My 7 and a half month old daughter is unable to sit and whenever I try to put her in a sitting position she wants to straighten her legs to stand up. I am very worried as all the babies in my coffee group sit up all the time and I find it hard not to compare.

My daughter also seems frustrated on her back, she wants a good view of everything and grunts and cries because she can't move to pick things up. To placate her, I end up holding her in a standing position and she leans forward to pick up what she wants. I started tummy time a little late with her but have been doing it daily for the last two months.


Does anyone have any tips to encourage sitting or advice on when their son or daughter started to sit?

DS never sat, he went straight from rolling to commando crawling to normal crawling to walking at 10 months. He was never interested in just sitting there. One of his little friends was sat all the time, now she is over 18 months old and she still isn't walking.

I don't think it is a problem at all, I think it is good to let babies develop naturally and are not put into positions. Look up Pikler Theory (think there are a couple of threads on it in here).

My last bub didn't sit till 7 months altho when he could he loved it as easy access to his toys and the world around him. So 7.5 months is still not that late. Just let bub do it when ready - it won't be long. I'm sure Subzero on here who is the pilker theory advocate says that crawling before sitting is the babies natural development order, anyhow??? So perhaps your bub will crawl before sitting. I find that crawling and sitting kinda of go hand in hand because they crawl to their toy and then they want to sit and play with it. Try to be patient and don't worry what other bubs are doing smile.

Neither of my two girls were able to sit by themselves until well after the 9 month mark. Babies develop at their own pace...no need to try to rush them or 'help' them to do things. They are babies for such a short time so relax and enjoy it. Mothers' groups can be very supportive, but there's always an element of competition. Ignore it; if it's getting you down, take some time out.

hmmm my DD occasionally likes to do the straight leg thing too, but she also does sit most of the time. Do you think her back muscles are strong enough to hold her up? Would it be worth trying a Bumbo to see if she will sit in that happily enough?

I had the same problem with DD, she would lock her legs and would stand and never sit. So i started sitting on the floor with her, lucky if i would get her to stay on her bum for 10mins. It was a waste of time trying to prop her up with pillows cos she thought it was hilarious to fall back.

So i found she would sit up longer on the change table to get changed, sit up in the bath or on my lap and in front of the mirror.

So anyway we went away for a few days and she didnt have her usual playmats with toys above her head and we just had a quilt on the ground. Anyway i popped her on her bum and to my amazement she played the rest of the day on her bum and shes been good every since.

So just keep practicing with her and hopefully she will surprise you one day soon.

That sounds so familiar!! In the end I found sitting bubs on the table in front of the computer worked (at 7 months). He loved that. Buy he still prefers to "stand" (with my assistance of course!) He hates being on his belly so who knows whether he'll ever crawl??

Hey, I was a head teacher in a nursery, before I had children. I was told that sitting is not in the babies natural developmental milestones. They go from rolling, to crawling, to sitting, to pulling self up then onto walking. Propping babies up to sit wasn't in their natural progression. So don't worry. My two boys never sat either. Just continue with the important tummy time.

DD2 is 7 months and she can't sit. I don't try to sit her though. We didn't do tummy time at all. She can roll both ways now and that's how she gets around. DD1 crawled before putting herself into a sit position, DS never sat, he went from commando crawling to cruising on the furniture and then walking. He was always on the go lol and sitting obviously wasn't a priority.

i wouldnt stress about it, but here are some things if you wanted to encourage sitting further:
* sit behind her, and slowly as the days go on, move away
*put her in her high chair for activities, to strenghtn the back muscles
*sitting in a bumbino(not sure if thats the spelling)seat
*propping up with pillows, and lots of toys to keep occuipied