Did your baby sit unassisted before crawling?

[SarahBear]

Violet learned to crawl and sit at about the same time. Sitting was definitely NOT a pre-requisite to crawling for her. Leo isn't crawling or sitting unassisted, but he is rocking on hands and knees. He seems like he's about ready to take off. I'd be surprised if it takes until 6 months for him to crawl on hands and knees. As far as sitting goes, he's obviously got pretty good core strength as he can get up on all fours and rock pretty hard. He can't balance in a seated position though. So although it's earlier than Violet, he seems to be pretty similar to her in terms of sitting not coming before crawling (although we can't yet say for sure yet).

I'm wondering how sitting and crawling went for others. Did sitting come before crawling? Was it long before or shortly before for you? Did they come at the same time? Did crawling come first? What was your experience?

Everything I read says sitting is a prerequisite for crawling, but that's definitely not my experience with my children.

 

[whigfield]

Sitting definitely came before crawling for us, and he was sitting for a good 4 months before he crawled. He didn't crawl until 10 months though, and very little rocking on his hands and knees.

 

[Larkspur]

My son sat unassisted at 4.5 months, but as he didn't roll or crawl till 8 months (he was a chunky little nugget) I obviously had to help him to a sitting position in order for him to sit.

My daughter crawled at 5 months and was sitting unassisted by 6 months.

From my reading, crawling is a more natural predecessor to sitting, but because we place our babies into sitting positions, they usually sit first.

It makes sense to crawl first, really. First you roll, then you push up to hands and knees, then you push back to a sitting position.

 

[Kirsty3051]

Our son sat unassisted pretty early, maybe around 4-4.5 months. He lost what little interest he had in crawling when he realised he could stand up

 

[amelia26]

Babies who are left to develop their gross motor skills natural will often crawl before sitting. That's the more natural order but nowadays it's so common for parents to sit baby up before they can get into that position themselves. So they learn to balance like that. Some would argue that isn't actually the best thing for their development.

https://www.childrenchange.com/babies-moving-naturally/

 

[SoupDragon]

We pretty much never propped our DD into a sitting position unless we were cuddling her, and she spent plenty of time flapping and wiggling on the floor...she still learned to balance in a sitting position at 4.5 months, could get into a sitting position by herself by 5 months, and started crawling a few days before 6 months.

 

[_Meep_]

Babies are weird aren't they?!

Mine sat at 5.5 months, army crawled at 7.5, crawled at 8, pulled up and cruised at 9.5 and walked at 12, so pretty standard really, but I know of lots who have done it in a completely random order.

 

[Bevziibubble]

Babies who are left to develop their gross motor skills natural will often crawl before sitting. That's the more natural order but nowadays it's so common for parents to sit baby up before they can get into that position themselves. So they learn to balance like that. Some would argue that isn't actually the best thing for their development.

https://www.childrenchange.com/babies-moving-naturally/

This was an interesting read! Thanks for sharing

 

[Perplexed]

Dd sat unassisted at 8-9 months, and started tummy crawling at around 9 months or so.

 

[calm]

For one of my twins he never wanted to sit until the day he crawled. He then sat all the time, it all happened at once

 

[CaptainMummy]

Yes, all of mine sat early, 5/5/4months and crawled at 9.5/7/8months x

 

[StaceyKor]

Yes both of mine sat quite a while before they crawled. They were sitting before they were 4 months old (but actually sat themselves up from lying down at 6 months). Dd1 took another month to learn to crawl after this but dd2 started crawling a few days after xx

 

[MrsVenn]

DD sat unaided at 5 months, crawled at nearly 10 months for 2 weeks then went to cruising. She took her first unaided steps at 1 year and 2 weeks.

DS sat unaided at 5 months and is crawling already. Who knows when he'll walk but I have a horrid feeling it'll be before Christmas..

 

[SarahBear]

Babies who are left to develop their gross motor skills natural will often crawl before sitting. That's the more natural order but nowadays it's so common for parents to sit baby up before they can get into that position themselves. So they learn to balance like that. Some would argue that isn't actually the best thing for their development.

https://www.childrenchange.com/babies-moving-naturally/

What I didn't mention in my original post is that Violet could sit unassisted at 7.5 months, if placed in the position. It wasn't until 8 months that she could get herself there. I guess we mostly leave Leo to figure stuff like that out on his own, but I do pull him to sitting or occasionally prop him in a seated position. He isn't into it for too long, so I don't do it for too long. The only "baby seats" I have are the car seat and our baby rocker. I only use the car seat in the car. I don't take it out like so many people do. As for the rocker, it's not used for when he's alert and ready for play. If we try to use it at those sort of time, he tries to roll and push out of it. We also didn't push tummy time and let that develop naturally. Leo and Violet were primarily placed on their backs until they naturally learned to enjoy being on their tummies. I also didn't force the "back to sleep" thing as sleeping on my chest or next to me on their sides, felt much more natural to them.

So I guess that means I've let my kids develop naturally for the most part and it sounds like when you do that, most babies develop in the order that my first did and my second seems to be. Since I do occasionally prop Leo up, it will be interesting to see if he learns to balance in a seated position or crawl first. Crawling is bound to happen soon with how he's going lately!

 

[minties]

Thomas crawled just before 6 months and didn't sit until almost 8 months. He cruised well before he sat!

Sophie could sit briefly at 4 months, and solidly just before 6 months. She crawled about 8.5 months.

I've never heard that sitting has anything to do with crawling.

I used to try and prop Thomas to sit a lot more than I ever did with Sophie but it didn't 'make' him sit earlier.

 

[mel28nicole]

Ashlin could sit unassisted at 5.5 months. She was able to go from laying to sitting on her own at 8 months, which slowly transitioned to pulling up and THEN crawled 2 days shy of 9 months

 

[Buttercup84]

DD1 sat at 7 months and crawled at 10 months.
DD2 sat at 7 months and crawled at 6 months. She's always been much more interested in being mobile than sitting... Even now she's in a spica cast she's rarely still unless she's eating or asleep!

 

[rwhite]

My daughter is not yet at the stage where she can do either, but my son sat from about 5.5 months if I recall correctly, and crawled at almost 10 months

 

[amytrisha]

Sat at 5 months, crawled on hands and knees exactly a month later x

 

[SarahBear]

Leo can balance in "tripod" position, but it doesn't look terribly comfortable. He'd much rather be on his belly or his hands and knees!