Learning to sit: Tripod Position

Once your baby’s neck and trunk muscles are strong enough, he’ll be ready to learn to sit up independently.

Although you can prop or support your baby in a sitting position by around three months, independent sitting doesn’t begin until your baby has sturdy head control and strong trunk and abdominal muscles to keep his head and spine in an upright, aligned position. Starting at about four months, your baby’s neck and head muscles strengthen rapidly through play, and he’ll learn to raise and hold his head up while lying on his stomach. That tummy time is important to strengthen the arm, shoulder and neck muscles that are needed for propping himself up in the sitting position, and later, to help with crawling.

At four months, your baby may have been able to prop himself up on his bent forearms for short periods of time, and at five months, he can probably push himself straight up with unbent arms and hold his chest off the ground, like a little pushup. Once he can do this, he probably also has the muscle strength to be able to practice a Tripod Sit.

Tripod Sitting is the term used for a baby who is sitting, but uses his arms as the tripod, the third “leg of the stool” to keep his body upright. Sit with your baby on a carpet or foam play mat and help position his legs with his knees pointing out toward the sides, and his feet several inches apart. Tripod sitting is also called “ring sitting” because the legs form an open ring position. This position gives him a wider base of support for more stability. Help him position his arms within the “ring” of his legs in the front, so he’s leaning slightly forward propped up on his hands.

His head is still heavy, so when tired, he’ll probably “melt” forward toward his feet, essentially folding himself in half – it looks quite uncomfortable to adults but babies don’t seem to mind much – and will either play with his toes, or end up rolling to one side and onto his back. When practicing tripod sitting and being distracted by someone walking by him in the room, he may turn his head to watch, and even that small movement may take him off balance, and over he’ll tumble!

As he practices tripod sitting at six months, you’ll see that the more you practice, the longer he’s able to maintain the position… until he decides to pick his hands up to reach for a toy or put his hands in his mouth. Then, over he will go. But after several weeks of tripod sitting, you’ll begin to see that he can lift first one hand, then both for short periods and still remain upright. Watch and notice that he is developing a sense of balance – as he feels himself tip to one side, does he begin to use that arm to stabilize himself back into an upright position? Exciting!

TLDR: Most babies can sit with support or tripod sit by the end of six months, and can sit well without support by eight months. Tummy time doesn’t go away, it transitions into floor time and is important for muscle development.