Is Scooting No Crawling Really OK?

[sste]

I really don't think DD is ever going to crawl. She is now almost 11 months and she scoots all over the house on her tush at breakneck speed.

I am a little concerned . . . even DS who was physically quite delayed and is still not physically 100% at level crawled at this age and I recall that he was considered late.

DD has had boatloads of tummy time -- our nanny treats tummy time like she is training a baby for the olympic trials! She still does tummy time with DD and tries to encourage her to crawl on our mattress.

DD can roll over and she in fact can roll over and then bring herself to a sit. She is just starting to pull up. She is trying to self-speed with a spoon and not doing a half-bad job.

Why is she only scooting? Could our hardwood be part of the problem? We only have area rugs and they are strategically placed so most of the house is a "racetrack" for DS's plasma car. Should I be getting her PT?

[niccig]

DS army crawled for the longest time. He was very fast and could get where he wanted to go. He crawled on all fours very briefly and then walked at 14 months. Full walking, no falling. Physically, he's very good. He's small for his size, but that doesn't stop him from doing any sport.

I don't think it's a problem, but wait for one of the PTs to chime in.

[athompson]

My middle DD did this and didn't walk until 18 months. No crawling. Just scooting. I took her to PT and honestly think it was a complete waste $3K later. She'll crawl (or go straight to walking) when she's ready, but I'm sure most of the board will tell you to take her to PT. It wouldn't hurt to have her evaluated.
FWIW, my middle DD is now four and is walking, jumping, running just fine.

[Moneypenny]

DD went straight from the tush scoot to walking. Our ped said locomotion is a developmental milestone, but it doesn't have to be crawling. He did examine her to make sure her muscle tone seemed fine and that she didn't have tightness in her joints, but since those things were fine he was not the least bit concerned about the lack of crawling. She was otherwise on par for motor development.

[brittone2]

Totally fine. If there are other concerns, it could be worth getting her looked at, but if that's the only concern, not a problem.

If a child isn't crawling but is also missing other milestones or has other developmental concerns, it could be a signal that something else is off. If the scooting is the only thing you are worried about, then it is really unlikely to be a problem. Crawling isn't a necessary milestone. Not crawling *plus* other concerns would cause me to want to have her looked at. She sounds just fine from your brief description of what she's doing. If she can pull up, bear weight on both legs, attain and maintain sitting, etc. that sounds great.

Anecdotally, yes I've seen more "scooters" in houses that have a lot of hardwood floors. I think some kids are more comfy scooting vs. crawling on their knees on the hardwood.

[amldaley]

DD did this, too. She was already being evaluated by EI due to her hip displaysia, so I asked the OT about it.

She said it was fine, so long as it was b/c the child WANTED to do it that way and not due to 1) lack of tummy time or 2) a physical malady of some sort.

Some kids just do it their own way. As long as they get the hang of being mobile, they'll do fine. DD did the tush-scoot for many months. She walked at 14 months.

The one thing the OT said to watch out for is handedness. A tendency towards being left or right handed is something we are born with. However, developing handedness begins with tummy time and then crawling. She said to just make sure that we pay attention to which hand DD choses to use for eating and coloring when it became age appropriate and to allow her plenty of opportunities to use her hands for such one-handed, fine motor skill tasks.

ETA: After the OT got to know, DD, she said thay while DD's hip issues delayed her in tummy time, which may have caused her delay to crawl, the tush scoot was more likely a personality driven choice.

[brittone2]

DD did this, too. She was already being evaluated by EI due to her hip displaysia, so I asked the OT about it.

She said it was fine, so long as it was b/c the child WANTED to do it that way and not due to 1) lack of tummy time or 2) a physical malady of some sort.

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This is why I don't like the categorical "it is fine" when it comes to stuff like this (although OP you haven't said anything that would make me concerned based off of your description). It can be totally normal for some kids to skip crawling, but you want to make sure it isn't because there is something underlying that.

For many/most kids scooting vs. crawling isn't a problem at all. I do dislike the sometimes given advice that it is always a-OK "because crawling isn't a necessary milestone." Sometimes that advice is given out without a bigger picture of the child's overall development.

You just want to be sure there isn't something else causing the child to skip crawling. It can be normal (and OP, again, your post sounds like there aren't any other concerns), but it is important to point out for *some* kids it can be a problem. Not crawling for *some* kids can be a flag that something else is going on. Usually you'd see other milestones being skipped, or delayed, or other developmental concerns in addition to the scooting in lieu of crawling though.

OP, your DD sounds like everything else is on track and you aren't concerned about anything else, which should be reassuring :)

[sste]

Thanks so much Brittone and other posters!

Despite DD's rather traumatic entry into the world she has been a model of baby development other than this crawling thing. She actually has always seemed very advanced developmentally -- true smile at 3 weeks, waving at 5 months and responding to other commands, now at 10.5 months she has three words and three signs (I taught her more and she acquired the no head shake and pointing on her own) and it seems like she will sometimes put those together in a compound way - - e.g. head shake plus Mama as in no mama! Her receptive vocab is really, really good. Our babysitters always say it is eery and that they really have the feeling this little baby is understanding them and I have that feeling too. Physically she seems to have much better tone than my son and as I mentioned she will do rolls, often a string of them, and then sit up or even try to stand. She is actually pretty good (possibly better than my three year old DS) at throwing and catching soft balls. Her fine motor skills seem very good at least based on all the microscopic things she has been pincer-ing off the floor for months now!

It is just this scooting!! DD is a (very) chubby and (very, very) interactive baby. I think in addition to the hardwood part of the scooting appeal is that she can carry things while she scoots and also she can maintain eye contact.

Thanks everyone. I have been extra-nervous about DD because of her rocky delivery and this is reassuring to hear.

[mjs64]

According to my parents, I never crawled. One day, at 12 months, I just up and walked. And today (I think) I'm okay (I'm a yoga doing, phd-ed mommy if that means anything). I've read that 5% of babies never crawl and also that crawling, per se, isn't a milestone that leads directly to walking. Any kind of locomotion, including scooting, will do. But probably the most reasonable response would be to consult your ped if you are worried. I say don't worry.

[citymama]

DD2 has been a scooter as well. You may have seen some of my posts on her funky scoot-crawl. Since about 8-9 months until right now (15 months), she's been doing the bum scoot plus one-handed crawl (one knee down, one knee up) and motoring around at top speed. Never did a knee crawl. She took her first steps at 13 months and only at 15 months has she switched to walking/toddling.

Yes, we have hardwood floors as brittone mentioned, but I don't think it's that alone. We also had hdwd floors with DD1, who was walking quite well at 9 months! So they are nearly 6 months apart in terms of walking, but on the same time frame with other developmental milestones. I found the walker wagon to be really helpful in giving her walking practice, as unlike DD1 she didn't seem confident in setting off to walk even when she could stand unassisted in the middle of the room - the wagon helped give her that confidence and strengthen the leg she was neglecting/dragging across the floor as she scooted. By contrast, DD1 started to walk the day she first stood up unassisted - I think personality has something to do with it as well!

If you can give your DD some "home PT" with a walker wagon or strategically positioned furniture that will encourage walking by holding on, I would highly recommend it.

[brittone2]

Oh, I don't think hardwood leads to scooting for most babies, but if you look *just* at kids who scoot vs. crawl, IMO they are more likely to have hard floors at home. Most kids crawl just fine on hw, but if you are just looking at kids who scoot, anecdotally I've seen more hard floors in those homes. Most kids with hard floors will use a typical crawl. Just an observation from my working days...and it wouldn't stop me from having hardwood everywhere if I could LOL ;)

[MSWR0319]

DS didn't drawl until after he walked! He walked at 12 months and then crawled a month or so later. He did some sort of tummy crawl before but it was no where near crawling nor was it an army crawl.

[ThreeofUs]

It is just this scooting!! DD is a (very) chubby and (very, very) interactive baby. I think in addition to the hardwood part of the scooting appeal is that she can carry things while she scoots and also she can maintain eye contact.

Thanks everyone. I have been extra-nervous about DD because of her rocky delivery and this is reassuring to hear.



I know of a lot of kids who scooted just for the reasons you list. It's hard to carry things while crawling!

She sounds incredibly bright and a joy. :hug:

[dogmom]

I never crawled as a kid, just scooted, then walked. Of course this was the 60's and when I had speech delay problems they told my Mom and Dad it was because I didn't crawl and they felt guilty. Back then they thought it was a necessary developmental step. Now we know it's not, plenty of kids skip it.

[karstmama]

well, my anecdata is that ds did the elbow-over-elbow army crawl for *months* before he graduated to the all-fours crawl. he walked at 24 mo 2 wk, to get an m&m.

but he was pretty globally delayed. anyway, my message is she still has time to try the other way. i thought ds wouldn't figure out another way to crawl, but he did.

[MamaMolly]

Lula almost never crawled. She started walking at 14 months, pretty much went straight from scooting to walking. Same for DH. I think some kids just never really crawl.