Conference moira::parenting_v3

    Lori,
    
    I wouldn't worry about it .... and I would take the Dr.'s saying "He
    will be sitting up soon" as a means to soothe you, NOT set
    expectations!   Neither of my boys did much of anything till they were
    about 9 months old.  Christopher didn't crawl till he was 15 months old
    and didn't walk till he was 17 months old.  Jason started crawling at
    about 10 mos, walking at 13 months.  EVERY time they went for a checkup
    (and were clearly behind 'average'), the Dr would say "Well, sometime
    soon", while it was never soon, it was sometime.  What they were mostly
    concerned with was that the boys were developing the strength to be
    able to perform these functions, that they just lacked the dexterity.
    We used to sit them on the couch and prop throw pillows under their
    arms just to kind of get them used to sitting up (it made us feel
    better seeing them like that too (-:).  Give it more time.  Pretty soon
    you'll be wishing he couldn't move again!! (TRUST ME! (-:)
    
    Patty
    

    The following is a paraphrased version of the pedi's conversation with
    me at Laura's 6 month checkup:
    
    	Is she sitting up?			No
    
    	Is she rolling over?			No
    
    	Does she stand supported?		No
    
    Made me feel like my child was a slug.  However, this weekend (at one
    day short of her 8th month birthday) she started crawling forwards and
    now there's no stopping her.  Her older sister didn't crawl (fanny in
    the air) until 11 months.  
    
    The translation of the pediatric "soon" is more "inevitably in the
    reasonably near future" rather than "immediately imminent".
    
    Don't take the averages too seriously; there are large deviations which
    are well within the norm.
    
    LZP
    

    Hi Lori.  My daughter just turned 7 months.  Sometime during the 6
    months stage, she sat up on her own, started crawling, and was able to
    stand up supported.  She is also now able to go in more than one
    direction in her walker.  This does not mean she is ahead or behind
    other children.  Every baby develops on their own so don't worry. 
    There is a baby in my daycare that is 1 week older than Jackie and she
    was crawling, sitting, pulling herself up, etc at the 4 1/2 - 5 month
    stage.  Yours will start doing these things when she is ready.
    
    Mary

I noticed that my daughter Michelle liked to be propped
in a sitting position I think at about 4 months because 
she got a different view!  Then when she was just under
5 months I started sitting on the floor with my legs
outstretched making a 90 degree angle and put Michelle
between my thighs.  She could sit up without touching me
for about 10 seconds but with my legs practically all
around her she could sit there for quite a long time.
About a week later, she didn't need me anymore but I
would put a pillow behind her in case she fell backward.
You might try that if your baby likes to sit up but
needs help.

Now Michelle is a pro at sitting up and playing with and
reaching for toys around her at 6.5 months.  But she
only just learned to roll over back to tummy a few days
ago and doesn't seem interested in crawling at all.  She
also does not say any consonant sounds but I am not
worried about any of these milestones since I've heard
so many stories about how babies vary from the averages.

Kyra

    
    Oh gosh, I wouldn't start worrying yet!  Spencer didn't sit up on his
    own until he was 7 mos, crawled at 11 1/2 months and didn't walk until
    15 1/2 months!  I don't think I ever saw him roll over on his own until
    one night I went in to check on him and he was on his back!  Oh, I
    thought, he'll never be able to get back on his tummy, so I rolled him
    over.  I did this for a couple of nights until my husband said, maybe
    he likes it on his back,leave him alone!  So I did, and the next
    morning he was back on his tummy.  I guess he knew how to roll over but
    I never saw it!!!
    
    

    I wouldn't worry about it either.  My daughter who is just about to
    turn 9 months is just now sitting up on her own.  I used to fell like
    she was "behind" and that other babies were way ahead of her.  Kelsey
    is a very busy baby and was to involved in everything else that was
    going on around her.  She now crawls, sits, and is pulling herself up. 
    All this came together in a months time.  She doesn't really even sit
    with her legs out front.  She sits on her legs, like is she is kneeling.
    
    :)
                                      
    Kris

    I think James was almost 8 months before he got corners on his bottom.
    He mastered rolling over, back to tummy and back again, a couple of
    weeks later.  Then we were at a plateau for a few months while he
    "consolidated his gains," so to speak.  He didn't walk till 14 months,
    and I would say he did not "solo" smoothly till he was closer to
    16-17 months.  (As an aside:  My friend's little boy (1 year younger
    than James) walked at 9 months, as did she and her husband.  "Didn't
    you want James to walk earlier?" Denise said to me.  "Hell, no," I
    said.  "I want him to have some common sense to go with it!")
    
    Check with your respective mothers.  A lot of this "when do they
    sit up/roll over/crawl/walk" is genetically based.  In other words,
    if you sat alone at 7 months and your spouse/SO sat alone at 9 months,
    don't expect your kid to do it any earlier than 7 months or so, even
    if s/he *IS* the smartest kid in the world! :-)

    	Lori,
    
    	I was wondering the same thing.  Matthew turned six months on 12/24
    	and is still not sitting up.  He seems anxious about it, but like
    	yours, he keeps toppling over...In my "What to Expect for the First
    	Year" book, it says somewhere between 6-7 months is the norm.  He's
    	been rolling over back and forth since he was about 4 months.  He's
    	all over the crib at night.  I can't believe some of the positions
    	he get himself into.  
    
    	Another question I have.  Matthew is now doing the usual babbling..
    	da da da da....ma ma ma ma....ba ba ba ba....Do they really 
    	associate these words with what they mean?  I do mimic him when
    	he says the words and help him to understand what they mean.
    
	Ellen

Matt was able to sit up by himself at about 6 months and 1 week.

He never learned to crawl.  He walked (totally unaided) at 11� months.

As for rolling over, I can't really say. He never rolled over at home for a
LONG time. Finally I mentioned some concern to my daycare provider, and she
told he he had been rolling over there for quite sometime.

� �ori �

    Like Lori, I found out that Jason was rolling over at daycare long
    before I ever saw it.  He was rolling over there at about 3 months.
    
    He sat by himself at 6-1/2 months.  He could not get to a sitting
    position by himself however.   That didn't come until he was
    able to crawl - which was almost 11 months old!   He was standing
    unassisted and walking with one hand help at 10-1/2 months though.
    Strange!
    
    He walked unassisted a couple of weeks after his first birthday.
    
    To the basenoter:  try not to worry about your 5 month old not
    sitting.   You tend to hear alot about the infants that do things
    toward the early side of the curve and not alot about the ones
    that do things on the late side of the curve....but they're out
    there and they're perfectly "normal"!!!
    
    Carol

    David didn't sit up or roll over until around 6 or 7 months, which
    I found quite alarming since my two oldest were early walkers. 
    And he wasn't even crawling well at 9 months, was very wobbly
    trying to stand, couldn't pull himself up on chairs . . .
    
    And was all of a sudden walking all over the place at 11 months. 
    Sheesh.  Took off running within three weeks of the first time he
    stood by himself.
    
    Dunno.  Just took him a while to get the hang of it.
    
    --bonnie

    Chase is my third child.  The first two did everything much sooner than
    him.  He didn't roll over or sit up unassisted until 8 months old!  At
    checkups when the doctor would ask "Is he doing this yet?", or "Is he
    doing that yet?" I always felt kind of embarrassed to say "No, not
    yet."  I think to cover himself, the doctor suggested a visit to a
    developmental specialist at Children's Hosptial in Washington, DC. 
    Boy, did I feel foolish having this seemingly perfect baby in my arms
    when so many others were there with babies and toddlers in various
    forms of braces.  After visiting the hospital on two occasions (2
    months apart), it was determined that Chase was on the slower end of
    normal.
    
    He didn't crawl until his 1st birthday, and was 17 months old when he
    decided to walk!
    
    Bottom line is that they are ALL different!!!  BTW, he was also slower
    to talk, but at 2 1/2, you should see the concepts and the words that
    he puts together!  (And he can spot the DEC logo anywhere!!!)...
    
    In retrospect, because he didn't crawl or walk until the later months,
    my husband and I didn't have to follow him around as soon!
    
    Good luck with yours!
    
    Dale

    The last couple of replies have mentioned third children doing
    things at later times than their older siblings.  Could this
    be due to the fact that the older siblings do more and/or 
    interpret more for their little brother/sister delaying
    the "need" for them to learn a skill?   Anyone else notice this
    trend (if it is indeed a trend)?
    
    Carol

    Well, to continue to digress, we noticed it a lot with our 2nd child
    versus our 1st.  The 1st talked VERY well by his 2nd birthday.  The 2nd
    will be 3 next month and still doesn't talk as well as his older
    brother did at two.  Why?  He didn't HAVE to.  Chris (older) could
    interpret everything that Jason was trying to say/do.  No need, no
    effort.  On the OTHER hand ... Jason developed physically and less
    fearfully sooner than Chris.  I think he was trying to get around as
    much as his brother, and there is nothing he won't try.  It's never
    occurred to him that there are some things that he shouldn't be able to
    do because he's smaller.  He sees his brother do it and so he repeats.
    
    Works both ways, I guess!!