Help me crawl
If your baby masters the art of crawling, it improves her chances of next mastering walking, reading, learning and writing. Read on to discover why this milestone is so important, as well as what you can do to encourage it.
BY WHAT AGE SHOULD MY BABY BE CRAWLING?
Every baby is unique and develops at his or her own pace. Genes and personality play a role and that’s why it is important to avoid comparisons. Having said that, babies are generally expected to start to crawl between six and nine months of age. If by 10 months your baby has not yet started doing so, consult a physio- or occupational therapist with a neurodevelopmental therapy (NDT) qualification. She will be able to evaluate your child and prescribe exercises to be done either at home or by a therapist.
WHY IS CRAWLING SO IMPORTANT?
■ Each developmental stage through which a baby passes lays foundations for the next one. Crawling is the precursor of standing up while holding onto furniture, cruising, and later, walking.
■ Crawling signals that your baby is able to carry and shift his own body weight and helps him develop good scapular stability, which in turn is important for the development of fine motor skills. A baby also learns to work against gravity
when he moves into crawling from a lying or sitting position. He lifts his head and strengthens the muscles in his neck and back. He learns to rotate his body, which is important for balance, and to control his hip movements.
■ His sense of touch is stimulated as he crawls across and gets to know and understand different textures and surfaces.
■ By crawling on, over, under or through furniture and objects, he begins to understands his body’s dimensions in space. He also begins to understand spaces from the point of view of his body. This is important for learning reading and writing later.
■ He practises depth perception and distance estimation.
■ He gets to know his own body and how it relates to his surroundings.
■ Crawling supports the development of hand-eye coordination, coordination between arms and legs, and rhythm. A baby begins to realise that his body consists of a right and left side
– a precursor to learning direction.
WHAT IF MY BABY DOESN’T CRAWL?
Experts warn that a baby’s stomach, neck and back muscles will stay weakened if he doesn’t learn to crawl. He will also tire faster and could struggle with acquiring writing skills later. He may have poor posture when seated at a table and he may find it difficult to sit still.
A child who never crawled may experience spatial difficulties and he may struggle with differentiating letters such as “d” and “b” at a later age. There is also a greater risk of becoming tactile defensive in non-crawlers. Without enough exposure to varied textures a baby could develop an aversion to touch and may not enjoy being touched by other children or dirty hands, or refuse to participate in activities where there is a danger of getting dirty, like playing with playdough. He may struggle with handeye coordination and crossing the midline, which will have a knock-on effect on developing the ability to ride a bike, skip using a skipping rope, or doing star jumps.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Give your baby plenty of tummy time as it encourages babies to press themselves up on their arms. Place tempting toys just outside of reach on either side of him. This will give your baby an incentive to turn his body and shift his body weight – both skills that are necessary to crawling. Start with short periods of time, gradually building up to longer stretches. This will develop all sorts of muscles that are used in crawling. Remember that babies need to practise new movements and abilities over and over again to concretise and integrate these skills. Vary the textures: Let your baby lie on a carpet or on grass, even if he gets dirty.
WHAT NOT TO DO
Babies learn through first-hand experience. If your baby is constantly carried or spends long chunks of time in a car seat, baby seat or walking ring, he is likely to miss important opportunities for developing crawling.