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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be concerned about my daughter's apparent disinterest in crawling?!

77 replies

thebartenderandthethief · 22/09/2015 16:09

My daughter is eight months old. She is my first baby, and she is wonderful. She is happy, bright and sociable. She loves singing and eating and she loves her toys.

We go to various baby groups which she really enjoys. She is also in nursery two mornings a week. However, I can help but notice that she is the only baby (literally the only one!) who is not moving around yet. The other babies are all around the same age as her (some are even younger) and are at least bum shuffling or commando crawling along the floor. Not my daughter. She's happy to just sit in the one place, playing with toys and watching the others.

I wouldn't be so concerned if she was trying to crawl but not quite managing it yet. My concern is that she doesn't seem remotely interested in it! If I put her on her tummy she will push up with her arms and kind of half heartedly kick her legs, but she will never voluntarily roll over to her front in an attempt to move (she can roll - I've seen her do it a couple of times - it seems she just chooses not to). My friends baby is two weeks younger and every time you put him down, he's flipping onto his tummy and fighting to crawl.

I do understand that babies do things at different times and I am trying very hard not to compare too much. But I'm not exaggerating when I say she is the only baby in all these groups who is not able to move around yet. My husband thinks I'm worrying about nothing and that she'll crawl or walk when she's good and ready. He says I've maybe just been "unlucky" that my experience is that babies of her age we have come across are moving around - that it doesn't mean they all can, and that she is falling behind. I just feel like these other babies are changing all the time but she seems to have plateaued a little bit.

Any thoughts?? Please be gentle. I'm an anxious mother, I know that really. I just want to help her if I can!

OP posts:
Whatevva · 22/09/2015 16:14

Some of them don't like crawling and go straight to trying to stand, or bottom shuffle.

My DS did not do sitting, did everything on his tummy and crawled at lightning speed everywhere before he could sit up. It was a pain in supermarket trolleys where we used the reins to tie him upright......Hmm

angemorange · 22/09/2015 16:14

Have you tried putting her toys a bit away from her to see what she does, she might go towards them? My DS wasn't much of a crawler but went on to walk pretty quickly. She's still very young - if you're worried give your local health visitor a call.
Don't worry about being anxious - we've all been there!

Shakey15000 · 22/09/2015 16:17

Don't despair. DS didn't crawl until a week before his first birthday.

BarbarianMum · 22/09/2015 16:18

Bless you, but she doesn't need your help. Smile She will either crawl when she's ready or not crawl at all. As long as she can weight bear on her legs (supported by you) you don't need to worry.

Fwiw ds1 was a lot like your dd. He didn't roll much, or bum shuffle or crawl. He sat on his bum til 10 months, then started getting interested in pulling up. He ended up walking long before he learnt how to crawl - which was a pain if he sat on fell down in the middle of a room cause then he couldn't get up again.

There are so many things to worry about with children but this is not one of them.

Whatevva · 22/09/2015 16:18

I knew one little girl who went straight from sitting to climbing up onto the dining chairs.

ScarletRuby · 22/09/2015 16:19

Beware, I didn't crawl but suddenly started walking at 9 months. Apparently because I was so small (and still am) it looked really scary. Dad was sent packing to the shops for baby-gates pronto!

Radegund · 22/09/2015 16:20

DC1 was happy just sitting, often with more active babies literally crawling over him, until a few weeks shy of his first birthday (although he did manage to shuffle imperceptibly...). He walked at 14 months and has barely stopped since! Have you got your 8-12 month check coming up? Could be a good chance to get some advice/put your mind at rest.

thebartenderandthethief · 22/09/2015 16:21

She has strong legs and she can and does put weight on them. She will stand in front of me, holding onto my top, without me having to hold on to her. Only if I put her there though - she never actively tries to pull herself up or stand.

Her favourite thing is simply to sit between me and her dad on the couch with a pile of toys. She could do that for hours. I spoke to the HV but she said as long as she was bearing weight on her legs we would probably just have to wait and see.

She will lean and stretch from a sitting position to reach toys that are far away but if she can't reach, she just loses interest and moves onto something else.

She has a walker and a jumperoo. She will bounce in the jumperoo quite the thing but will just stand in the walker playing with the toys on it. Doesn't really try to move around in it.

OP posts:
JaneAustinAllegro · 22/09/2015 16:21

one of mine didn't bother. She remained seated and smiling until she was 16 months, then got up and walked. She's now a pretty good gymnast so the late start didn't compromise her, and she used the time to learn to speak instead. Such a luxury having a child that's immobile yet verbal... She was however exceedingly fat until she started moving. Great rolls of it. That dirt would make worms in.

PansyGiraffe · 22/09/2015 16:21

She's only 8 months. When did she start to sit up unaided?

DD1 never really crawled, all she wanted to do was walk, but she was desperate to do that from about 8 months - it was backbreaking bent over helping her to stand and walk, or constant whinging until I gave in. I was desperate for her to learn to crawl and did everything I could but she wasn't having any of it. She didn't actually learn to walk until she was about 14 months.

DD2 never commando'd or bottom-shuffled. She just sat there until she was 10 months old, then she was like greased lightning on hands and knees until she was 15 months when she went from standing unaided to walking to running in a weekend.

MargaretCabbage · 22/09/2015 16:23

My DS is eight months old, and also not interested in crawling. If I put him on his front he moans and immediately rolls over. He just wants to stand all the time.

A lot of the babies I know who are the same age are mobile now, but there are quite a few who aren't.

Babies are learning so many different skills at this age, she's probably just practicing the ones that interest her more and will get on to moving when she's mastered those.

WhoTheFIsJeff · 22/09/2015 16:23

One of mine crawled at 6 months, the other at 9 months. Don't worry!

ChunkyPickle · 22/09/2015 16:24

DS1 sounds similar - I think he crawled for a grand total of 2 weeks before he dragged himself up on the table leg and cruised everywhere instead! He just had no interest at all.

They're little monkeys sometimes - she'll wait until it's totally inconvenient (you're packing 3 boxes of eggs away one-handed, or up on a ladder painting the coving), and you'll turn around and she'll have made a break for it.

AlmaMartyr · 22/09/2015 16:24

Please try not to worry about it Smile DD never crawled and went straight to walking. DS showed no signs of crawling until one day when I served up a roast dinner when he was about 9 months and he couldn't get to the table fast enough Hmm

fruitpastille · 22/09/2015 16:25

None of mine crawled much and certainly not before 10 months plus. They hated tummy time too. They walked at 13/14/17 months (later one was a bum shuffler. Your husband is right Smile

DarthVadersTailor · 22/09/2015 16:26

My daughter is exactly the same, she's got legs as strong as a mountain goat but no crawling as yet. Every child does it differently so don't panic, when they're ready they'll soon be moving around!!

TracyBarlow · 22/09/2015 16:26

Eight months is not late. My son is just turned 8 months and out of 9 of us in the baby group only two babies are properly crawling.

If he was more than a year and not attempting to crawl I might be concerned, but I wouldn't be remotely worried yet.

Millipedewithherfeetup · 22/09/2015 16:28

I would just add enjoy this time ! When she is up and about and running headfirst into everything you will wish she would just sit nicely with her toys for a few mins at least!

MissMarpleCat · 22/09/2015 16:28

None of my dc's crawled. 2 bum shuffled and 2 just got up and walked, all went ballistic if you put them on their fronts. You don't need to worry Smile

gonegrey56 · 22/09/2015 16:29

My dd never crawled, and just sat like a little Buddha watching the world around her . Nothing tempted her to move . At about a year, she decided to stand, and was off walking in a trice . Then there was no stopping her !

GloGirl · 22/09/2015 16:30

'Yabu' in a nice way, she's only 8 months.

My DS had no inner balance even to sit at 9 months. One day he just decided to go for it and he was running by 11 months.

He never tried anything until he could do it. My second was different and you could see her practicing for weeks before she rolled/sat etc.

Listen to your health visitor.

thebartenderandthethief · 22/09/2015 16:31

Thanks everyone, this is helping Smile

She has been sitting unaided for a good couple of months now.

If she doesn't move for another few months that's ok, as long as it's not because of something we've done wrong. I am just keen for her to start moving because I feel she'll get loads more out of these classes and nursery, but it's up to her I suppose!!

OP posts:
slanleat · 22/09/2015 16:31

I remember on my first being anxious that he was moving around. On my subsequent children I was happy for them to sit still! I really enjoyed the phase where they could sit on their own but were still where you had left them later.

My youngest didn't crawl until just after her first birthday, when her cousin born the same week was already walking around. She walked at a year and eight months. Hasn't held her back in any way.

ozychick · 22/09/2015 16:35

My DD is exactly the same. She is 8 months, has shown zero interest in crawling and is happy to just sit and reach for toys, better still if she doesn't have to reach. If I put her on her tummy, she just rolls to her back. She will roll to get things if she's on her back but that's about it. She can also stand if I put her in that position but has shown zero interest in pulling herself up. It's worth noting that crawling isn't actually considered a major milestone as many babies never do it, and as other posters have said, it's more important that she can bear wait on her legs.

Bulbasaur · 22/09/2015 16:37

Have a friend who's baby wasn't crawling at 9 months. He's doing fine now, a bit behind on walking but not enough for any concern (as far as I know).

Just be patient. Babies do things on their own time.

My daughter wasn't saying more than two words until 17 months and now she's slowly catching up and naming objects, and saying tiny sentences like she was suppose to 8 months ago.

They're do it when they're ready. Wink

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