

Posts