Move me: HOW TO CRAWL

Today’s post is inspired by one of my closest friends. She recently visited the pediatrician with her son and the pediatrician expressed concern that the baby isn’t crawling yet. I thought: What a great idea for a post! So here are some ideas for helping your little one start crawling. Just be warned: Once they start moving, there’s no going back!

Before children can start crawling they have to be able to tolerate “Tummy Time.” Strategies for improving Tummy Time probably constitutes another post (maybe next week?) but my most basic advice for getting children to tolerate and then, hopefully, enjoy tummy time, is to give them lots of opportunities to be on their tummy and, especially in the early stages, not to let them spend too much time there. In other words, move them in and out of tummy time frequently. Eventually, they will build up a tolerance, learn that they won’t be stuck there forever, and begin to enjoy looking at the world from a new perspective. But back to crawling…

I think that crawling is one of the most difficult motor skills to teach a child. It’s a pretty complex maneuver, but that’s why it’s also a good foundational skill. It takes a lot of coordination to crawl, mostly because opposite sides of the body have to coordinate to move together. When we crawl, our right arm moves with our left leg and our left arm moves with our right leg.

Our bodies generally develop from our heads to our feet so many kids will actually crawl backwards before they crawl forwards because their arms are stronger earlier than their legs. They also typically crawl on their bellies before they crawl on their hands and knees (this latter style of crawling is actually officially called “creeping” in PT speak.) Before all of this happens, though, children need to be able to pivot. Pivoting basically means that they can turn their bodies in a circle like the hands of the clock. This teaches the muscles on the sides of their body to contract, which they need to be able to do reciprocally (right, left, right, left, and so on), to crawl. So here’s a quick list of activities to try to help your baby master the skills needed for crawling, in order of increasing difficulty.

General:

Avoid doing everything for the baby; give the baby opportunities to try and fail (and try and succeed!).

• Avoid lots of time in infant exercise equipment (Johnny Jumper, Exersaucer, etc.) or pack and plays. More than 2.5 hours per week of time in infant exercise equipment has been shown to result in gross motor delays in infants. Give the baby opportunities for movement and exploration.
• Give the baby plenty of opportunities for tummy time on a mat or blanket or clean floor. If the baby becomes frustrated, quickly move him onto his/her side or back for a few minutes, then return to tummy time. Rinse and repeat.
• Use fun toys, mirrors, your face or that of another loved one to engage the baby when she is on her tummy. The less bored she is in this position, the better she will tolerate it.
• When the baby is on his belly, try to move the arms so that they are supporting the baby’s chest (not out to the sides, as though flying or swimming). In other words, elbows should be under shoulders, with hands and forearms on the floor. This strengthens the arms, chest and shoulders and gets the baby in the right position for crawling and creeping.
• Once your baby has this skill down, place fun toys (try a new toy that makes a cool sound or lights up) in front of him or her but just out of reach. Give the baby opportunities to practice balancing with one arm while reaching with the other. Give the baby a challenge but also opportunities for success, and make sure to practice reaching with the other arm too.
• Once little guy has worked on reaching forward, practice pivoting. When baby is on his tummy, gradually move the toy a little farther to the right. Once he’s gotten it, let him play with it for a few minutes and then take it and place it out of reach a little farther to the right. Keep going until you can get him to turn his body a full 180 degrees (this may take a few days or weeks, so it’s OK to start with 45 degrees or less!) Each time you practice this, make sure to practice moving to both the right and the left.
• If you see your baby really trying to crawl, but it looks as though he’s having a tough time with his lower body, use your hands to bend one of his knees and then hold your hand under his foot. (This is similar to trying to boost someone up over a fence, except the baby’s on his belly instead of standing.) The idea here is that your hand acts as a surface to push off of. The baby will straighten his leg, pushing against your hand, and this will move his body forward. Repeat with the other leg.

Most babies crawl somewhere between 7 and 11 months. Some babies never crawl and go straight to walking. However, because crawling is a great coordination activity, it’s nice to try to foster it in your baby. If you’re concerned that your child might be delayed and want to seek professional guidance, check out the list of pediatric specialists at the American Physical Therapy Association’s Website for an expert in your area.

Thumbnail image from the New York Public Library Digital Collection