9 month old not showing any sign of crawling, is it normal?

[LovingPinkMentor]

Hi, I'm new member and FTM🙋‍♀️. My 9 month old is not crawling yet. He can sit by himself on floor, or high chair. He loves rolling clockwise and anticlockwise on bed but he hates tummy time on floor on playmat! I'm getting anxious as I spoke with HV who told me that he needs to have more floor time or tummy time otherwise he will never learn to crawl or walk?!! Since then I have started the tummy time and every time I put him on his floor he cries his lungs out. I don't want him to cry but at the same time I'm very concerned. I haven't slept since 2 nights overthinking on it.I feel extremely guilty and failure when everyone keep asking why is he not crawling or walking yet. He is very active otherwise, he can say Mumma, papa, yay, wave bye bye, yes, no etc. He is very good at blw too. I'm just so upset. I tried all the tricks of putting favourite stuff around him where he actually cries only.
Please can someone help me. Thank you.

It's not actually true that tummy time isn't important- even forgetting about crawling it helps brain development and speech and language development- there is a load of research about this. As far as learning to walk though standing your little on on their legs on your lap or against a wheeled toy with support can do the trick just so no need to worry because baby isn't crawling they won't walk! Nine months is really early anyway

My daughter didnt crawl at all. Walked at 14 months. My son on the other hand was crawling at 7-8 months and walking at 11 months. All kids are different

The HV sounds so dramatic! How silly. My baby isn't crawling yet at almost 10 months. I am not at all worried.

My dd never crawled. She got around perfectly well as a bottom shuffler. She was a late walker and walked unaided for the first time at 17 months. They are all individuals and do things in their own time.

Plenty of babies aren’t crawling at 9 months, some don’t crawl at all. Mine is 10 months and not crawling, he just pushes up on his arms.

But he can’t say all them words only dada and mama. They all do things at different ages but I would not be worrying about him not crawling at 9 months. Sometimes health visitors can make things seem worse than they are.

My DS is now 13m and I had the same worry. He started army crawling (dragging his body) at about 10m but only odd occasions he still preferred rolling everywhere. Then suddenly at 12m he decided to just crawl on his hands and knees. He did it during the 12m HV check just after I said he doesn’t really crawl! In this last month he’s perfected crawling, he pulls up, cruises the sofa a bit, climbs all over me, passes toys, started to wave. It’s like he’s now got the ability to try everything. It’s amazing how far he has come in a month.

Im glad that you don't feel you should have to push it. It's NOT necessary to force your baby into a position that is uncomfortable to them.

My eldest couldn't do tummy time. Her tonsils were extremely large and prevented her breathing well and on her tummy she could hardly draw breath. I spent a lot of time looking into why they recommend tummy time.
There are a few reasons it's recommended:

• it prevents flat spots forming on babies head. Not relevant to a child old enough to sit.
• it strengthens muscles in the neck, shoulders, arms and back. This helps babies to sit up, roll and crawl. If your baby can sit up and crawl, those things will help build the muscles needed for walking. If you aren't doing tummy time, encourage lots of rolling/twisting. Help him pull.to standing on your lap.and let him bounce there. Put toys at the extent of his reach and to the sides of him so that he has to lean/twist to get them.
• crawling builds strength in the hands by bearing weight on them when the Palm is flat. A baby that doesn't crawl can build this strength in other ways - encourage them to "drum" with you. One a tambourine, in an empty box, on a turned over washing up basin... also encourage squeezing motions - bath toys that squirt are brilliant for this, as is playdough. Both require supervision, especially if your child does a lot of mouthing.
• crawling encourages moving arm/opposite leg, which is a useful skill for running. This can be developed after they are walking by encourging them to crawl through short tunnels. Ladder climbing also teaches this skill, so get out to the playground lots when they are walking.

My eldest didn't crawl as she didn't do tumny time. She walked by her first birthday. She learned to crawl for fun/play just before her 2nd birthday. She's a totally normal 7yo who enjoys ballet and has no issues with strength or coordination. She's learning the piano too, so no issues with hand strength dexterity.

DC2&3 were fine on their tummies and crawled at 9 months. They aren't any faster/stronger than DD at the age they are now (nearly 4). Yo really can't tell that they did and she didn't, and honestly I think you couldn't have when she was two. DC4 I suspect won't crawl. She's 6 months and has reflux, and is just coming off omeprazole. We've done very little tummy time as she is just sick every time. I'm not worried.

Lots of babies don't crawl at 9 months. Lots do little tummy time for various reasons. Don't force your child to be unhappy - how can that encourage good development?

Mine crawled after walking (little weirdo), so don’t worry too much about it. As long as he is spending time on the floor, he’ll work it out. Mine loathed tummy time as well, but liked sitting so we just did that.

I love this description :-) I call in the "happy potato phase". Bestpart of a baby in my opinion!

Our eldest didn’t crawl at all. She rolled until 13 months then one day pulled herself up and walked.

My DS crawled at 8.5 months which was earlier than other babies of a similar age that we knew.

DD didn’t move at all until 10.5 months and then it was a sort of bottom shuffling with one leg out behind.

They both started walking at 15 months. They are now 20 and 18 😊

My first son never crawled and my second (now 16 months) crawled at 11 months and walked at 13 months. Your baby is totally normal 😊

Neither of my DGS crawled they went straight to walking I wouldn't worry

Some will miss the crawling stage and bum shuffle or even walk. Please don't worry, milestones are a guideline and some are quicker/slower.

Thank you so much all lovely mummies out there. By reading all your comments I feel much more assured and I have understood DS will eventually get there in his time and I don't need to enforce anything on him.
P.S.
I'm glad I joined this group after my perinatal mental health care coordinator suggestion.
Thank you all.xx🫂

@TinyTeachr thank you so much for your tips. I will try different things with him. He does like playing drum with hands , I will do some more creative ideas with him to get there.xx