February 1, 2024

3 Tips to Encourage Your Baby to Sit Independently

Sitting independently is a wonderful and fun new milestone for every baby. It is the first time your little one is upright and able to look around. In the sitting position, babies have both hands free to play with toys. Although there is a healthy range of ages for a child to achieve the milestone of sitting independently, a good rule of thumb is that a baby should sit independently for longer than a minute at six months of age. If your baby needs some encouragement to sit on her own, there are strategies you can use to help.

Sitting independently is a wonderful and fun new milestone for every baby. It is the first time your little one is upright and able to look around.  In the sitting position, babies have both hands free to play with toys.  Although there is a healthy range of ages for a child to achieve the milestone of sitting independently, a good rule of thumb is that a baby should sit independently for longer than a minute at six months of age. If  your baby needs some encouragement to sit on her own, there are strategies you can use to help.

3 Helpful Tips to Encourage Your Baby to Sit Independently:

  1. Give them support – but not too much! Place your hands low on your baby’s trunk, or gently hold onto his hip bones with your hands. The lower you provide the support, the more your child will have to use his tummy muscles to stay upright. Lessen the support as he becomes more stable.
  2. Let them topple over – gently. If a baby begins to topple over, it is a parent’s natural instinct to catch the falling child.  However, if done too much, this can prevent the baby from learning righting reactions and how to stop herself from falling over. If your baby starts to lose balance, use your hands to stop the fall, but still allow her to get to her back or belly. This will allow you baby to learn that next time she starts to tip over, she needs to use her hands or muscles to stop the fall. You can place blankets around the baby to create a softer ground on which to collapse. Also note that it is acceptable to use a Boppy pillow to help your child to sit occasionally.   However, babies often just learn to lean on them instead of developing the muscles needed to sit on their own, so limit the use of Boppy pillows during sitting time.
  3. Use toys. A baby learns to prop himself on his hands at around 4 or 5 months. To encourage your baby to lift his hands off the ground, hold a toy in front of him so that he has to reach up to grab the toy. A larger toy that requires two hands to grip is ideal to use so that the baby lifts both hands.  Two small toys also work.

If you find that your baby is having difficulty sitting independently, or if you find that your baby seems to “flop over” whenever you put her in a sitting position, contact one of our pediatric physical therapists. Some babies need extra help to strengthen core and back muscle to assist with sitting, which can easily be addressed by a physical therapist.

Download our Guide for Families

We know that choosing a local ABA facility can be a hard decision. We’ve created an informational guide to help you understand more about the questions you should be asking while meeting with different providers.

Although we talk about our services here, our highest goal is for you to feel comfortable and knowledgeable about picking a provider that is the best fit for your needs. You are making a decision that will impact the entire trajectory of your child’s life!
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The cover of the NSPT Guide for Families, which helps families to figure out the questions to ask when picking an ABA provider.

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Testimonials

Success looks different for every child... But we bet we have a story that matches your child's needs. Like James, who started with us as non-speaking and lacking the ability to initiate and maintain social interactions. Today, he can speak complete sentences, clearly state his needs, and navigate social interactions with his friends!

Our infant daughter was in physical therapy with Anna Zahn for about five months.  Anna was consistent, patient, and wonderful with our daughter.  Anna was also clear in her communications with us as parents which helped us understand our daughter's progress and needs, as well as how we could help our daughter at home.  While we are proud that our daughter graduated PT, we will miss Anna's warmth and kindness.

Emily

I love this place! Chista is an amazing person, so sweet and kind and very professional in her work. All staff are very kind with children. I feel happy to find this place for my daughter. Thank you!!!

Maria Di Rita

I cannot say enough nice things about the staff! My son worked with Khadija as his ABA therapist and is finishing up this week with his OT, Sabrina. They were really instrumental in helping us navigate a new diagnosis. Both were so easy to approach with questions. From Leeann at the front desk to the RBTs (Alex, Rabbia, Molly, and many others), we always felt so welcomed. It seems like the staff genuinely enjoy their jobs, consistently offering feedback and suggestions on how to help my son.

Jennifer Peyer

We have been working with the amazing team at NSPT for many years. They have been essential in understanding and supporting our child. I recommend their services to anyone looking for their specific type of support.Posted to

Monica Terése Carranza

They are so sweet and kinds persons with professionalism and really worried about the kids and how help they to get new skills and moving forward with knowledge.

Alejandra M.

NSPT is fantastic! All of the staff are wonderful, accomodating, and make you feel welcome and comfortable. Alan is fantastic - he has helped our family tremendously and has such patience and purpose in everything he does.

Alex Ehrhardt

North Shore Pediatric Therapy has been amazing.  They have done a great job adjusting to the specific needs of my autistic child.

Matt Nakanishi

My 12 yr old son has a lovely support team in Robert (Social Work) and Lindsay (OT)! He gains so much from his sessions & I gain so much from the communication and brainstorming! Thanks!

Jennie Meyer

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