My baby isn't sitting up on their own at 6 months, will a jumper or bouncer help them learn to sit and stand independently?
Babies do things on their own schedule. 6 months isn't super late, so just give it some time and keep showing them how to do stuff. They will get it. The jumpers and stationary seats don't teach a child do do anything, because the seat does it all for them. They don't learn to sit up, the seat holds them good enough to get to the toys, so why put more effort into doing it themselves? Same with the feet/legs. The seat keeps them at an easy place to just occasionally push against the floor or the device and bounce a bit. Yah! That's fun! But there's no real reason for them to actually use their own strength to stand, and they certainly don't have any reason to develop a sense of balancing on their own. Also, the seat positions their hips unnaturally, nothing like they'd need to stand or walk on their own.
Overall, these things should be used sparingly when you just need 10 minutes to yourself to do a task or similar, and only for fun, not to encourage any development. They should be set very low so the feet don't need to plantar flex (ballerina point) to do the fun jumping stuff, and you can even use them with the brace on. It's a little loud and potentially damaging to the floor with them jumping with the brace on, so a towel on the floor can lower the damage and volume.
There is no evidence that clubfoot kids who brace are behind in their gross motor skills at all, except a possible 2 month delay in walking. However that 2 month delay in walking was not attributed to bracing. It seems CF kids are just a little more hesitant than others sometimes.
And there ARE many CF kids who brace nearly full time or long hours who do things early, and even everything early. Just like the regular baby population, these milestones are achieved at a wide range of normal from super early to super late. And it's just how it goes for babies.
Patience will get you further with these things, and honestly just don't worry about them unless it's very clear to be an issue. If there was some reason they couldn't do the things normal babies do, then you'd likely know it by now. Not in all cases, of course. But generally they do tend to recognize these things early. Try to let it go for the present time, and I can guarantee that all of a sudden your child will be doing whatever it is that you were concerned about the week before. And then it'll happen again... and again... and so on.
You can read research on this subject here: https://nosurgery4clubfoot.com/studies/motor-skill...
