Letting LO pull up to stand

urbanflowerpot · August 2011

Here's one I haven't heard mentioned before - have you? I saw my mom today at my brother's wedding. DH was letting DS stand on his lap while holding his hands. My mom said she'd been meaning to tell me not to do that - that they shouldn't practice that until they're ready and trying to do that on their own.

Hmmmm.

I said he was supposed to be building his strength that way, etc, and yes, the pedi and his fleet of NICU folks approve.

Has anyone heard this before?

My mom is super-sweet, never judgemental, not over-bearing, nothing like that...which is why this was so out of the blue. Her father was an OB & Chief of Surgery so again, another reason why I was o_O

Deblondie1 · August 2011

The OT told us to try to refrain from doing this too often bc preemies' legs and back are already stronger than their upper body and core. She was saying that if it's done too often then the existing imbalance won't get corrected. Maybe that is where your mom was going w that? Otherwise IDK

katie4253 · August 2011

Deblondie1:
The OT told us to try to refrain from doing this too often bc preemies' legs and back are already stronger than their upper body and core. She was saying that if it's done too often then the existing imbalance won't get corrected. Maybe that is where your mom was going w that? Otherwise IDK

I've heard this too.

SushiNoMore · August 2011

I've never heard it before, although the previous posters seem to have some good perspective on it. My pediatrician said that he stands like that to build his core strength to get him ready to sit. So, now we're practicing sitting, and he seems to be doing fine with that. He's good at tummy time, too, and has been pushing up into the pushup position at times.

Basically, I think the standing thing has worked for our little guy, but I don't have any insight into whether that's what we're "supposed" to do." He LOVES standing and would get all fussy if we were just trying to let him sit on our laps.

JakesBride07 · August 2011

Every OT/PT we've dealt with said it was ok to do that as long as we were still focusing on other strength building exercises too. I've got one who likes to stand and will try to pull up and one who doesn't like to bear a lot of weight on her legs/feet.

meldoo2002 · August 2011

I think it depends on the child. It's really important for him to be working on tummy time, rolling, crawling, and sitting right now. Some babies, especially preemies, prefer to use an extensor pattern reflex that makes them stiff and outward (standing/walking) versus inward (sitting/crawling). If he only stands a few min./day it's one thing, but if that's his preferred position I'd say to try to limit it. Also our PT will advise against anything like a jumperoo or exersaucer until they are able to sit on their own because those also help the child get in to extension patterns which you don't want.

urbanflowerpot · August 2011

I'd written a response last night, but I think the storm ate it up

We don't do this a significant amount...like maybe a couple times a day for 10 seconds. He's on his belly a ton (as tolerated) and has no PT/OT concerns. My mom had said -ever- as in don't ever, that should be child-initiated, etc. Who knows Confused

Thinking that was just her parenting style and not something detrimental. When DS was 2 mo and 0 adjusted the drs at his "Special Babies" appt asked if he was walking straight. I was like, uhm he doesn't walk at all! Then they held him by the waist and guided him forward and said, yeah, straight.

lemen99 · August 2011

I think in moderation, is probably okay, but babies develop in an order for a reason - first arms/core for crawling, later muscles required to stand/walk!

st.augbride · August 2011

Our PT specifically has us doing this with ds every day for a little bit, but he wasn't wanting to bear weight on his feet at all at first. Now he loves it and is great at standing when we help him or he leans on something. It's one of the many things we work on though.

Letting LO pull up to stand

Re: Letting LO pull up to stand

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