- Studies have suggested that around 50% of babies
will start crawling at eight months of age
but you might have a little one who starts crawling
before six months or doesn't quite get to crawling
until 11 months of age.
But did you know not all babies crawl
in that traditional manner that we're used to?
So on their hands and knees,
and some babies skip crawling all together.
In fact, there's actually seven different crawling
techniques that your little one may use in the future.
So in this video, we're going to cover all seven
different crawling techniques so you know
what to be expecting and when to be concerned.
But before we do make sure you click on that
free PDF document in the description box below
which covers the developmental milestones
you can be expecting for your little one
in their first year of life.
This will give you an invaluable peace of mind
as you'll know when to be expecting certain skills
and when to be concerned.
Also, if you wanna make parenting significantly easier
make sure you start now by subscribing to my channel
and hitting that bell where you'll learn the tips and tricks
I've learned over the last 10 years
practicing as a pediatric occupational therapist
and being a mom to two children.
Believe it or not, the very first step towards crawling
is actually tummy time.
And that's because it is through tummy time
that your baby's going to develop the muscle strength
in their neck, their shoulders, the arms,
their back and their trunk
which is all required for crawling.
Now what you'll notice as your baby gets stronger
in this position, they start to do funny things.
So the very first thing you'll notice is that
they start to do airplanes.
So that's where they start to lift their arms
and their legs off the ground so that all the weight
is just going through their tummy
and they start kind of swimming when they're lying
on their tummy.
And then they'll start to pivot.
And that is where they start to turn their body
around in a circle by pushing up on extended arms
and then using those arms to turn their body around.
What you'll notice is when they start to do that
they are getting significantly stronger.
And when they push themselves up
they might actually even push themselves up
so that their chest is off the ground
and most of their stomach,
and they'll start to kind of push themselves backwards.
So you might put them on the mat in tummy time
and then you'll come back and they're moved
essentially backwards because they've been
pushing themselves up and pushing themselves backwards.
Then what you might notice is your baby might start
to do some commando crawling or army crawling.
So there's two different ways of doing this.
The very first one is that army crawl.
So the baby uses their arms to pull themselves forward,
and essentially they just do it all through their arms.
So their body stays in contact with the floor,
they move those arms forward and then they pull
their body forward.
So their legs aren't really doing a whole lot.
When your baby's using this army commando technique,
what you will notice is that they don't require
a lot of balance because essentially their body is staying
in full contact with the ground.
So they're able to move forward without needing to balance
their trunk significantly.
And the second way to do this is the inchworm crawl.
So that's where your baby is lying on their tummy
and they move both arms forward at the same time,
then they raise the top part of their body off the ground
and then they move forward by dragging their arms
but also doing a belly flop onto the ground.
So when your baby's using this technique,
they have the ability to kind of lose balance
because they're not making full contact
with the ground at all times.
So your baby may choose to do the classic crawling
technique, which is where they get up on their hands
and knees and the weight goes through their knees
and they move opposite arm and leg at the same time.
So they reach out with one arm and leg and then the opposite
arm and leg and they start going forward.
But when your baby first starts to crawl,
they will start to potentially crawl backwards first.
And that is because their upper body's a lot stronger
than their legs.
So generally they find it easier to push backwards
than bring themselves forward.
As they get stronger, they will start to move
in a forward direction so you don't need to worry.
They will start going backwards
and then they'll get stronger
and then they'll start to crawl forward.
What you can do to help your baby start to move forward
is ensure that they aren't wearing full length leggings
or their knees are covered.
And that is because when their knees are covered
so that you might have like a onesie on
your baby can't get traction on the floor
so they are going to naturally slide backwards
when they're trying to crawl.
But if you ensure that their knees are exposed
then they can get traction on that floor
and start to move in a forward direction.
Now if your baby doesn't do that traditional crawling
technique, then they might actually use a bear crawl.
And that is where they have their elbows
and their knees extended so nice and straight.
And so that all the weight is going through their hands
and their toes.
So their knees aren't actually making contact
with the ground and they're essentially walking
a bit like a bear.
Or your baby might choose to use the step-crawl mix
which is where they crawl on the knee of one leg
while stepping with the foot of the other leg.
Again, remember it's not uncommon for babies to first start
to crawl backwards, so they start to go backwards first.
So again it's the same technique,
make sure that you have your babies knees and feet exposed.
So there's no socks or pants on them, just so that
they get traction with that floor and can move forward.
Or you might have a bottom shuffler or scooter.
So when your baby's doing this technique,
what they are doing is when they're sitting on the ground
they're putting all their weight through their bottom
and they using their legs and occasionally their arms
to move forward.
Bottom shufflers can move very quickly
and their hands are also free when they're moving around.
So they tend to hold some toys in their hands
to move from one spot to another.
There's often a history of bottom shuffling within families
and bottom shufflers tend to be late walkers.
So they don't start to walk until 18 months of age
to 24 months of age and that's because it's quite hard
to get yourself up into standing when you're sitting.
Whereas if you're in that crawling position on your hands
and knees is quite easy to transition from that position
up into understanding.
Or your baby might use a variation of bottom shuffling
called step-scooting which is essentially when your baby
will use one arm while they kind of in an upright
seat of position to move forward.
So basically when your baby's doing this movement
they have three points of contact with the ground.
So both legs and one arm and that's how they move around.
Or some babies just use the rolling crawl
which is where they essentially roll from their back
onto their tummy all the way across the room
to get to the next spot that they want to explore.
And then lastly you have babies who skip crawling altogether
and they tend to like to go straight from sitting
into cruising.
So they might stand at furniture or like to hold your hand
and move around so they don't actually crawl.
They just cruise and then once they've got that strengthen
and stability in cruising, they then move on to walking.
So as you can see, there are lots of different ways to crawl
and you shouldn't be concerned if you're little one
is not doing that classic hands and knee crawling.
In fact, babies will often use a mixture of techniques.
So they might do the classic hands and knees crawling,
then they might go to a bear crawl and then switch back
to the hands and knees crawling.
You should only be concerned if your baby hasn't identified
a way to move around.
So if they're stuck in one spot or if you see
that your baby's only using one side of their body
to move around.
So if they're only using their left arm and their left leg
or their right arm and right leg,
then you need to raise that with your child's doctor
or health professionals to identify how to help
your little one and get them moving.
I hope that information is helpful.
Make sure you click on that free PDF document below,
and hopefully I'll see you next week
where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.
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