Army crawling - is that okay?

[sibbys]

My little girl is 6 months and 1 week. She has been army crawling for a month now. I'm afraid she will make it a habit and never crawl on her knees and hands. What can I do to help her? I read somewhere that if babies army crawl for too long they might not crawl at all... I know babies don't HAVE to crawl, but it's important for me that she does as studies show that it's important for future learning (reading, maths etc).

Any advice?

Mines army crawled for a while before actually crawling. Has she seen others crawl the conventional way. Mimicking is powerful. I’m sure you can also try to move legs and hands to assist but only occasionally and likely to be met with annoyance. She’s quite early to be crawling anyway no?

My DS1 commando crawled for about a month before starting to crawl on hands and knees, he was quite young too, so maybe they just need to build up a bit more strength. I wouldn't worry too much.

What studies show that cross crawling is important for learning reading and maths?

@Deftly

What studies show that cross crawling is important for learning reading and maths?

I think it's meant to help integrate some of the primitive reflexes like the ATNR. It's believed that not doing this can have an impact on things like reading and writing.

My son started slightly at 4 months and progressed into full army crawl by 6 months. From 6 months onwards, he practiced going on all fours which turned into a full crawl on his knees. He then went onto cruising around 8 months where he was picking himself up against furniture and cruising around and did that for a while as well as crawl and finally took his first steps at 12 months and walked confidently at 13 months. You just have to let them be and whichever way they see fit to get faster and comfortably, they will choose that over any other way you try to encourage. Every baby is different. Their ultimate goal is to get to places whichever way they choose. Some don't crawl at all, some only bum shuffle. My sons preferences were: army crawl, full crawl, cruise and then walk. Even sitting unaided came after cruising as he was too busy being active despite me popping him on his bum where he chose to just roll over immediately and crawl and stand somewhere. He still hates sitting at 2 years old but was able to sit unaided from 10 months.

My son started army crawling at 5months. Did it for months. Crawled ‘normally’ at 7months. Walked at 9 months!! It really isn’t important, and you can’t force a baby - they’re all different! She’s young to be crawling anyway, I would think she’ll crawl when she’s bigger

Mine army crawled at 6 months too, normal crawled at 7 months and walked at 11 months. I definitely don't see it as an issue. I don't think there's much you can do anyway - they so what they want!