Hypermobile baby crawling action

[IndiaBound]

Hi,

Our 14 month old (2 month premature) was diagnosed as being hypermobile early on.

This means she tires easily, things are an effort to her, etc.

She has just started "crawling" - I quote it as her action is to pull herself with her arms (sometimes hand out, sometimes like a commando crawling under a low item) whilst she does a "breast stroke" movement with her legs.

So, none of her limbs are upright and her belly touches the floor all the time.

Surprisingly, she can get around pretty easily, gets to what she wants, etc.

However, I realise that poor crawling technique can lead to problems when walking so I wonder if anyone has any advice.

Best wishes

Graham

My DS crawled like this for ages. He only started normal crawling a couple of weeks before he started walking and was walking at 12 months. He is mildly hyper mobile. I didn't notice it causing him any problems learning to walk.

I have never heard about a link between crawling technique and walking. Both of my DDs were commando crawlers, and both were walking unaided by 11 months.

Thanks for the quick replies.

Does "commando crawling" mean pulling with your arms, belly on the floor and legs sprayed like a frog doing the breast stroke.

If so, your words are very encouraging.

Thanks again!

Yes, it does. It is considered a variant of normal crawling and is not a development problem.

Ds1 is hypermobile and commando crawled too, he crawled on all 4 around 13months and walked at 15 months, he also sat unaided 'late' at 7 months - nothing developmentally wrong as such just later to the milestones as his muscles and joints weren't ready to support him, when she does walk keep a careful eye on her legs and feet, ds needed proper shoes with ankle support and was very wobbly to start

I wasn't aware of there being a link between crawling technique and problems walking and I have no experience of hyper mobility but you might be reassured that some babies never crawl. My dd never crawled and had no problems walking. Dd bum shovelled so they don't all crawl and then just go on to walk as normal.

ds has hypermobility, quite bad in his lower body. He commando crawled, then crawled more typically, and then walked at about 16 months. His gait was normal walking and he can get around fine, but he gets tired easily, and is prone to falls. he also is prone to low muscle tone too though, which doesn't help. he needs supportive shoes and was prescribed orthotic insoles for his shoes to help stop him falling. It has got better as he has got older (he is 12 now!) but it is a long term condition.

I don't think there is any link between crawling and walking technique, but she may find walking a bit harder in the long term depending on which joints are hypermobile.