teaching a baby to crawl

[sassyminder]

I never thought my children to crawl but recently a mother told me she was teaching her 6 months old how to do it. I than asked a friend and she said that yes it is good for their development to be taught how to crawl. I'm confused as I though it was one of things kids will learn naturally. In fact comparing myself to other mothers I think I let my children to experiment and find out things by themselves naturally while other people around would rather teach and show...for instance I never teach children how to play with a toy, unless they specifically ask me I let them free to use their imagination and play whatever way they want. Am I to laid back??

rabbitstew - "What you don't know at 6 months old is whether your child is likely to have such difficulties..."

Agreed.

Oakmaiden - becasue it is saying I should be teaching my DD how to do something that I don't think I can do. Am I therefore failing my child?

Nothing is a milestone, bumperlicious... All "milestones" are artificially created by people. It is a fact that not having crawled is a relevant part of a child's case history when they are found to have co-ordination problems later on, and teaching such a child to crawl, even though by this stage it is never going to be their chosen method of movement, does have beneficial knock-on effects on other aspects of their co-ordination. Therefore, it would have been a very helpful milestone for that child, because it would have helped develop a part of their brain, or certain brain connections, which was/were not developing naturally as per the norm by itself/themselves.

And also becasue it basically seems to be saying that there is something wrong with my child. As Bumperlicious says, crawling is no longer a developmental milestone.

MoragG - no, you aren't failing your child. I didn't know how to teach my ds1 how to roll over or crawl, that's the only reason why I didn't - I did expect someone who knew how to do it to help me, though, since in my child's case it was obvious that help was needed. The parent's role, as with reading, is to encourage the child and to give it opportunities to practice useful skills. If there are difficulties with picking up a skill by yourself, you need someone who knows about that skill and what is required to develop it to help - that's why most parents expect teachers to teach their children to read, with active parental support in the form of encouraging children to love books and practice.

DS1 didn't crawl, and has hypermobility of his joints (he's double jointed all over his body). The hypermobility was picked up when he has his 6 week check, and we were lucky in that we knew from an early age that he would have mobility issues but that there was nothing to worry about in his case. He couldn't crawl becasue his joints were too wobbly to support his weight until his muscles were quite a bit more mature than 6 months. However, he did walk bank on schedule because by then his muscles were better able to compensate for his wobbly joints.

DS2 is 10 months old and simply will not crawl or bum shuffle. I'm convinced he has all the necessary skills, he's just the lazy type! He whizzes around in his walker, so I'm comfortable with his co-ordination and mobility in general terms.

ps nothing wrong with not crawling if your child is getting about by other means. There is something wrong with not rolling over, not crawling, not bottom shuffling, not getting oneself up to sitting... there comes a point when too many official and non-official milestones have been missed. A very silly parent would worry about their bottom shuffling, talking, fine-motor skills expert baby not crawling.

I googled "how to teach your baby to crawl" and there's loads of information out there if you want to check it out.

Morag - I guess the issue is that in making what I intended to be an honest and helpful response to the op I have inadvertently caused an element of anxiety for you.

Should I have ignored the op because answering her might cause anxiety for others?

Or should I share the information I have gained from health professionals in the hopes someone might find it helpful?

I am sorry if I have caused you worry. As has been pointed out, many children do not crawl and grow up with no evidence at all of developmental difficulties. I have personally always been of the opinion that if I am aware of potential issues and can do something easily to help counter them, then I should do it - but if the risk is small then I shouldn't worry too much if it is not something in my ability to resolve.

If you don't feel it is necessary to teach your child to crawl then you are the one best placed to make that judgement. If you worry that it might be helpful but you don't know how to go about it, then there are alternatives. Apparently learning to swim encourages the same brain development (according to the Occupational Therapist I spoke to) - although I guess your little one might not be ready for that for a little while yet.

Finally - it is not a "your child must do it at x months" issue. Older children can be taught to crawl with apparently the same developmental effect. And would probably understand better what was being asked of them than a 13 months old....

One cannot teach a baby how to crawl but can certainly encourage a baby to crawl. Some babies do start to crawl from 6m. As far as I know, babies can be encouraged to crawl by sitting on the floor more (when the baby is able to sit unaided) rather then being carried most times, toys can then be placed slightly out of reach to encourage movement. Also babies that enjoy lying on their tummies to play are likely to crawl earlier (from what I have read)

My DD is nearly 8m and she still hates lying on her tummy and has not started crawling yet.

The consensus on google is that if your baby isn't crawling by 11 months then consider investigating mobility issues. But I've no idea where the 11 month figure comes from.

I don't think the 11-months figure would apply to bottom shuffling babies, though?... Only babies who are neither bottom shuffling nor crawling.

(I was a bottom shuffler...).

IMO, if my baby does not crawl I will not worry. But if she is unable to walk when is about 18m I will be worried (must check the NHS booklet given my HV)
As people have said not all babies do crawl.

Soso24 - I presume you are thinking of an otherwise normally developing baby that doesn't crawl? In which case, why bother with the walking at 18 months thing? Plenty of normal babies don't walk until they are 24 months, very occasionally even older than that. Maybe asking about walking at 18 months is being a bit neurotic?...

You can't set hard and fast rules for anything. A benign, happy baby that seems quite happy sitting on its fat backside and expecting others to get its toys for it is one thing, but a neurotic, frightened baby who wants to move about is another. You wait and watch for one, but don't wait so long for the other. Crawling is not the be-all and end-all of development, but it is a relevant factor in some cases.

Rabbitstew, all I'm trying to say is that not all babies do crawl, while there are babies that start to crawl at 6m. As far as I'm concerned I will not worry if my DD does not crawl. Just as crawling, babies walk at different time scale. When I mentioned 18m time frame, I also said that I must check the NHS booklet because I use the booklet as a guide to my DD's development.

I do not compare by DD with other babies because as we all know they develop at their own stage.
If a parent is concern about their child's development, then they should seek professional help either from their HV or GP.

My sister (first child) did not walk till she was 24m.
My brother (second child) walked at 7m.

Hi, Soso24 - basically, then, we both agree that if you are worried about your child's development, you should seek expert help. That means you shouldn't use the official milestone measurements as your only guide to deciding whether there is a problem, nor should you let the so-called experts do that, either. eg my child didn't roll over. This is not an official milestone. However, he then didn't develop the ability to get from lying to sitting. However, the milestone the HV was interested in was the fact that he was able to sit up - which he was, for 10 minutes by the age of 11 months, leading on to being able to sit up for quite long periods of time, if somebody put him in a sitting position. I tried to point out that his not rolling over and his not being able to get himself to sitting were connected (he clearly did not have the strength to get to sitting from lying on his back), but since he reached the milestone of being able to sit up without immediately toppling over at the late end of OK, I was not listened to until he then (suprise, surprise) was incapable of moving anywhere well past his first year. I was also told not to worry about his not being able to pull up, because if put into a standing position, he could stay standing up if holding onto something (nobody actually bothered to look at how he was achieving this, namely by locking his knees back in the wrong direction, rendering him incapable of sitting back down again). I therefore have a very cynical view of what is and isn't a helpful milestone and how achievement of the milestones is measured, because the official milestones sometimes seem to get in the way of common sense. My ds1's inability to roll over was a symptom of his low muscle tone and hypermobility, which could easily have been picked up from when he was very small if someone had done a proper physical examination. Since it wasn't, it might have been helpful to have someone look at him again when I started expressing concerns, rather than dismissing them as irrelevant simply because he was not excessively late in meeting his milestones.

Or should I say, was not excessively late in meeting one milestone. I should imagine not crawling or bottom shuffling until 17 months would be considered officially late doing something... even if that's not crawling... And if he hadn't had intensive physiotherapy, he would have been walking closer to 3 than 2.

(And the crawling and bottom shuffling were taught by the physiotherapist, too).

pps hypotonia and hypermobility were not the only things delaying ds1's gross motor skills. He actually did need to be taught stage by stage how to do some gross motor activities which other children work out for themselves - ie even when he had developed sufficient strength and stability to achieve what other children could do, something was still holding him back. As his parent, this was obvious to me - eg from the quality of his movements, not just from the fact he was doing them. Try talking to a health visitor about the details and their eyes glaze over until you've got a whopping great missing motor milestone to wave about in their face.

Rabbitstew, you clearly have an excellent insight about your child's development. Sorry for all the stress you must have gone through. I do observe my DD's development, if i'm worried I research it or ask the health professionals.

reallytired lie down on your baby??

"reallytired lie down on your baby??"

Oops. You lie down on your back, prehaps on a bed. Your baby lies on your chest.

No I am not suggesting you squash your baby.

Watch this video to see what I mean.

breastcrawl.org/

or google biological nuturing.

A newborn does have crawling reflexes. Most babies do not like being put face down on the floor. They get scared if they can't see mum.

Haven't read the thread but i think the only reason you would actually teach a baby to crawl would be if they had learning issues like dd.I taught dd to crawl with aid of physios and chocolate buttons at 15 months because she couldn't