Babies on the Move! Tips to get your little one crawling
So, you know that after sitting comes crawling, right? But how EXACTLY does that come about? How do they go from happy and stable in sitting to moving across the room? Do you know the pre-crawling skills that a baby needs in order to be successful with the act of hands and knees crawling? Check out some tips in this post and if you’re looking for more support, scroll to the bottom to learn all about CRAWLING CAMP!
A common question I get is how do I help my baby progress from army/belly crawling to hands and knees?
My first answer is: just give them time. Belly crawling is a normal part of development so allowing them to practice that skill will help progress to hands and knees
But if your little one has been army crawling for a while now and seems to be struggling getting to that next step, swipe through and check out some tips
I really like breaking the skill down into pieces - working on upper body and lower body separately and then putting it all together.
Is crawling even a milestone? YES, CRAWLING IS A MILESTONE.
Yes, crawling is important
Yes, some babies do skip it. That doesn’t mean we can’t still work on it!
The definition of a milestone is: “things that most children can do by a certain age”. Most children crawl. And it has SO many benefits! So, I will continue to look at this skill as an important milestone and work with my patients to achieve it.
“But Dr. Brita - I didn’t crawl (or my sisters friends cousins baby) and I’m fine!” GREAT. I’m so glad to hear that. That’s what we call survivor bias. I don’t have a crystal ball to tell you which babies will have zero issues and which ones will struggle down the line. So why not be proactive in giving our little ones a great foundation for future skills.
Here are just a few of the many benefits of crawling:
- Helps to develop muscles in the hands, arms, trunk and legs
- Coordination and using both sides of the body and brain (think bike riding, skipping etc)
- Vision. As babies become mobile they start focusing on a destination far away and then back down at their hands (think sitting in a classroom and looking at the blackboard and then back down at their paper)
- Self confidence and perseverance. Baby learns to take risks, test their limits, deal with some failures and learn from it to keep going.
So, are you ready to get your baby moving?! If so, join me for CRAWLING CAMP starting soon! This virtual 4 week camp will focus on connecting with other parents, purposeful play, tips and tricks and giving your baby that amazing foundation for future development! Spots are filling fast so grab your spot now!