Baby suddenly falling backwards from sitting

[cauliflowerears]

Hi, I've not posted before but am a bit concerned as my daughter has fallen backwards from sitting four times today and banged her head quite hard each time.

I know that babies fall over a lot when they're learning to sit but she has been sitting well for about two months now and hasn't fallen in ages so to do it four times in one day is really odd. I'm probably over reacting but just wondered if any one had any advice? I don't want to waste the doctors time if there's no need but equally I'm a bit worried that it could be a sign of something serious.

She's nine months old by the way and though she's sitting well she isn't crawling yet in case that's relevant.

Thanks in advance, hope someone can help!

Both my two did/do this a lot! I am sure with my two, they did it in purpose, kind of when they got fed up with sitting, they just launched themselves backwards. With DS and now with DD I just put a v cushion behind wherever they were sitting. Neither of mine were/are crawlers, I think it was that they were trying to get upright without knowing that's what they were doing if you see what I mean!

Sounds potentially neurological to me. I'd get it checked out.

If she's playing and reaches out and gets a bit excited, that could account for it. I agree with Zoonose. Mine did it too, cushions will help in that case.

Could she have a bit of an ear infection which could be throwing her off balance?

Thanks all, some food for thought there.

I don't think it's an ear infection as haven't noticed her rubbing her ears at all. No temperature either. The suggestion that it might be neurological is a bit worrying; I will try and keep an eye on it and see if anything else weird is happening.

In the meantime, V pillow is firmly behind her and here's to hoping she's just fed up of sitting in one place!

mine did thie too.a babies head is a lot heavier than their boby and very easy to topple over.Don't worry ,quite normal

Hope your dd has stopped doing this now but it could well just be a new 'trick' she has learned!

My dd has neurological problems which affected her sitting BUT she certainly wasn't sitting well by 9 months and fell backwards frequently right from when she started trying to sit up. It really doesn't sound like neurological problem to me..

Thanks smashingtime - that's reassuring. We've both got chickenpox now anyway so maybe it's because she was coming down with that...

DS did this a lot so we started to say "this little baby lies down for a rest" (a line from his favourite book) whenever he did it. Then we said the line to him while he was sitting up firmly to see if it was something he could control and it turned out he could. It was just his latest trick.

If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of neurological problems? My friends baby cannot use her arms like most children I’ve seen and at 9 months old is still frequently falling over like just off to the side without even attempting to catch herself. She can’t put herself in a crawling position from her belly because she physically can’t push up in her arms.
She also is flat headed on her right side because she only lays in that side. It’s really hard to watch her struggle to do basic things because she can barely raise her arms. Like her shoulders are too heavy or something? I don’t know how to explain it. She cannot use her pincers yet and cannot grasp moms fingers tight without falling. Though she has learned to “pull” herself up, it’s more of leaving onto something and using her legs to push her up as her arms and hands are to weak to hold onto anything. We think she may have low muscle tone or CP.

It's always a good idea to follow up with your pediatrician if you have concerns.

In addition, you can call your local Early Intervention or Part C program (ages 0-3). They can provide you with a developmental screening and/or evaluation. If your child needs services, they will walk you through that too. It can be scary if you feel like something is wrong, but the good news is there is help or professionals that can reassure you.

www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/parents/state-text.html

I know this was posted a long time ago but my 9 month old fell backwards twice today after being very stable sitting for months. His sister currently has chicken pox so think he’s incubating and will come out in them soon. I found it so interesting to read you had the same thing. I’ve got down a rabbit hole now reading horror stories about complications of chicken pox. Did your 9 month old have the pox with no complications? Was the loss of balance just that time?

thanks!