Strange 'attempts' at crawling...

[Guacamohohohole]

My DS is 7 and 1/2 months and if I place him on his belly and lift his tummy so that he is in a crawling position he straight away straightens his knees so that he is attempting to crawl on his feet and not on his knees if that makes sense? He also always wants to 'stand', it's doing my back in if I'm being honest!

I am aware he is very young but I have heard that babies that do not crawl and go straight to walking miss out on an important part of their brain development. This has been told to me by both my Baby Sensory and Sing and Sign 'teachers'.

Does anyone have any thoughts or comments? Should I try to encourage crawling on knees and if so how?

As far as I can remember (dyspraxic and dyslexic children here, so lots of reading), not crawling is not a cause for a SN

It can be a symptom but not in all children

It can also mean that a non crawler may never build the muscles in their shoulders and hip girdle - which can then lead to physical weakness, which affect gross motor skills - which then leads to problems with fine motor skills. Not in all children though

Not all non crawlers will have these issues and some crawlers will still have the above issies

My 5m/o ds has funny attempts at crawling. He straightens his legs and his head hit the floor, then head up, bum down, to be repeated ad naseum until frustration. He also attempts to swim across the carpet on his front as his back muscles aren't strong enough yet, commando crawling.

That's exactly it strawberry it's called a 'bear crawl' apparently.

My daughter missed the crawling stage completely and walked at 8 months, I always thought it was because she had 2 very boisterous brothers and didn't want to miss out on any thing. She's fine though, did a lot of ballet when younger (so her balance must have been ok) and just finished her first degree.

This is interesting; My DH and all three of his siblings were 'bottom crawlers' and missed the crawling stage. Each of them are dyslexic and DH was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of five. I never realised there could be a connection until now.

DD1 and DD2 both crawled before walking, though our youngest has only just started walking (14 months) isn't that quite late?

Guacamohohohole, I was thinking of creating a similar thread when I found yours. DS is 6 months and a half and is the same - he bear crawls and commando crawls, but doesn't seem too excited about that. He can pull himself standing and then gets really happy about himself.

My brother never crawled and had some coordination issues at school and a bit of difficulty to start writing, which my sister and I, crawlers, didn't. (but then again he is left handed and we are not, which may have had some influence).

I would love to have someone to ask these things about development and get some advice, but I'm sure HV will say it's "normal", as they say that for everything. I'd like to know if I should stimulate crawling or standing, this sort of things.

Any idea where could I go for advice?

Crawling is not considered a developmental stage by paediatricians unlike walking or sitting unaided. There is some evidence that crawling is an important milestone in inhibiting primitive reflexes and retained reflexes can be part of the problem for children with certain difficulties. However, 1 does not always lead to the other so my DS has severe motor and verbal dyspraxia and a high level of retained reflexes but crawled competently and well for many months..whereas my DD who has no co-ordiantion problems at all never crawled. I do think there is some evidence to link the 2 but its not as cut and dried as 1 leads to the other tbh. BUT addressing retained reflexes has transformed my little boy...

oddgirl - you are quite right. DD has physical and co-ordination problems and crawled competently eventually. DS is very well co-ordinated and barely mastered proper crawling before he walked.

There may be stats that show links with dyspraxia/dyslexia but there are other factors at play. Many bum shufflers never crawl but not all have SLD or dyspraxia!

My DS used to roll everywhere, he would roll a bit, stop, pop his head up to check where he was going, adjust if he needed to and then carry on to where he wanted to be. He crwaled for about two weeks after this then started walking. He also used to have a strange habit of walking backwards, rolling his arms (wind the bobbin up style)! He is now a perfectly normal, boisterous, happy 5 year old boy, advanced in maths and science. He also amzes me with his IT skills. I wouldn't worry too much, all children progress differently and have their own way of doing things.

Shuffle that's very cute!

I think I'll just leave him to crawl, bear crawl, roll, bum shuffle or walk... whatever he pleases and try not to worry about the comments made to me.

As you say plenty of research suggesting a link and plenty to the contrary!

DD1 never crawled, she bum shuffled. She is now 5 and very bright (even if I do sy so myself) and doesn't appear to have any area of her brain which is underdeveloped!

"I am aware he is very young but I have heard that babies that do not crawl and go straight to walking miss out on an important part of their brain development."

Ah, so Stephen Hawking isn't bright enough to do maths then?

My dd was a roller, like Shuffle's. Can't see any evidence of any delays in other areas; wouldn't say she is advanced in maths but have been told she is on track for an A, which doesn't seem like total incompetence.

Uuuummmm not wanting to nit pick cody but... Stephen Hawking only started showing symptoms of ALS when he went to university and therefore may well have crawled!
:)

Can I also point out that there are plenty of people with SLDs who are also very intelligent and quite capable of gaining a PhD but may be more likely to study a subject where their SLD is not apparent.

oddgirl is spot on re the inhibition of primitive reflexes. However, even in a room of "normal" people, you will probably find that most of them retain some of the primary reflexes; whether they have difficulties or not can depend on how many of the reflexes they retain and also to what degree they retain them.

Guac, don't get overly concerned about this! Do encourage your ds to crawl, bear-walk or whatever he seems inclined to do but don't worry unduly if he seems to be missing the odd step. Babies haven't read the books and don't know the order in which they are "supposed" to do things. Also, even if he does retain some reflexes or has missed out on some motor development,these can be addressed at a later date as is happening with oddgirl's ds who is probably of a better age to co-operate.

It is really more of a cue for you to be watchful rather than feeling you need to do something about it.

Thank you chipmonkey, very reassuring. I've been trying to tempt him by putting his favourite toy out of his reach... It's not been working so far.

Ds4 used to just look at me like this when I did that!