Comments on: Restoring Mobility Helps Baby Learn To Sit

By: janet

janet — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 03:25:18 +0000

In reply to Dawn Margolin. Thank you so much, Dawn!

By: Dawn Margolin

Dawn Margolin — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:38:10 +0000

Beautifully put and so positive and inspiring, Janet!!

By: ErinB2011

ErinB2011 — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 03:45:11 +0000

I’m so relieved to read this!!! I had almost the same experience as this writer. I only discovered RIE philosophy a few weeks ago and have been trying to incorporate aspects of it into my parenting. It really resonates with me and I find that I have already been doing a lot of the things suggested for emotional development, but I never really considered the physical development side of things in this respect. I, too, had been propping my baby up to sit, thinking it was the right thing to do. Since learning of RIE’s viewpoints on gross motor development, I stopped doing this during floor play. Well, wouldn’t you know it…she has just started getting herself into the sitting position all on her own!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 05:04:32 +0000

I am in the same boat :(. Just now finding this… Wish I had found it earlier! My son is 8.5 months old and his mobility completely stopped at 6 months when we started propping him. I am wanting to start by going to the back again- but he always does the crunch thing and gets frustrated. Please help! Any tips would be wonderful.

By: Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 00:35:46 +0000

I am just finding this now when researching crawling. My daughter is 8 months and showing little signs of mobility. She was rolling and sleeping on her side at 3 1/2 months in her crib and then pushing up on her tummy and spinning herself in a circle. At 6 months when she could sit (if we put her that way) without a prop it all stopped. She immediately rolls to her back when placed on her tummy and then cries, she does the ab crunch and constantly wants to stand/walk assisted by us. She tries to pull up on our bodies and everything else but all other mobility has ended. Why is sitting a milestone at 6 months? I never knew this either. I’m already dealing with a lot of whining from refusing to help her stand. Do I know place her on her back for play? She plays very well on her own sitting but I want to encourage mobility again. Thanks!

By: corinne

corinne — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 15:37:35 +0000

I’m in the same spot as phillipa, only my ds is 13 months old… what can we do?

By: phillipa

phillipa — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 23:51:28 +0000

I feel so bad. My baby is now 15mo and he props on his bottom. His pediatrician has been checking his column and motor skills since the beginning and always said that there’s nothing wrong and that he will get to walk eventually. Now I’ve been laying him and of course he hates it and cries his eyes out. He rolls and rotates and lifts head writhing straight arms off the ground so I think hes strong. But eventually he prefers the on his back position and doesn’t try to sit. Even though he goes everywhere on his bottom and he enjoys being held to walk, he never tried to stand on his own holding on to things. He does push himself up when its our hands. I’m going to see the pediatrician again and make sure she knows that he can’t sit on his own (maybe she didn’t get it?) and ask for therapy immediately. Can you please advise me?

By: Jen Nickel

Jen Nickel — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 04:12:07 +0000

Ok – so our baby (due to some prenatal issues from her birth mom) was born with some hypertonicity. Now, I have 7 kids – I have had later walkers (17 months) and the rest of my kids were roughly a year. Our wee one is my first child I have used NO equipment with. No bumbos, no swings, no bouncy chairs. We baby wear a lot. She has always, always loved her tummy time. She rolled by 3 months both ways with no assistance and with motivation to move. She was fully crawling by 5 months and went from crawling to sitting independently within 2 days. She has NEVER been propped – not once. Mostly because I never had to. She has self taught herself everything (possibly more motivated because of the older siblings?) Anyways, she is now 7 months old and actively cruising. She is a speedy crawler, pulls up on anything and everything, and has stood independently a couple of times. She is very petite – strong, and blissfully happy. Also, she is very active and way more “advanced” physically than any of my other kids were at this age. Is this doing something wrong? Right? Her PT told me infants should NOT be walking before 12 months if we are doing things right, but she is WAY ahead of the curve.

By: Nora

Nora — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 14:28:00 +0000

I’ve heard about RIE for a while, but just recently have started to focus on it in a more serious way. I stumbled upon this site and post and am feeling a little overwhelmed/worried. My husband and I and my in laws have been putting our boy in a sitting position for a while now (he’s 7.5 months). He can’t get into sitting on his own, although he does go from sitting to tummy. We’ve also recently started pulling him up into standing which he loves. He can sometimes pull up to standing from sitting on his own, but more often we are putting him/holding him in a standing position.

Just this morning I tried to leave him on his back/belly and let him roll around for playtime, and he lost it. So much crying. What am i supposed to do? Let him cry? Try to find interesting toys to distract him? I can’t exactly explain to him why I am doing what i am doing (I tried).

By: Danielle

Danielle — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 04:33:47 +0000

Aww Sheri! You sound extremely concerned and I don’t want to minimise that. However your baby will be fine, I promise! She sounds as if she’s coming along wonderfully, and you need to FORGIVE yourself, take a deep breathe and move ahead.
Your LO is lucky to have such a sensitive and caring mama 🙂

The only suggestion that I would say is maybe take baby outside with a blanket just for a change of scenery and have some good times, soaking in the sun and breeze and doing nothing 🙂

In about a year or so you will be emailing Janet about your toddler wanting to climb out the windows or something crazy and you will look back at this short period in time and smile 🙂