# HELP! 6 Month old pulling himself up on furniture



## nudhistbudhist (Jan 13, 2009)

As we speak, Skyy is pulling himself up on my computer chair







He started crawling at 5.5 months, and two days later, he pulled himself up on his toy box. Then, he grabbed a toy with both hands (let go of the toy box) and smacked his head. This took about 2.2 seconds to transpire, I barely had time to understand what I was seeing, let alone react! Since that day, he has done the same thing again and again, all over the house, and keeps hitting his head. Even if I'm right there, I can't always catch him fast enough. Yesterday he was trying to climb the stairs. Now when gets up on things, he lets go with one hand, and pivots around to grab another piece of furniture. He has NO FEAR!!! I tried removing things that he could easily use to get up, but we have log walls, and he uses the knots as hand holds and gets up anyways.

SO I guess what I'd like to know is:

Do babies who are OLDER and start doing this fall a lot too, or is it because he's younger?

Should I be discouraging this, or following his lead? I've been doing some of both. The only reason i sometimes discourage it is because I'm worried about him hitting his head so much. We have hard wood floors.

If I follow his lead and help him, will this help him learn better co-ordination, or is he too young?

When I DO help him, I have been sitting behind him, and when he lets go, i've been letting him plunk down hard on his bum, I just stop him from tipping over. I kinda think this is the right way to go, because If I stop him from landing hard on his bum, he might start to think there are no consequences to letting go. What do you think?


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Another MDC mama described moving pillows behind her LO when he started cruising young. She was doing her dissertation and would just keep adjusting the pillows as he went. And he's fine now, no damage, so that must've worked.


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## nudhistbudhist (Jan 13, 2009)

I was doing originally, but now that he tries to pivot and grab other furniture, he trips on it. I guess we will have to get him a helmet! Just kidding


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## NJ*Doula (Apr 14, 2006)

You could get him a helmet, actually. They make padded helmets for beginning walkers.


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## claddaghmom (May 30, 2008)

Yeah I was going to recommend a helmet too.

When I first saw them being advertised I cracked up thinking of all those helicopter parents. But after I barely caught my 2 week old as she was rolling off the changing table I realized the adventerous babies need all the help we can give them to survive to childhood lmao.


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## EzzysMom (Mar 24, 2008)

MY baby walked at 8 months, when she started to scare us about this stuff, we got a nice padded rug so she wouldn't bonk so hard and had her play on a yoga type mat.


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## Materfamilias (Feb 22, 2008)

My just-turned-7-month old is doing the same thing as the OP's son. I've been spotting her so she doesn't fall or so that she doesn't hit her head. I have used yoga mats too, but they just don't cushion her head enough for me (or her, the few times she's bonked her head








). I'm not sure at this age that they can understand the consequences of letting go. I'd love to hear more from people who've BTDT.
ETA: I suppose I could stack TWO yoga mats. hmmmm


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## OkiMom (Nov 21, 2007)

DD1 was an early crawler/cruiser/walker and there were some scary moments when she first started out (and later on as well). I just followed her lead and tried to make sure she had something soft to fall on. Shes one to always get herself into sticky situations and I found it was better that I had shown her how to get out of them than trying to stop her from doing them in the first place.

It does get better after a few weeks. Then the climbing starts, there are reasons I started to call my toddler a monkey at 8 months.


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## ihugtrees (Oct 16, 2008)

I used to nanny for a little boy who started doing the same thing at 6-7 months. They had this floor(I don't know what kind it was, but it was more or less as hard as concrete. It looked like the floor in the grocery store) and when he hit his head on it, you could feel it! It was so horrible! As soon as he started doing this, I basically never was more than a foot or two away from him. If I left the room to go to the bathroom or whatever, I would put him in his Pack N Play or his bouncy chair...but that was my job, what I was getting paid to focus on. I imagine as a mommy with lots of other things to do, this would be hard!

I always thought that if they corralled him in one area with a gate (one of those play yard things?), they could put cushy mats down with his toys and such. Of course, I'd never leave him there alone for long...just when I needed to be doing something else for a few minutes at a time.

Thankfully, this stage lasted briefly. He soon became very steady on his feet and would only fall if he tripped on something. However, then he figured out the stairs up out of the playroom, so I still couldn't leave him alone!!


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Materfamilias* 
My just-turned-7-month old is doing the same thing as the OP's son. I've been spotting her so she doesn't fall or so that she doesn't hit her head. I have used yoga mats too, but they just don't cushion her head enough for me (or her, the few times she's bonked her head







). I'm not sure at this age that they can understand the consequences of letting go. I'd love to hear more from people who've BTDT.
ETA: I suppose I could stack TWO yoga mats. hmmmm

Or an actual exercise mat. The Reebok mat we got from Target protects against hardwood floors--although so far it's only been from sitting height. Also cushy for my spine when I do crunches, and she'll probably be able to do somersaults on it when she's older.


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## JBaxter (May 1, 2005)

Well my 4th boy is 4 months and just starting to sit up. I generally leave them alone. No helmets no pillows mats etc. If they take a tumble its only what 2 feet? Babies get bumps and bruises its part of them learning. If you put a helmet on them they are more top heavy.
I have 3 other children and a house to take care of there is no way I can be behind a baby all day long.

Follow their lead let them crawl pull up climb and explore its how they learn at this age.


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## Super~Single~Mama (Sep 23, 2008)

No experience as a parent myself yet, but I know that I did everything early. That includes climbing up ONTO the kitchen table, grabbing the light fixture above it, and SWINGING from it at 10 months old!!

My dad moved the light fast - I really hope my baby isn't doing that at 10 months!


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## Dreamy (Jun 1, 2007)

DS started pulling up a couple of months ago, and I was pretty much behind him all the time, ready to catch.

When he let go, I helped him sit down. One day I found that he was lowering himself down just the way I had shown him! So, letting him fall to learn the consequences was not necessary in our case, he learned with my teaching instead.

When I needed to go to the bathroom, etc, I put him in his PnP with a fun toy.

Now he's gotten very steady on his feet, and when he falls, he generally bends his knees and lands on his butt, so I'm more comfortable being a little farther away. He's only faceplanted twice (ouch).


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## geenaleigh (Dec 9, 2008)

this sounds just like my lo. we have hard wood floors too. He fell over
all the time. I tried the pillows around him and he tripped just like you
said. I was always right with him when he was trying to stand up. He
eventually learned to sit himself back down without falling over. He did
fall and hit his head pretty bad once and we took him to ER. No major
damage though. We just had to keep him in his exersaucer or walker
if we couldn't be on the floor with him. He is now 10 months and starting
to walk! A whole new adventure!


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## Alathia (Nov 18, 2005)

is this your first? I remember being a lot more cautious with my first son as well.

Both my sons are movers and shakers. DS1 started pulling up at 7 months and ran at 9 months, never looking back. We had a lot of scrapes and falls. In fact, we spent one summer where he constantly fell and scraped his face, and he also fell 6' over the bed railing in his bunk bed onto the floor. We've taken him to the ER numerous times but he's resilient with no damages. It's easier when they first begin the cruising because, as another poster put it, they don't have that far to fall, you know?

DS2 is a little older than your son, stood by himself at 6 months and took his first steps at 6.5 months (last week!) Needless to say, we're scrambling to child proof and make sure that in the hardwood floor areas there's at least a rug or a yoga mat behind him as he crashes down from being unsteady on his feet. Since we've been on this path with DS1 we're a lot more laid back with this one. He's had a lot of falls, but nothing major yet *knock on wood*. Like I said, kids are pretty resilient and as long as he's not being bounced on a hard floor I think it'll be ok.







hope that helps, good luck mama!


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