Development can be viewed as a journey over a series of stepping stones

Moving across the stepping stones brings the infant to the major milestones of sitting, crawling, and walking. Each stepping stone represents a new level of skill with greater strength, coordination and balance demands. 

Learning to sit independently without support is an important  milestone for an infant.  Infants who have learned to sit get an altogether different view of the world they inhabit, start to use their hands for more complicated reach and grasp activities and communication and also start to vocalize more which is the start of learning their first words. 

The learning to sit journey starts in the first weeks after birth when the infant starts to hold up the head briefly when supported in the erect position, and continues as the infant sits on carer's laps and in infant seats. Most infants will learn to sit at around 8-10 months.  Premature infants and those with joint hypermobility and low muscle tone may only sit 1-2 months later. 

Stepping stones on the learning to sit journey

Take a look at the stages in learning to sit and identify how far has your infant has traveled along the learning to sit path.