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How can I save a crawler from falling backwards and hitting his head? If I carry him till his back and neck can support his head weight will he learn to sit?
We keep him on a rug on the floor when he learns to crawl, and I keep pillows on all four sides too. Still he moves and falls where there is no pillow; he moves off of the rug and falls.
I can't sit with him all day and hold him when he falls. How do you save a 7 months from falling?
He will get the hang of it with time and practice so give him the opportunity to learn. He needs to get the feeling of balance to stay upright and to build up muscle strength.
Until he has learnt, I don't think you can do much more than you already are. We did the same with our son, putting cushions around to protect him but occasionally he did fall elsewhere. As long as he doesn't fall heavily onto a very hard surface, it's unlikely to do much damage from sitting height. At 7 months you can't really leave him unattended for long periods anyway and I'm sure he will let you know if he gets a bump.
For you, it's good practise for getting the balance between how much to protect him and how much to give him the freedom to develop. In a few more months he'll be walking where he'll fall from higher and survive and there will be many more situations after that where you'll have to make a judgement of when to step in and when to leave him to it. This is a relatively harmless situation to try allowing him a bit of independence.
Our four-month old can now sit up unattended. We tend to put her on a quilt on a carpeted floor with a V-shaped pillow behind her and a couple of toys to pick up (which she normally attempts to eat - but of course they are too big). With this set up she won't seriously hurt herself whichever direction she falls (and you're right, it can be in any direction of the 360°!). Remain in earshot and you'll hear if he ends up in an uncomfortable position.
I am curious how your baby is crawling before being able to support his head. If he is crawling, then I suppose you also need to consider that he might escape. If he can't support his head yet though, he won't be able to sit unaided.
