Babies can stand without support from just three months of age

Most wobblers start to stand without support from around nine months old, but these enthusiastic Scandies say that infants can stand without support even before they are four months old.

Professors Hermundur Sigmundsson, Håvard Lorås, and Monika Haga, professors at Norwegian University of Science and Technology's departments of psychology and neuromedicine, say that three to five-month-old infants are capable of demonstrating signs of standing much earlier than us mums and dads might expect. Snorri Magnússon (pictured above with four-month-old Eva standing on his hand) teaches a baby swimming course in Iceland. Babies in the programme do various exercises, including standing in-hand and on a corkboard. Sigmundsson and his colleagues have used results from Magnússon's practice for a recently published article in Frontiers of Psychology. The babies are given the opportunity to stand as part of a 12-week baby swimming course, with twice weekly one hour sessions. Professor Sigmundsson says their progress was remarkable:

"With some training, children can stand even before they're four months old. The results are sensational compared to what we normally expect of children at this age."

Of the 12 children who participated in the course that the researchers studied, 11 managed to stand on their own for more than 15 seconds by the end of the sessions. The 12th baby also managed to stand for a good eight seconds and instructor Snorri says this is a common experience. An enthusiastic Professor Sigmundsson says that once the babies learn to stand, they don't forget how:

"On average, the children were four months old when they learned to stand without support. The youngest was only three months old. The study can provide us with more information about how we develop balance and the ability to control our movements. Practice also seems to work for the youngest among us. These children are practising how to stand. So they get good at it - very fast and very young. Children can do more than we think."

Sigmundsson points out that these findings correspond to other studies that he has conducted on maths skills; you get good at what you specifically practice, like algebra or equations, not mathematics in general. Hmm... We're just not sure we want an early stander in the house, thanks very much.