If your baby never crawled... when did they walk? (And how's their handwriting?!)

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As in the title really!

I know in the UK, healthcare professionals are very relaxed about babies not crawling, and say that on average 10% of them just don't do it.

Whereas in the USA, it's a big deal, they treat it as more worrying and say that crawling is essential to develop left/right brain connections. Apparently not crawling can hinder handwriting and other things later on.

So, I just wondered if I could get some advice from people who have been through it. My baby has turned one and isn't a crawler. What can I expect in terms of next steps?

Thank you

My youngest shuffled along on his bum. He started walking at the same time as my eldest, who did crawl, at around 14 months, and can now crawl if he wants, e.g. as part of a game with his older sibling. I have to say he has shown far more interest in holding a pen/pencil that his elder sibling did at a similar age, perhaps because he wants to copy his grown up elder sibling. I didn't know about the position in the US. I'd be interested to hear about older children and if there are legacy effects, e.g. a 5 year old who didn't crawl.

Not sure when my daughter walked (bad parent!) but it was "normal" age. My daughter went from nothing to less than a week of walking while holding onto furniture to literally running. No crawling or working up to it. An approach that she still follows 14years later. 🤣

Her handwriting was awful and illegable until secondary school when she could drop cursive and a teacher (who we will all be forever grateful to) spent a couple of hours doing one to one interventions with her. Now she has perfectly respectable writing.

You could say that there is a correlation between not crawling and bad handwriting. Or you could say she decided she was ready to run so did and her writing was because primary school focussed on cursive writing but forgot to check that pupils understood how to form basic letters. In other words, not even a correlation.

Besides, for the most part, handwriting can be addressed and it's not like you can do a great deal about whether a baby crawls or not!

This is very true @TwilightSkylightsAndA40WattBulb. Apparently they say it’s something to do with the shoulder girdle. I find it interesting but as you say, it could merely be a correlation for different reasons.

Thank you both for your replies 😊

Bumping for any more experiences 😊

😊

My son was a late crawler and walker but has great fine motor skills (including handwriting) could navigate clasps on his trousers at 3 years old and work zips

Thank you @TheTwitcher11 ☺️

Mine didn’t crawl and does have an obvious gross motor delay and poor coordination. She also appears to have slightly delayed fine motor skills but is only 3 so we don’t know how she will get on with writing yet.

Not crawling was an indication of something wrong in our case but that won’t be the case for the majority of non crawlers. There were other signs as well such as not being willing to get on her knees and not being keen on weight bearing.

Mine didn't crawl, just went straight to walking at around 13 months. She's not the most physical/co-ordinated child but now at 4 her fine motor skills are great, she can do buttons, zips, draw very detailed pictured and is starting to write letters neatly (well, as neatly as can be expected for reception age!). I suppose it's too soon to tell how her handwriting will be, but so far it's fine.

Bad handwriting isn't too much of an issue these days as once you leave school everything is typed!

Just coming back to this thread as I've been doing some more reading around it today and I truly think it's astonishing how different the laissez-faire NHS approach seems to be in comparison with other English speaking countries.

It seems the UK is the only country which says it's completely normal and fine not to crawl. Other countries really do say not crawling is associated with all sorts of terrible things - everything from developmental delay to poor upper body strength, terrible handwriting, poor co-ordination, all sorts. I wonder why the NHS doesn't think of it as an issue? Is it just resources? We don't have enough paediatric physios to offer intervention to the non-crawling infants?

I have a barely-crawler – she crawled for a grand total of a month, and only when she couldn't cruise (yes, she cruised before she crawled). She rode a bike without stabilisers before her fourth birthday, so coordination seems fine, and she has nice neat handwriting at six, despite being left handed.

For what it is worth, the CDC that does lists of milestones for the baby/young child checks in the US removed crawling from its list of milestones in 2022, so they don't seem that concerned about some babies not crawling. Obviously individual providers may have different opinions.

DD didn't crawl, bum shuffled and starting walking just after her 18 month check up.
She has inattentive ADHD (but lovely handwriting).