Crawling/Sitting Up

[JammieE]

I know all babies develop at different rates but the babies I know that are the same age as my daughter seem physically more advanced and I wanted to check if she seems normal.

DD is 6mo. She loves being on her tummy and can hold her head up really well when being held, carried or doing tummy time. When on her tummy she wriggles her legs loads and seems desperate to crawl but most of the time she kicks her legs frantically but keeps her arms straight, pinned down by her sides. People at my baby class joke that she looks like she is trying to fly, and whilst I'm not worried about it, she has been like this for weeks and weeks with no change whilst other babies seem to be changing each week or two.

She is also unable to sit up unaided. Again, I'm not too worried as she has a heavy head which is still a little more elongated than normal and she was slow to be able to support her own neck. She was 15th percentile for weight and 80th for head so this makes sense to me. Just wanting to check really that a 6mo is not abnormal if she can't sit up. When we try to get her to sit she slupms forward, props herself in a slumped position on her arms for a few seconds and then falls straight to the floor with her face on the floor between her legs. After 2 or 3 goes she won't even use her arms to support herself for a second or 2.

Basically, I am just wandering if maybe she has weak arms and if that is normal at this stage as our other baby friends seem a little more capable with their arms at sitting and attempting to crawl (although none of them can actually crawl yet).

Probably just being an idiot but wanted to check. Thanks!

You're not an idiot. You're a concerned mum, and concerned mums need answers. Please ask your health visitor or your GP for advice - they're usually lovely and if it turns out to be within 'normal' limits, then at least you're mind will be put at ease, and they can keep track of her development for you (ie come back in 4 weeks or whatever for another review). Any doubts about health and wellbeing of babies needs checking - it costs nothing to ask and get it checked out. You sound like a lovely mum .

*your mind

At this age, it sounds really normal, my DD1 was the last to sit unaided in NCT group, crawled around 9 or 10 month only. Walked at 15 month. Really well developed sporty 2.5 year old now. It's very normal not to sit fully unaided at 6 or 7 months!

My DD is 6.5 months and can't sit unaided. I think it's still quite early, to be honest. I think 8 or 9 months is more likely? not certain though. Rolling etc strengthens their cores to allow sitting.

She sounds just fine. My dd couldn't sit unaided at 6 months. We supported her while she sat, then she progressed to being able to sit for a few seconds at a time at around 6 1/2- 7months (she usually toppled over because she'd reached out for a toy), then at 7 1/2 - 8 months we noticed that she didn't need the support anymore.

Thanks guys. That's what I had thought but was a bit unsure because a lot of other babies, including small ones, are sitting up really well. Do/did your little ones just leave their arms by their sides when learning to crawl? Even one of my class leaders has commented on it which made me wonder if it was strange? I presume it isn't really, but I don't know what to expect as DD is our first child and none of my pre-DD friends have babies yet so I can only go on baby classes and new NCT friends.

What does she do when you just put her on her tummy? Does she ever push up on her hands?