How to stengthen arms?

[mtmom30]

My daughter is 7 months old.  She can roll, sit, and almost stand independently.  However, she doesn't crawl, nor does she know how to get into a sitting position from her tummy.  I know all babies develop at their own pace.  However, I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to help her learn these skills?  She seems to have weak arms (probably because she loves to stand and sit so much).  Is there anything I can do to help her strengthen her upper body?

TIA

[Erin M]

Do you put her down on her tummy frequently?  Maybe if you did that and gave her something to do/look at while she was on her tummy she might be more inclined to push up with her arms.  If you're really concerned about it, I would check with your pediatrician, but some babies never do crawl and maybe your DD is one of those that will go straight to walking. 

[maggieruth]

hiya!
i wouldn't worry about not crawling as your dd is only 7 months.  what you could do is more tummy time like Erin says.  you could even do this with her for some of the time and try holding toys up higher or farther so that she is reaching farther with one arm and balancing over the other arm (try holding things higher if she starts rolling to your strategically placed toys!)
Also more sitting time could be helpful, again lots of leaning out over one arm for toys to build up her arm strength and balance.  as she gets really good at this, the positions she adopts will be more like a hands and knees position.  working on her strength and balance over her arms in sitting will give her the incentive to lower herself down (possibly via her hands and knees) and then she just has to figure out how to repeat the process to sit up! (my ds only got this this week!)
lastly, you may want to slow down with standing for a bit and only allow her into positions that she can maintain by herself.  that way she can enjoy her upright postures in sitting and work harder at the arm strength she needs to hold and stabilise (and catch!) herself with when she progresses to standing
HTH! 

[mtmom30]

Thanks for those suggestions!  I'm not really worried about her, I just wish I could help her become stronger because she desperately wants to go places but can't get up off her belly yet.  I didn't give her much tummy time until recently, so I'm pretty sure that's why her upper body is weak.  I feel guilty about that now.  I used to bring her to work with me because I didn't have a sitter or daycare and I'd always promise her/myself that she'd get lots of tummy time tomorrow...  Well, suddenly she's 7 months old and only just beginning to enjoy playing on her tummy.

[maggieruth]

you know, even if you HAD been super consistent with tummy time you STILL might have struggled.  Ethan (ds) had weeks when he LOVED tummy time and would get there himself and weeks where my placing him on his tummy drove him to despair!  what a lovely treat going to work with mummy would have been tho! (i have a nursery attending kid!)
the good thing is its a brilliant age to start!  she knows enough about the world that she will be motivated to reach for toys and play (probably with you closeby) so that tummy time won't be utter torment!  good luck and let us know how you are doing!

[Erin M]

Definitely don't feel guilty about the lack of tummy time, Katie didn't get much until around 6-7 months because she just hated it before then and would scream.  You'll be surprised how quickly they develop that upper body strength.