Crawling: More than just a way of moving around the house

Most babies begin to crawl between the ages of six – 10 months. At nearly nine months old, Brayden is not quite crawling yet. He’s super close – belly scooting/combat crawling and getting up on his hands and knees to rock back and forth – but not quite able to incorporate movement while up on all fours.  We have been encouraging him to crawl with ongoing praise, moving toys just far enough out of stretchable reach and have even been crawling around on our hands and knees ourselves in hopes that he’ll try to mimic us. It’s hilarious!

Among these antics, we have also been encouraging him to stand – leaning him against a sturdy object (like the couch) and holding his hands while helping him to take steps forward. Maybe he’ll just be one of those babies you hear about skipping the crawling stage and going straight on to walking. That would be great!  Or would it be?...

While talking to a family friend the other day, I was surprised to learn that crawling is a much more crucial milestone for a baby’s development  than I had originally thought. Apparently, crawling relates to other areas of development like eye-hand coordination and even later with reading and writing. Children use binocular vision when crawling, which means they look forward to where they are going and then back down at their hands again. Much later children will use this skill in school, by looking up at the blackboard and then back down at their papers to write something.

From everything I’ve read tummy time is fundamental to the progression of crawling. When a baby is placed on his belly he will instinctively lift his head (which helps develop his neck muscles), push up with his arms (which helps develop his hand, arm and chest muscles) and will push off the floor with his legs (which helps develop his leg and hip muscles).

I’ve also read that not all babies will crawl and even if a baby skips crawling it doesn’t mean he will have later developmental problems. <Sigh>

Just remember, as with everything else baby, they will progress at their own pace and will crawl when they are ready.  As parents, all we can do is continue to encourage them.