Should I Help My Baby Learn To Sit?

“Can I teach my baby to sit or should I just wait until they do it?”

ANSWER- There are definitely differing schools of thought on this one!

From a technical/standardized testing and solids readiness standpoint, I do like to see children being ABLE to at least briefly sit WHEN PLACED beginning around the 6 month mark. This shows me that they have good head and trunk muscle strength developing, as well as giving us lots of other information about skills across other developmental domains.

That being said, there are definitely some children who will not WANT to sit and instead may want to be down moving/crawling/etc – and that is totally okay! Those are usually the children that won’t sit and play until they can get there on their own. And again, that is okay!

As long as you are seeing the ability to sit by 8 months, it would not be a concern to me.

That being said, if you ARE going to start practicing sitting when placed, I recommend trying to wait until baby is ideally rolling both ways, and keep it brief, being sure to also watch their cues. If you see their back very rounded or their chin dropping to their chest, they are likely not quite ready! But again, choosing to build in a few minutes of that during your day beginning around the 5.5 month mark is usually okay! I hope that helps! 

Want more?

For developmental questions, tips and guidance related to milestones about tummy time, rolling & sitting, crawling and walking, check out KC’s developmental Masterclasses linked here.

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KC is a pediatric doctor of physical therapy, wife and mom of three! She has spent her career working with children and young adults of all ability levels, and currently specializes in birth to three years.