Babies Learn Better When Sitting Up

Most babies learn to sit up unsupported between four and seven months. This physical milestone has a dramatic impact on their mental development, according to a recent study in Developmental Psychology. By giving your baby ample opportunity to sit up, either alone or well supported in an infant seat, you may be encouraging your little one to learn.

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Opening the Door to Learning

The study looked at how babies develop object individuation—the ability to mentally separate out the distinct objects that make up a visual scene. As adults, we take it for granted that a ball and the hand holding it are distinct objects. But that’s something we had to learn early in life.

Once babies get the hang of object individuation, it opens up a whole world of things for them to explore. A key step in the process is learning to differentiate objects by pattern—for example, to be able to tell the difference between a ball with spots and one with stripes.

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Babies Sit Up and Take Notice

In the study, researchers from North Dakota State University and Texas A&M studied how five- and six-month-olds use patterns to differentiate objects. At the start of the study, the babies didn’t spontaneously use patterns this way. But the six-month-olds got the hang of it after having a chance to look at, touch, and mouth balls with spots or stripes. If they dropped or threw the ball out of reach, an experimenter retrieved it and handed it back to them.

The five-month-olds didn’t catch on as readily. Researchers suspected that was because the six-month-olds were better at sitting up. This freed up their hands to reach for the balls, grasp them, touch them, and explore them with their mouths. Also, because the six-month-olds didn’t have to focus as hard on staying upright, they could pay more attention to the objects at hand.

To test this theory, the researchers repeated the experiment with four- and five-month-olds. None were sitting alone yet, but half were put in infant seats that provided good support. This time, the five-month-olds mastered using patterns to differentiate objects. The four-month-olds didn’t, however, suggesting that their developing brains weren’t quite ready to make that conceptual leap.

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Parents’ Takeaway

It may make little difference whether most babies learn to differentiate a ball with spots from one with stripes at five months, six months, or seven. But knowing what to look for so you can watch your baby’s developing mind unfold is a joy for any parent.

Maximizing learning may be more important for a baby with significant developmental delays. For example, the study suggests that a baby who is very late to sit up may miss some learning opportunities. But giving the baby a chance to sit up in a sturdy infant seat and providing safe objects for the baby to grab, hold, and mouth could go a long way toward making up for that.

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