Since a while back, we have been helping him learn to sit upright, starting from an assisted position (e.g. holding him, lying with back onto sofa) to an unassisted one. The Pooh Bear playmat is a good choice for him to practise the unassisted sitting position since it’s firm yet protective against falls.

We are always nearby to protect him when he falls

During the practices, we always ensure he’s well within our reach to support him in case he loses his balance or falls over. We are also using toys such as our mini piano and the ocean gym to attract his attention while he is seated.

Today, he has made unexpected progress as he began to learn how to support and balance himself while in the unassisted sitting position. Sometimes, his hands would reach out and hold on to his legs for support. Other times, he would push his hands onto the mat for balance. Most of the time when he would lose his balance is when he began to fall backwards, which he has yet found a way to counter the loss of balance.

According to Baby Center:

Babies develop skills differently, some more quickly than others, but head control is essential to sitting independently, and sitting is the key to crawling, standing, and learning to walk.

Darius has been having strong head control since one or two months back, since he’s always turning his head and looking at things while he is being held up with his head over our shoulders. Also, he has started to perform mini-pushups while on a tummy down position. That’s why we thought it was a good time for him to start sitting up, and gladly he has been showing great interest in his newfound position.

Below is a video we have captured this afternoon, showing him balancing himself in a sitting position for more than half a minute:

Hopefully as he will get more and more stable sitting unassisted, so that we will be able to introduce more activities and toys for his learning. ^^

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