brittone2 (or others) ? about skipping crawling

[Karenn]

Claire is 9 1/2 months and I'm beginning to doubt that she is going to crawl. She gets in the crawl position, takes one or two "steps" and then pushes herself back up to sitting. Then she repeats the process to get where she is going. For awhile I thought that the one or two "steps" would grow to 3, 4 and more. But she's been doing this for awhile (a month or so). She's actually tending to rely on the movement she gets from being on all fours and pushing herself to sitting again rather than from the actual crawl-steps she takes.

The ped. said some babies just don't crawl and it's no big deal. I remember hearing that babies who "skip" crawling tend to have more trouble in school later, but I can't remember if I heard that from a reliable source, or if it was just a random teacher offering her own speculations about some of her struggling students. Do you know anything about this? Should I be doing anything to encourage her to crawl, or just let her find her own way? Her deveopment seems fine (to me) in all other areas. She had lots of tummy time until she learned to roll tummy to back, and then preferred her back from that point on.

TIA,

[MarisaSF]

Not Brittone2, but here's what I read today in "what to expect the first year." To paraphrase: babies who are good crawlers may be be late walkers. The book also says it's totally normal not to crawl at all. My DD is a great crawler and doesn't enjoy walking (while holding onto our hands or otherwise). She gets around great crawling, so I just look at it as she's found something that works well for her and presume she may take a while before she walks.

Is your DD cruising yet? I'd hold her hands and see if she likes putting pressure on her feet. She may skip straight to walking. Our friends' kid did just that -- never crawled, walked by one year or so. Based on the parents, I don't expect that child to have any problem in school, so I wouldn't put any faith in such a strong generalization. I mean, I can believe that such a statement may have been made by a daycare provider or something -- I know my DD was *very* frustrated in daycare about her inability to move around until she figured out how to crawl like "the big kids." Perhaps that was one of the reasons for such a statement?

Best of luck to you!

[Katia]

I'm not a professional expert but thought I'd share my personal experience. I didn't ever crawl as a baby, started walking a week after my first birthday (so pretty average), and excelled in school. When DS turned 9 months old and wasn't crawling yet, I assumed he wouldn't since it had been a while and maybe he had inherited some "non-crawling gene" from his mama :-) Wouldn't you know, a few weeks later he DID start to crawl. Like me, he was walking shortly after his first birthday. I wouldn't worry!

Katia
DS 2003

[brittone2]

At 9.5 months I wouldn't worry just yet that she's not going to crawl at all, and yes, crawling has many shapes/forms and it seems that your DD may just have her own unique pattern :)

My DS didn't crawl until 8.5-9 months and it was on his tummy until closer to 10.5-11 months when he started crawling on hands/knees. He walked at 13.5 months FWIW.

I think it can be totally normal to skip crawling. There is some concern that babies who don't spend time crawling may not develop their upper extremity muscles (arms/shoulders/upper trunk) and I've heard occupational therapists (who deal more with fine motor skills) say that this can impact things like hand writing down the road. I'm not sure how much of that is scientifically backed and how much is anecdotal, but that's one reason as therapists we tend to encourage kiddos to crawl if possible. There are some theories that the alternating pattern used w/ crawling on all 4s influences brain development positively (because of how it influences the relationship between hemispheres of the brain). Realistically though, even in a child who skips to walking, they will most likely spend time "crawling" around on the floor playing with toys, etc. even if they are already able to walk, kwim?

If a child "skips" crawling, I'd just make an effort to include things like wheelbarrow walking, "bear walking" (walking on hands and feet) etc. as your child gets older to encourage them to strengthen their upper body. Play games that involve these kinds of activities, encourage her to imitate you doing them, or to "chase" you as you crawl around and she crawls around. Obstacle courses, crawling under things (like through a tunnel or your legs) etc. That way your bases will be covered if you are worried.

She's going to get upper extremity strengthening by pullling to stand, etc. as time goes on. What she's doing now is still strengthening her upper body. I don't have a totally clear picture of how she's crawling now, but she seems to have found one of many variations that are totally fine for babies to do as long as they are on track developmentally elsewhere.

So...that was a long way of saying I wouldn't worry :) I'd encourage her to crawl as she becomes better at it, but if she skips the crawling, just make an effot to encourage some fun playtime that involves crawling type activities just to be sure. At 9.5 months she still may decide to crawl at some point in the game anyway.

Let me know if you have any other questions :)

[Karenn]

Thanks Beth and others!

The way Claire's "crawling" right now, I think she is giving the upper extremity muscles a good work out, probably more so than the average crawling baby! It's the theories about not using the alternating pattern and the effect on brain development that I remember hearing, but it's good to know that there are ways to compensate if she doesn't crawl. And also good to know that there are babies who do crawl later than 9.5 months!

Beth on another topic- I passed on your idea about color coded stickers on moving boxes to a girlfriend of mine and she was very grateful for the suggestion, so I thought I'd pass her thanks on to you.

[JLiebCamm]

As a physical therapist and self proclaimed non-crawler (I walked at 8 months but never crawled!), I feel like the expert on this one :) I didn't develop my shoulder stabilizing muscles early on, and as a result I compensate my holding my scissors and pen a little different from the norm. Basically I overstabilize with my grip to make up for less control at the shoulder. But my handwriting is very nice, so other than people laughing at the way I use scissors on occasion, it isn't a big deal. And although I'm not the queen of upper body strength, I'm not weak either (I schlep around 300#+ patients at the hospital where I work). HTH!

[AvasMama]

FWIW, Ava did not crawl until 10 months. She started pulling up within a week after she started crawling and she started walking the day after her first birthday. I didn't think she would crawl either :)

Robyn & Ava

[mudder17]

Hmm...all of these responses are very interesting. Two kids in our neighborhood (both older toddlers) did not crawl and went straight to walking. The first was walking by 7 months (I kid you not) and the other was walking before his first birthday. They both seem just fine in all other ways, although I guess it's possible they may not be as strong in the shoulders as some kids. But one of them in particular climbs everwhere, so I don't think there are any concerns about him being weak in any ways. My DD started crawling much sooner than another kid in the neighborhood; she was commando crawling by around 6 months and regular crawling at 9 months. He didn't start crawling at all until at least 10 months. But during that whole time, he was practicing walking and standing and DD was not. In any case, she didn't try really walking until she was 14.5 months (fairly late), but she just stood up from the middle of the floor and took off when she did. He could crawl, but was much better in the vertical position, so he ended up taking steps several months before she did. BUT they both ended up walking normally within a week of each other. Oh, and there are twins at our church who are 2 months younger than Kaya. They did some crawling, but weren't great at it. Wouldn't you know it but they started walking when they were around a year old. So I think there may be something to the observation that kids who crawl really well (like Kaya) end up walking later, because there's no real motivation for walking when they get around so well (and so safely) on their hands and knees. And vice versa, at least according to the observations of the babies in my (limited) experience. Oh, and lots of adults have mentioned to me that they skipped the whole crawling thing ever since I started making these observations and they all seem to have turned out fine. One of them is a police officer and contractor (private venture), so I don't think he has any problems with fine motor control, upper body strength, etc. :)


Eileen

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ies/candle.gif for Leah

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbo...n_gold_12m.gif , 16 months & counting


http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catca..._4_Kaya+is.png

[alleyoop]

Since my Claire is just one day older than yours, I thought I would pass along what she is up to. We were convinced till 4 days ago that she would go straight to walking. She has been pulling up for a bit and cruises quite well (both ways), along with standing up from the floor. However, there was NO crawling action to speak of. Only in the last 2-3 weeks did she start to move (very slowly) across the floor by doing something similiar to what you are describing. DD would sort of start on her butt, then go to all fours and change direction, sort of pivot her butt in the direction she wanted and then push back to sitting. She didn't even take "steps" with her knees (no alternating motions). It was very very slow and sloppy. She just started crawling 4 days ago! Again, it isn't a pretty thing, but she figured out the one knee/one foot method. I totally agree that I think it had alot to do with her lack of upper body strength.

Since I was convinced that she wasn't going to crawl, I really didn't do anything other than not rescue her too much when she was frustrated about not being where she wanted. I am willing to bet that your DD will be making more progress on the crawling in a week or so!

Good Luck to you and your Claire-bear! :)

[Karenn]

Heather-
That EXACTLY describes the "crawling" that Claire has been doing! The "butt pivot" LOL! :) My Claire doesn't cruise or pull to standing yet, but she does pull up. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with this week! She's definitly becoming more motivated to get places.