7 and a half month old can't sit unaided

[RollingRedHills]

My 7 and a half month old can't sit unaided for any longer than a few seconds- I try to encourage her and she just toppled over. She is commando crawling and can easily cross a room and rolls easily in both directions but hadn't mastered sitting. Should I be following this up with someone?

I'm sure she's fine. My dd didn't sit unaided until 12 months, the health visitor did refer her to a paediatrician but she was fine. Some just take a bit longer to get there.

Mine's 8 months, can roll and is fine with tummy time but still can't sit upright without support. I'm not worried. We practise a bit every day to try and build up her muscles. She'll get there.

My youngest was 8.5months before he could sit unaided. He also didn't roll or crawl or anything until some time a lot later. Now 15 months old & is racing around on 2 legs. You'd never know he was "late" sitting.

I think she is within normal range I wouldn't worry until 9 months at least. You could always ask Hv the next time you get her weighed. My dd is just 9 months can sit unaided fine and had done for a while but isn't crawling at all, every baby is different.

My dd almost 10mths just sitting unaided for the last 2 weeks. She's still not crawling properly.. Comando crawls. No worries.

Mine didn't until he was 8 months, didn't crawl until 11 months but then was fairly fast to walk at 14 months. He has a touch of hypermobility which probably explains the sitting but it doesn't cause him any problems now

Is she chunky? My friend was worried about her boy and on doing some research it seemed it was harder for chunky babies to master the muscle control.

That's interesting @NoNoNoOohmaybe - mine is certainly a chunky monkey

My baby girl is 11 months and only just sitting unaided, rolls rarely and not crawling. The HV said not to worry as long as we were seeing progress in her gross motor skills. She is a total chunk though, so just can’t hold herself up to crawl. She loves to stand with her hands held so I know she has strength there. I wobble with worry occasionally but I believe deep down she will get there! It’s also giving me a bit longer to baby proof the living room 😉

I really wouldn't worry about it.

One of my two didn't roll front to back til she was 11.5 months. She could crawl and was standing but couldn't roll that way. I think they do it when they've spent enough time trying when they work out they want to do it.

Also, my two were late-ish with gross motor skills, and they're pretty calm easy going kids, they've never been that typical boisterous toddlers, more than happy to sit quietly and play, never had to worry they'd draw on the walls or pull stuff down.

Try supporting her from the front in a row row row the boat position

There was a chart showing normal ranges of development in the front of the red book when mine were babies, maybe it's still there. 7 1/2 months sounds normal, I bet it's just around the corner.

This seems completely within the normal range to me.

DD was 8 months before she was able to sit unaided at all and I didn't think of it as an issue.

Up to 9 months is considered normal. Beyond that doesn’t mean the child is not normal, just that they should get checked out by GP/HV at least and may need a Paeds referral.

DS didn't sit till about a week before the 9 month check. I think part of it was down to him having really, really terrible colic when he was small - up to about 3, 4 months, so he didn't do a lot of the lying on his stomach etc. that HV recommend.

Hit all the gross motor skill milestones towards the end of the "normal" developmental window - 11 months before he crawled, 17 months before he could walk.

He's now an incredibly sporty child, and one of the fastest runners in his year at school.

Sounds about right. I think both of mine were 8 and a bit months. They still toppled over if they reached to far or looked behind them. Neither walked until about 16 months which worried me with dd1 but with dd2 I knew it was easier than having her run off everywhere!

The NHS used to give out a brilliant book, 0 to 5 years, which had graphics of all the normal developmental windows, so you could see for most things (rolling, sitting, crawling, cruising, walking, pincer grip, babbling, first words, 2 word sentences, etc.) the average usually has a window round it of several months either side.

I wish they still gave it out - it was a great resource which I found stopped me worrying unnecessarily if DS was a bit behind his peers on anything.

Where I live, not sitting at that age is completely normal, since sitting a baby up is a no-go, just as putting a baby in any position it can't yet put itself in (meaning positions in which it has to support parts of its body).

My boy was chunky (don’t know if that’s relevant or not) and he didn’t start sitting unaided until about 10/11 months if I remember correctly. He definitely wasn’t sitting unaided at 8 months as I remember visiting my MIL (abroad) with him for the first time and people kept cuddling him then putting him down on the floor in a sitting position and he’d just fall sideways. I think it’s around the time he started cruising/walking when he realised he could do with siting when he’d fall back on his bum. Don’t worry about it there’s still plenty of time :)

That is within normal limits

I saw the HV last week with gross motor concerns and she said that they’d get concerned about a child not doing anything at all, but that rolling/commando crawling/bottom shuffling are fine as they show that the muscles are there.

DD is 9.5 months, has been sitting unaided since 5 months BUT cannot move even the tiniest bit. She’s so angry about it, constantly bursting into tears of frustration. I know the grass isn’t greener and all that, but I’d definitely prefer a non-sitter that could at least go and get a toy that she’s desperate for.....

thunder I remember the frustration stage! :-(.

It transformed DS's life (and by extension mine) when he finally cracked crawling.

@BarbaraStrozzi It’s nice to hear that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! PLEASE tell me that crawling happened suddenly...there are ZERO signs at the moment and I don’t know how I’ll cope with a prolonged learning process! Probably doesn’t help that she pukes on her tummy, so she’s having to learn from sitting.

My son didn’t sit unaided until 8 months but crawled from 6 months.