"Letting a child sit before they can sit up by themselves is damaging for their back."

[emkana]

In Germany many many people are adamant that you shouldn't let a child sit up until they can get into a sitting position by themselves. Not even propped up, not even in a pushchair, not even in a highchair, and even on your lap only for a few minutes.

I think that's madness really, esp. if your children are late sitting up like my dd1 was - she was over 10 months by then.

Both of mine hated lying flat so I propped them up from very early. Their backs appear fine. My mil's sister told me that dd's legs would be bowed because when I held her in an upright position she would push her feet into my legs to get upright and really straighten her legs (she was about 3 mo). Dd's legs are also fine

Dare I say this sounds a bit like the baby led weaning argument?

I think all this ignores the fact that, unlike most of the rest of the animal kingdom, humans evolved in such a way that their babies are born pretty helpless and need nurturing for years to come. This capacity for nurturing and caring for the weak and vulnerable is what makes us human.

DD hated being laid on her back all the time. She wanted to be upright and on her feet too if possible. She would complain and push herself up against your arms to try and let herself do just that. She did sit relatively early and she was cruising very early too.

I think you jut have to follow the lead of your own child and take it from there.

emkana, I came across this in the Netherlands with a 9 month old baby.

The baby could sit unaided but she had to be lying down flat in her buggy whenever they went out.

The mother was most annoyed when I lifted this baby to her feet and she suddenly started cruising. And yes, I knew them all well enough to do this. Baby was very happy imo!

Never mind sitting, DD (and DS before her) is obssessed with pushing herself up into a standing position at 5 months. (This happens mainly when she is on my lap and I am trying to eat). They may not be able to sit, but they certainly want to see.

The idea behind this is that the muscles are not strong enough to support the spine properly, once a child is able to sit up alone the muscles are strong enough to do that. I always compare it with the head. In the beginning you support the head, only when the muscles are strong enough you will stop supporting it.

Another idea behind it: A sitting child cannot do what a lying one would, e.g. rolling, stretching, playing with feet etc. There can be problems with crawling as

A baby that is being sat up without being able to do so is not able to get out of this position by himself/ herself.

This does not mean that you cannot sit the baby at all but it should be more lying than sitting up.

Our ds was not very keen on lying on his back either but we always used to sit behind him and he was half- lying in our laps but still able to look at what was going on.

I read the OP that you shouldn't let a baby spend time sitting up until they can actually pull themselves up into a sitting position, which my 7.5 month old can't yet - perhaps I misunderstood? When put down/pulled up into a sitting position DS will sit unaided for hours and lie down to roll at will, hence my disbelief that anyone would think I should be forcing him to lie down all the time.

I was concerned myself about propping DS before he could sit unaided - I posted on here about it actually. But in the end it was so apparent that he wanted to look around him that I did prop him in a playnest and that was his spur to learn to sit on his own extremely well.

I should add, I mean that my DS can't pull himself up to sitting in his cot, for example. He will pull himself on my hands very easily.

Sitting up is a skill that babies have to learn, just like learning to feed themselves and how to talk. I'm puzzled as to how they are meant to develop the muscle control and balance for sitting up if they are denied the opportunity to practice.

I really hate seeing tiny babies slumped in buggies that don't lie flat enough, they look so uncomfortable. I also think babies sould be given floor time as often as possible to practice rolling and kicking etc.. but I think it is a bit ott to NEVER allow them to sit up, even on an adult's lap till they are able to get to a sitting position from lying down.

Yes, that's right Pinkandsparkly. The baby can't sit alone until the muscles are strong enough to support them. The only way to strengthen the right muscles is for the baby to practise sitting!