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Did your bum shuffler turn into a crawler?

42 replies

Ghosty · 30/11/2004 22:00

DD is officially on the move!
She will be 10 months on Friday and this week started bum shuffling.
I would prefer her to crawl and am just wondering how many bumshufflers turned into crawlers or is it a case of "Once a bumshuffler always a bumshuffler"???

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
ThomCatsAreNotJustForXmas · 01/12/2004 23:00

ok babes will do. I'm very interested in this theroy.

How is she getting on anyway, and how are you finding life?

eidsvold · 01/12/2004 23:21

like tc's dd - my dd1 was a commando crawler, attempted to crawl but discoverd bumshuffling - even quicker than she could commando and her hands are free to grab stuff and pull herself up. SHe can crawl but she chooses not to - she will do it on the odd occasion but that is it.

ThomCatsAreNotJustForXmas · 01/12/2004 23:23

Is it weird to be typing DD1 now edisvold?, Nice weird, bur weird?

eidsvold · 01/12/2004 23:35

very weird - in fact I often just type dd and then realise I have done it for both and need to go back and put the nos in to distinguish them.... BUT definitely nice weird!!

ReindeerNosebagAddiction · 02/12/2004 12:53

Ghosty,

Interesting fact about the coordination thing and bum shufflers. I would have to say from watching dd, that her fine motor skills and all round co-rdination are way above average for her age - even though she's 14 months - she's bsically doing stuff a 2 yr old would do.

I also thought that bum shuffling tended to be more hereditary than anything else - so driven by whether you or your dh/dp did it. I definitely bum shuffled and have no experience of dyslexia or dyspraxia.

heymissy · 02/12/2004 13:10

For what it's worth

dd rolled over lots and lots to start, then moved to shuffling (backwards only) then rocked on hands and knees then took to bum shuffle for a couple of weeks but moved on to dragging her self around on tummy and now crawls. When my baby massage therapist saw her bum shuffle for only a short while she commented that she may not crawl but would walk quickly. Massage therapist is a nursery nurse too and this was what she had seen in her experience. And just to buck the trend dd had stopped bum shuffling, is crawling and is now pulling up by herself to standing position. She's nine months - good girl!!

frogs · 02/12/2004 13:43

All mine bottom-shuffled, and never really crawled -- they could do crawling for getting over obstacles, but not as a main way of getting around.

Bum-shuffling has lots of advantages they can carry things, and can see where they're going better. Mine were all late to walk: dd1 18 months, ds 20 months, and dd2 is now nearly 12 months, and still won't take any weight on her legs if you lift her up, she just holds her legs out in front of her like a little plastic dolly.

IIRC there is a theory that crawling may be important for brain lateralisation -- the process whereby the left and right hemispheres of the brain become specialised for particular tasks. The reason, I believe, is that the coordination of opposite arms and legs required for crawling stimulates lateralisation.

My older two seem to be perfectly well coordinated, and were strongly right-handed from very early on, so the lack of crawling doesn't seem to have caused any problems.

Having said that, I do remember as a teenager having to help my goddaughter do fake 'crawling' exercises when she was a baby (she has Downs syndrome and the exercises were part of a programme her mum was following to help her development). She lay on her back, and we had to move opposite arms and legs to simulate crawling. But that may now be very dated, as it was in the mid-eighties. Having said that, she's now in her early twenties and at catering college and a has a serious clubbing habit, so she must be reasonably well co-ordinated.

ReindeerNosebagAddiction · 02/12/2004 15:00

Frogs,

your dd2 sounds like exactly like my dd - wasn't at all interested in putting weight on her legs at 12 months. At 14 months, this is getting slightly better and she will put her legs down if I now hold her up....but boy is it a slow process. Still doesn't seem that inclined to stand up at all!

ChristmasBOOZA · 02/12/2004 15:11

Bit concerned about this now. DS didn't crawl or shuffle. Cruised from 10 months and walked from 12-13 months. Would say his fine motor skills are quite good. Was watching him use a screw driver to assemble and unassemble a toy helicoptor last night and he was quite impressive. Not so sure about gross motor skills though. Practicing breast stroke legs on the bed and he was having difficulty getting his legs to go opposite ways. He is 3.

Santasluckylittlehelper · 02/12/2004 15:17

ChristmasBOOZA - don't worry, 3 is pretty young to get the hang of breast stroke legs. My ds1 never crawled either, cruised the furniture from 10 months and walked on his first birthday.

ChristmasBOOZA · 02/12/2004 15:26

Just used the breast stroke as an example. I know I am expecting too much - he's only had two swimming lessons after all.

Cha · 02/12/2004 15:33

Both my sister and my dd bum shuffled and did not crawl. Sister walked at 20 months and dd at 15. I remember my sister always having plasters on her ankles and wearing the seat out of her plastic pants (oh, back in the days B4 disposables) but no other ill effects. She is not dyslexic and has an MA in ants or something, so apart from being a bit of an anorak, no ill effects from the shuffling. Bum shufflers do make me laugh though - dd looked like some poor beggar who had lost the use of one of her legs as she hauled herself around. We have footage of my sister bum shuffling which I keep thinking we should send into You've Been Framed - we'd get the 250 quid, no sweat.

ghostofchristmaspast · 03/12/2004 06:18

Cha ... LOL at MA in Ants ....
ChristmasBooza ... please don't worry ... It was not my intention to make people worry with this query ... I am not worried - just interested in what others' experiences were ...
Perhaps I should do a little survey!
ReinderNoseBagAddiction ... interesting what you say about it being hereditary. Both DH and I crawled and all my siblings crawled but my niece bum shuffled. She is not showing any signs of dyslexia or dyspraxia (she is 7) ... so that puts paid to the theory doesn't it?

TC ... Life is tip top for us at the moment ... DD is fantastic (especially as she is now moving - there was a very frustrating time just before she began to move). DS started school this week and is loving it and I am really enjoying spending some quality time with DD ...

G xxx

bunnyrabbit · 06/12/2004 14:56

DS Bum shuffled from 7/8 months and discovered crawling at 10 months. He now uses a combination of both and is like greased lightening!!

Cruises and will stand by himself, even walks along a wall (IYKWIM), but won't walk or even stand if you try and hold his hands. He's 15mnths tomorrow.

BR

NomDePlumPudding · 06/12/2004 14:58

DS1 was a crawler who walked at around 11 months
DS2 a bum-shuffler straight to walking at around 15 months
DD a bit of both but mainly a crawler who walked at 15 months

Ghosty, I can't believe that your DD is 10 months old already ! How time flies

Payney · 06/12/2004 15:06

DS bum shuffled from about 10-12 months. It was only when we went to my sister's that he started to crawl - we have wooden floors which he could zoom across on his bum, whereas she had carpets so quite a bit more effort was required! He ended up using whichever one would get him from A to B in the shortest time - plus, as someone else said, he could also carry things if he went on his bum.

LadyPenelope · 06/12/2004 15:39

DD only ever bum shuffled. She never crawled and she walked a week before her 1st birthday after only a very short period of cruising. The only drawback I saw was that she never had much strength in her arms... when she was walking she used to fall straight onto her head, her arms never saved her which I put down to the she have never crawled and always hated being on her stomach so didn't have much upper body strength. My MIL gave me long lectures about how dangerous it was for her to never crawl (something about missing an important development stage and therefore not being able to progress beyond it.) Happy to report I now have happy, healthy, well coorodinated 3.5 year old, so think it was just scaremongering from MIL.

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