Did you practice sitting with your baby? Or leave them to figure it out?

[Ticklishknees]

I have a 5.5 month old baby and I've come across a lot of people on the internet saying that you should never sit a baby up before they can get into that position by themselves, as it will damage their spine/joints.

I'm slightly confused because I thought that babies had to be sitting mostly unassisted for weaning? And it's recommended to start weaning around 6 months. I don't think my baby will be sitting completely unassisted by then and definitely not getting into that position herself.

I can't find a clear answer for this anywhere so what is the Mumsnet consensus?

My understanding was that it's actually harmful for very young (newborn to 3-4 mo) babies to be in sitting positon for a prolonged time. Same goes with making them stand before they would be doing it themselves.

With my first baby we did sitting practice once she had a relatively strong core and could hold her head well.
We had a sit me up chair from around 5 months. Baby number 2 I had no time due to various outside factors and she figured out how to get into sitting from tummy time by around six months and crawled and pulled up to stand between six month and seven months.
Developmentally I think it’s better not to have sitting aids just tummy time and the playmat for them to lie on their back however that’s just anecdotal from my two children.

I don’t think that they have to he sitting up completely inside at 6 months to start weaning? I think it’s more about them being able to hold their head steady if you were to put them in a high chair?

This quiz from Start for Life should tell you if your baby is ready for weaning or not.

Theres also a really useful weaning section on MN under Feed the World

I used to sit on the floor with them? Then I guess they learn by seeing

Let them work it out themselves, mine went from tummy to sitting themselves at roughly 7.5 months. But sat them in high chairs from 6 months when started weaning.