Which Baby Seat is Best?
Baby seats are very popular on baby registries and can be considered a “must have” for a lot of mommas-to-be. But what if I told you that baby seats can cause your munchkin to be delayed with achieving her movement milestones? What if I told you I get referrals for babies to begin physical therapy because some babies spend too much time in these seats? Let me explain.
In typical development, babies begin sitting at 6 months old. This is because babies need an entire 6 months of practice to gain the necessary strength and balance to be able to sit without help. When adults place a baby in a seat before the age of 6 months, it is considered a developmentally inappropriate position and can cause poor quality and quantity of movement, poor control of movement, poor strength, and delayed movement milestones. Here are the reasons why I consider baby seats a “no no” before a baby can sit independently:
Restriction of movement: These seats restrict movement at the pelvis, legs, and core in order to hold the munchkin in the sitting position. Restriction of movement causes babies to use their postural muscles less. Therefore, it can cause important muscle groups to be underdeveloped. This restriction of movement also causes babies to stop exploring new movement which is crucial for learning new, efficient movement.
Stops “failure” movements from taking place: Babies learn by repetition with successful and unsuccessful movements in order to master new movements. It is GOOD for a baby to lose her balance while attempting to sit (as long as she doesn’t get hurt while toppling over), or face plant into a soft surface while trying to go from a sitting position back down to the floor. These “failed” movements help babies learn how to better control their movement against gravity. Baby seats place a baby in one specific position and do not allow these important movement “failures” to take place.
Poor posture when in the seat: Most baby seats are not designed with optimal posture in mind. When a munchkin who is not capable of sitting by herself is placed in these seats, it typically allows the baby to rely on the structure of the seat for her posture. Optimal posture starts at the pelvis. If you slump in your seat with a rounded back, your body weight goes backwards towards your tailbone. This is called sacral sitting. Sacral sitting has many disadvantages, one being limited use of arm motion. Go ahead and try it: round your back and sit with poor posture and try to lift your arms up as high as you can. Now sit up with good posture and lift your arms up. Wasn’t it easier to lift your arms higher when you had better posture? The marketing of these baby seats suggests that your little one can work on hand and arm strength and coordination while sitting in the seat. It is very difficult to work on arm and hand strength while sacral sitting. Furthermore, it goes against the typical pattern of development of movement milestones.
Babies LOVE these seats: This may not initially sound like a bad thing, but hear me out. When I suggest that families decrease the use of their baby seats at home, parents always say, “But she LOVES to play in her seat!” Yes, babies (especially those around 4-6 months of age) absolutely love sitting up and playing with their mama or sibling because they become so social. However, the position that babies should be in and practicing at this stage is tummy time! (See my blog post on the importance of tummy time for more information). Once babies get a little time in these seats, they often hate tummy time more than before because the seat allowed them to be social and it is such an easier position to be in since the seat does all the hard work!
Now, this blog post is not meant to shame or guilt any parents or caregivers that have used these seats in the past or are currently using them. It is meant to educate parents so that each family can make informed decisions. Since becoming a mama myself, I have learned that there is so much grey area to parenting! Therefore, if you chose to use a seat, I would choose a floor seat over the Bumbo seat simply because the floor seats allow a tiny bit more mobility of the legs and the legs remain in contact with the floor rather than dangling in mid-air. I recommend no more than 15 minutes of time in these seats per day. If you need a safe place to put your munchkin while you shower or cook, these seats can be that safe place. Although there are other options, such as placing your munchkin in a pack n play, utilizing baby gates, or using the Boppy lounger...but let’s leave that for another post.
-Keep your munchkins moving! 👣
