Help frustrated 9mo to crawl

[BringMeThatHorizon]

My 9.5 month old is so close to crawling, but just can't figure out how to get moving. He can get from sitting to all fours. He can get from all fours to sitting again. He's attempting to move his arms and legs when in all fours but every time ends up flat on his face. He's starting to wiggle forward a bit on his tummy and is trying to get his legs up underneath him but usually gives up in frustration and just lies there screaming and beating his arms and legs on the floor until he's rescued.

I'd be happy to enjoy the last few days/weeks of knowing he'll stay where I put him, but my eardrums cannot take it any more. The constant furious, very loud screaming every time he ends up on his tummy and not where he wanted to go is wearing me down!

How can I help him?

My LO started army crawling a few weeks ago, he got himself so frustrated in the weeks before. I ended up putting the front facing camera on my phone, propping it up so he could see himself,and he was off! Just moved it further and further away and now he goes from one side of the room to the other in no time.

he found it difficult on the carpet too, wasn't until I put his playmat down and he seemed to find that a lot easier to move along.

Great idea! Will try the phone trick tomorrow!

Aw!! I could have written this post myself a week ago! My 9.5 month old started crawling literally three days ago and was doing the EXACT same thing as yours for about a week before he started actually crawling!! During that week I did this:

Put a toy that baby loves on the floor, a distance away from the baby (not so far it's a huge challenge, but far enough that they can't just stretch). Put baby down and wait for them to get onto their knees and lean forwards, or just plonk them straight onto their knees. When they try to move forwards, bring knees in a little so they are properly 'under' , and 'walk' the knees forwards one by one while the baby (hopefully) moves their arms forwards themselves. I did this a few times for around 4 days before he started doing it himself. A physio showed me this trick (my son sees a physio as he had torticollis and mild hypermobility has just been picked up on).

Love that camera trick too!

Forgot to mention, don't know if this has anything to do with it, but when he actually crawled for the first time He was wearing trousers for the first time in around 2 months (we've had him in shorts or short rompers all summer) - so yes, worth experimenting with floor/carpet and even clothes!

Thanks everyone for the advice! In the last few days DS has started to be able to move around on his belly - sort of swimming around on our hardwood floors. He absolutely hates doing it though, he just cries the whole time and drags himself over to wherever I am so that I can stand him up. I think he'd much prefer to be walking! It's so frustrating to watch! I'll try the tip about walking his knees under today, as I think he'd be happier moving around on all fours than belly crawling!

Yes!! Good luck!! :)

My little one was very similar, got quite frustrated! I decided to really praise her on any slight movement - so if she was flailing about on her tummy (looks like she's doing a sky dive!! 😄) then I'd clap and say "clever girl" quite a few times.

So that in their head they feel like they've achieved something quite big - keep praising until they've mastered the next step! My little one looked quite proud of literally doing the same thing for what seemed like days 😄

My dd crawled commando style on her belly for ages before proper crawling. She didnt start that til 10months either. God she was hard work for few weeks as she hated being put on floor as not mobile til we got her to crawl. We used daddys head phones that she liked and she was off!