Learning to sit - is he behind?

I have a 7 month + one week old son who will sit up on his own. He
rolls both ways, surfs on his belly with arms and legs in the air, and
pushes way up on his arms. He can bear weight on his legs. The cutest
thing he does is put his head down, his butt in the air, and rocks
back and forth on his knees or feet. BUT, he will not sit
unnassisted!! We try to practice every day - I sit him between my legs
so he can use my legs to steady himself. His arms are just so far from
the floor it is hard for him to balance himself if my legs aren't
there. He is a little tall for his age - 27.5" and weighs about 18.5
lbs. His behind seems a little small in relation to the rest of him,
so maybe he just doesn't have a good "base" for sitting. Someone
mentioned that I should stop using the "Johnny Jump-Up." Any advice?
Do I need to be concerned? I hate to be anxious like this, but he is
my first baby and I am clueless most of the time!

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 08:09:17 -0800, Lizajane wrote:

BUT, he will not sit unnassisted!! We try to practice every day
snip
Someone mentioned that I should stop using the "Johnny Jump-Up." Any
advice? Do I need to be concerned? I hate to be anxious like this, but
he is my first baby and I am clueless most of the time!

I have no clue what a Johnny Jump-Up is, but all other things you describe
your son doing are perfectly normal development for his age. Sitting
without assistance is quite a big step and requires a good sense of
balance. DS could sit up more or less around 7-8m, but it took quite some
time before he didn't need a "fall-back pillow" behind him.

So don't worry: your son is right on track!

--
-- I
mommy to DS (17m)
mommy to a tiny angel (Oct 2003)
guardian of DH (33)
TTC #2.5
War doesn't decide who's right, only who's left

"Lizajane" wrote in message
...
I have a 7 month + one week old son who will sit up on his own. He
rolls both ways, surfs on his belly with arms and legs in the air, and
pushes way up on his arms. He can bear weight on his legs. The cutest
thing he does is put his head down, his butt in the air, and rocks
back and forth on his knees or feet. BUT, he will not sit
unnassisted!! We try to practice every day - I sit him between my legs
so he can use my legs to steady himself. His arms are just so far from
the floor it is hard for him to balance himself if my legs aren't
there. He is a little tall for his age - 27.5" and weighs about 18.5
lbs. His behind seems a little small in relation to the rest of him,
so maybe he just doesn't have a good "base" for sitting. Someone
mentioned that I should stop using the "Johnny Jump-Up." Any advice?
Do I need to be concerned? I hate to be anxious like this, but he is
my first baby and I am clueless most of the time!

My 2nd child (1st son) was huge and didn't sit till about 8 months. It was
normal *for him*.

I put my 3rd child (2nd son) in a Johnny Jump Up and he sat earlier than my
2nd child did. Who knows.

He sounds fine to me.

Sophie
#4 due 7/18/04

wrote:

I have a 7 month + one week old son who will sit up on his own. He
rolls both ways, surfs on his belly with arms and legs in the air, and
pushes way up on his arms. He can bear weight on his legs. The cutest
thing he does is put his head down, his butt in the air, and rocks
back and forth on his knees or feet. BUT, he will not sit
unnassisted!!

Lots of kids don't sit until 8 or 9 months. My son didn't sit at all until
after he was pulling up and cruising. I think he actually *could*, he just
never *did*.

Two of my three have crawled before sitting, which at least one baby book told
me was impossible ;-)

--Helen

Both my boys didn't sit unassisted till 11 months. They always stretched
their legs and that made them fall backwards. The funniest was my oldest son
who could walk (without support) before he could sit....

Ingrid

(Lizajane) wrote in message m...
I have a 7 month + one week old son who will sit up on his own. He


When my 9 yo ds was 7 months old he couldn't sit by himself, get up on
hands and knees, creep, do anything but roll a bit. In a matter of six
weeks, he started to sit by himself, rock on all 4's and then crawl
all before 9 months and was fully walking by the time he was 10 1/2
months. my mom says I did the same thing. I was doing nothing but
sitting-no crawling or rolling at 9 months and then I got up and
walked at 10.
Your son sounds fine, he just has his own schedule.

K-

Thank you EVERYONE for the reassuring words. I hate being anxious
about my child's development when I feel like it takes away from my
enjoyment of him. I can't ask my mom because she had a ruptured brain
aneursym 3 years ago which destroyed most of her memory and
tremendously changed her personality. She can't tell me anything about
raising a baby because she can't remember most of it. BUT, one time I
took my DS to see her in her assisted living facility, he was very
fussy, and she lifted her shirt (and bra) and said "he's hungry!!!"

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 05:24:14 -0800, Lizajane wrote:

Thank you EVERYONE for the reassuring words. I hate being anxious about
my child's development when I feel like it takes away from my enjoyment
of him.

I have found that following your gut feeling is usually the best thing to
do. Take yourself serious, since you are the one spending most time with
your child. FWIW: my mother told me not to be too critical about DS's
development, since each child has its own speed, but by the time they are
4-5 yo, most kids have about the same level. At that point it no longer
matters whether he was sitting up at 7m or at 9m. Some babies are more
focussed on talking than motor skills, and they can only do one thing at a
time.

I can't ask my mom because she had a ruptured brain aneursym 3 years ago
which destroyed most of her memory and tremendously changed her
personality. She can't tell me anything about raising a baby because she
can't remember most of it. BUT, one time I took my DS to see her in her
assisted living facility, he was very fussy, and she lifted her shirt
(and bra) and said "he's hungry!!!"

I'm sorry to hear that, it must be very hard for you to see your mother
like that and miss her support. But this is a hilarious story!

--
-- I
mommy to DS (17m)
mommy to a tiny angel (Oct 2003)
guardian of DH (33)
TTC #2.5
War doesn't decide who's right, only who's left