Do I need to teach him to crawl?!

[tiredmama2020]

Trying not to get too caught up on milestones and what they “should” be doing at what stage but I’m a FTM looking for some advice please! 😬

DS is just over 8 months. VERY active 😅! He’s been army crawling since 6m, will rise up on hands and knees and rock backwards and forwards then take a couple of strides then revert back to his army crawl. He loves to “bear walk” (I think that’s what it’s called!) on hands and feet with his bum in the air. He pulls to stand on cot rail, furniture, outside of the bath and a bare wall. Can stand well using one hand for support on a piece of furniture and will do a few seconds completely unsupported too. He’s also able to cruise along furniture.

I’m really happy with his movement at this stage and think he’s doing well but I’m wondering if it’s at all detrimental to his development if he skips the “proper” hands and knees crawling stage? 🤔 is it something I should be pushing?

No I mean, you can try and it won't hurt but if he is getting himself around to his satisfaction and actually starting to cruise (the pulling up etc) then it seems like he's got his own way of doing things! The cruising starts to happen just before walking so he might be one of those that skips crawling and gets straight to it. Also have you tried bear crawling? It's really tough after only a few seconds, so suggests to me you've got a lovely strong lad on your hands. Well done OP.

Nope, he’s fine

DS is 6.5 months and is exactly the same - happy to rock on all fours, take 2-3 movements forward but then drop into commando crawling because it’s quicker. Pulling himself up and wants to be on his feet at all times.

The HV plus my best mate who is a paediatrician have both said it’s totally normal & fine to skip the “normal” crawling. It sounds like he’s got excellent core strength and has just found his quick way of getting around!

No, he won't still be doing this when he's 10!

Going to baby groups/hanging out with other babies so he can see other kids moving in different ways might give him a nudge.

Totally normal you might find he just stands up
and runs off!! My friends son was like that.

He's definitely on his way. The rocking led to backwards crawling, which led to crawling.
I tried to demonstrate crawling, baby looked at me like I was mad...

@BeanyBops I have no idea how he does it tbh! He’s certainly a strong boy 🤣 he climbs everything and anything that is his hip heigh or lower 🙈 wasn’t expecting to need eyes in the back of my head quite yet! Thanks for the reassurance 😊😊

No, they figure it out for themselves. It's so cute to see them learning.

No.

Babies individually decide how they want to get around and what is the quickest for them. This means some babies never crawl.

The fact that he's moving around and trying to pull himself up means in no time you will be trying to stop him running away from you in the street/park.

Some kids don’t crawl at all, I didn’t and my sister didn’t many children don’t, so he may not or he may just be off one day. It’s hard not to get stuck on when they should be doing things, I had 3 who followed a pattern of rolling, sitting, up, crawling/cruising then walked at a year old and one who was later and didn’t walk until 19 months - he has hypermobility which was picked up when I asked about things with my gp as there were a few other issues but you’d never know now at 11 so it all worked out.

He’ll get there, spend lots of time on the floor with him and enjoy as once they are off you need eyes in the back of your head sometimes.

@MaverickDanger

DS is 6.5 months and is exactly the same - happy to rock on all fours, take 2-3 movements forward but then drop into commando crawling because it’s quicker. Pulling himself up and wants to be on his feet at all times.

The HV plus my best mate who is a paediatrician have both said it’s totally normal & fine to skip the “normal” crawling. It sounds like he’s got excellent core strength and has just found his quick way of getting around!

@MaverickDanger That’s good to know 😊 thanks! It’s tough when they just want to be on their feet but can’t quite manage on their own yet 🙈

DS1 went from commando crawling to walking at 10m. Then he learnt to crawl after that 😂

@Crowsaregreat

No, he won't still be doing this when he's 10!

Going to baby groups/hanging out with other babies so he can see other kids moving in different ways might give him a nudge.

@Crowsaregreat 🤣🤣 I certainly hope he’s not still doing it when he’s 10 🙈 I only wondered as I know that a lot of these milestones help build certain muscles needed for other milestones etc so wasn’t sure if it was better to work on it or just let him do his thing 😊 barely any baby groups running in our area yet unfortunately! Travelled 40 mins to one a couple of times when we could get a space just to have him around other babies and the class was rubbish!

@troppibambini6 He looks like he’s going to run away from me at any minute 🙈🤣

@Twinkletwinklelittlecar 🤣 I’m glad I’m not the only one who has demonstrated it 🤣 mine just finds it hilarious 🙈

@elevenses75

Some kids don’t crawl at all, I didn’t and my sister didn’t many children don’t, so he may not or he may just be off one day. It’s hard not to get stuck on when they should be doing things, I had 3 who followed a pattern of rolling, sitting, up, crawling/cruising then walked at a year old and one who was later and didn’t walk until 19 months - he has hypermobility which was picked up when I asked about things with my gp as there were a few other issues but you’d never know now at 11 so it all worked out.

He’ll get there, spend lots of time on the floor with him and enjoy as once they are off you need eyes in the back of your head sometimes.

@elevenses75 yeah I really try not to take too much notice of milestones as I know they’re all so different! I just wasn’t sure if I should encourage it or just let him do his own thing 😊 He hates being on the floor now 🙈 lasts 2 minutes then hes off scaling whatever piece of furniture he can find to get himself standing up 🙈

Babies have different crawling styles DD1 used to crawl with one leg straight (one foot one knee on the floor)

@OldTinHat 🤣🤣 love a backwards milestone! They’re funny little creatures aren’t they?!

@grey12

Babies have different crawling styles DD1 used to crawl with one leg straight (one foot one knee on the floor)

@grey12 so funny 🙈🤣 and almost certainly harder and more awkward than just normal crawling 🤣

😅😂🤣. Sorry Op. But this did make me laugh.
Little one sounds fine.
My eldest GS literally crawled for about a day. Then ran around like a loon.
Good luck 💐

@tiredmama2020 not so little anymore in my case - DS1 is 22 now and 6'4! I've no idea where the time went!

@notthemum

😅😂🤣. Sorry Op. But this did make me laugh. Little one sounds fine. My eldest GS literally crawled for about a day. Then ran around like a loon. Good luck 💐

@notthemum I know, I know - I’m that mum worrying over the most ridiculous things 🤣🤣🙈 It popped into my head at about 3am and it’s all I could think about!

[quote OldTinHat]@tiredmama2020 not so little anymore in my case - DS1 is 22 now and 6'4! I've no idea where the time went![/quote]
@OldTinHat Honestly, I was that person that would roll their eyes when anyone gave the “it goes so fast” speech 🙈 but I feel like I have birth yesterday and he’s already 8months old so I can only imagine how it feels when they hit 22!!

I have seen this mentioned else where as a first baby problem.

Those of us that have been through the small baby thing are wondering why you want to encourage baby to get mobile (so he can get his hands on anything and everything, pull things off shelves, and higher surfaces, and generally create a trail of destruction in hio wake. We remember now how we missed the days where you put baby down and baby stayed there!

@Ariela

I have seen this mentioned else where as a first baby problem.

Those of us that have been through the small baby thing are wondering why you want to encourage baby to get mobile (so he can get his hands on anything and everything, pull things off shelves, and higher surfaces, and generally create a trail of destruction in hio wake. We remember now how we missed the days where you put baby down and baby stayed there!

@Ariela Did you read my post though? 🤔 Hes already mobile. Standing unaided, pulling up to stand on furniture, cruising around the furniture, army crawling, climbs furniture etc - he just missed the actual crawling phase. He very much creates a trail of destruction already

@elevenses75 can I ask whether you did anything in particular to help your child with hypermobility to start walking? My 15mo son was also diagnosed with this and we’re under the guidance of a physio, who’s given us some exercises to do. I just can’t believe they’re really helping him that much?