UPDATE #15-Rocking on Hands and Knees, How Long Until Crawling?

[OurGift]

Hi everyone!

I have a question. My LO (4mos, 1wk) started rocking back and forth on his hands and knees a couple of days ago. He has his knees together and his arms straight. How long usually until crawling? I have a large age gap between my two children and remember my eldest jumping to crawling quickly after doing this...but I think it happened much, much later.

I don't have any boundaries set up in the house yet so I am getting worried. I do have a pack and play (NIB), but it seems that it will be too small since he is used to rolling (tummy to back, back to tummy) and scooting around a 7'x7' area (and beyond!) in the middle of our living room. The pack and play is probably going to join the growing amount of baby items that I "HAD to have," but never used. I was thinking about getting a gate system for that area instead and I just started researching what to get.

Thank you for those that read this. This community has been an amazing help to me. I wish I could participate more, but my LO has me so busy! He is a demanding one! Hopefully I will get some time soon. Thanks!

[fairymom]

i'd say anywhere from tomarrow up to a few months. my lo (6 mths 2wks) isn't doing what yours is yet but there are others from my ddc that are crawling and have been for a few weeks. here you go mama- your los mobile!

[rubidoux]

Oh man! That sounds so early! Mine is 8 mos and doing that, but he actually started doing after he started really getting around by doing something like the army crawl, but using both arms and legs. He's basically just crawling with his belly on the ground. lol And then every few "steps" he'll get up like you're saying and rock. I am so shocked he's not actually crawling yet bc he's been doing that for a couple of weeks.

[YayJennie]

It completely depends on the baby. There's another 7 month old in a playgroup I attend who has been rocking like that since about 4.5 months, and still hasn't started crawling. While my son didn't start rocking until about 2 weeks ago, but he's already crawling.

[Ldavis24]

Hey mama, I am right there with you in the same boat DD is just 4mo 1 week too and she has been doing the rocking on her knees for nearly a month now! I keep thinking she is going to bust out crawling any second...At this point the most she can do is get her butt way in the air on her tippy toes so it almost looks like she wants to stand and crawl...I keep thinking she is close but maybe it will be awhile before her arms are strong enough kwim?

[mckittre]

Who knows? My baby did that for a month and a half, then moved not to regular crawling, but to a hands and toes sort of "seal flop" crawl. I don't know if he'll ever decide to regular crawl.

[JessieBird]

We were saying "he's going to crawl any day now" for three months! So it's anyone's guess. Now I know better when people say "he's going to walk within a week I tell ya." I've been hearing that about a dozen times a day...for the past month!

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by mckittre

Who knows? My baby did that for a month and a half, then moved not to regular crawling, but to a hands and toes sort of "seal flop" crawl. I don't know if he'll ever decide to regular crawl.

We call that "army crawl" in our house.


It seems like the practice something for a bit until they start doing it. One can never really know for sure.

[mckittre]

Is that army crawling? I always thought army crawling was using elbows or alternate hands and pulling yourself along with belly on the ground. What I call "seal flop" kind of looks like a series of repeated pushups. Push up on both hands and toes at once (belly off the ground, like a regular adult pushup), then flop forward onto the belly, then repeat. No alternating limbs at all. Whatever it is, it's very cute.

[emmaegbert]

Originally Posted by mckittre

Is that army crawling? I always thought army crawling was using elbows or alternate hands and pulling yourself along with belly on the ground. What I call "seal flop" kind of looks like a series of repeated pushups. Push up on both hands and toes at once (belly off the ground, like a regular adult pushup), then flop forward onto the belly, then repeat. No alternating limbs at all. Whatever it is, it's very cute.

DD does both, I agree w/ these classifications.

She also did a few alternating hands/feet crawls, but so far not much. Has been rocking and flopping for about a month (she is almost 6m)

Someone told me once that there is the strength component, and then there is a neurological piece- being able to crawl bilaterally like that or whatever you call it- using opposite arms and legs in that typical crawling pattern. The neurological control comes when it comes.

DS didn't crawl until around 9m, when he could cruise (walk) holding furniture already. Kids are all different.

[dmpmercury]

What I call "seal flop" kind of looks like a series of repeated pushups. Push up on both hands and toes at once (belly off the ground, like a regular adult pushup), then flop forward onto the belly, then repeat. No alternating limbs at all. Whatever it is, it's very cute.

Lol that is what my dd did that. She did eventually crawl the regular way. My dd did the seal flop thing from 7.5 months until 9 months or so when she decided to crawl the regular way. My son got up on his knees on his own at 8.5 months and crawled at 9 months.

[MadiMamacita]

Originally Posted by rubidoux

Oh man! That sounds so early! Mine is 8 mos and doing that, but he actually started doing after he started really getting around by doing something like the army crawl, but using both arms and legs. He's basically just crawling with his belly on the ground. lol And then every few "steps" he'll get up like you're saying and rock. I am so shocked he's not actually crawling yet bc he's been doing that for a couple of weeks.

yep, and waking up in the middle of the night and hands and knees and looking so sad to not be soundly sleeping! can't wait till this stage is over..

Originally Posted by JessieBird

We were saying "he's going to crawl any day now" for three months!

almost 9 mos here and he's been rocking for a month or so. also doing "downward dog" sometimes.. so cute!

could be any day, or not for months. enjoy your pre-mobile babe while you can!

[mokey4]

My DD did the hands & knees rocking from around 4 1/2 months, and she was pretty mobile by 5 1/2 months but not yet crawling. She was scooting, rolling, and army crawling all over the place. But then she got really into trying to crawl on hands and knees and she could only go backwards, so she kept backing herself into corners and getting frustrated (I felt for her but it was so cute!). She started taking real "crawl steps" around 7 months and was actually really crawling distances at 7 1/2 months. So there was a 3 month progression with lots of mobile steps in between.

Oh and she didn't sit up until AFTER she was crawling well. I would put her in a sitting position and she would immediately lunge forward and work on crawling- she had no patience for this sitting up stuff! But once she figured out how to do it on her own, she thought it was the coolest thing ever- for a few days.

Now she's working on standing up.. but she has to be different, she's pushing off from the ground. She doesn't seem interested in furniture, but she seriously looks like she's trying to stand up just by pulling up from the ground.

As you can tell I'm amazed and amused by this whole process.. I love that she's doing things a little differently.

[OurGift]

Thanks so much ladies. We are still rocking and scooting backwards, so between that and these replies I feel tons better. He still gets around, but very slowly. He also gets frustrated going backwards. Hopefully he'll take his time to become fully mobile.

Thanks again!

[OurGift]

So he started full crawling over a week ago at 5 mos, 2 weeks. Two days after that he was sitting unassisted and started banging on bowls with a wooden spoon. What a spurt!

We have not set up the pack & play or any boundaries because I read in What's Going On In There, by Lise Eliot that it was more beneficial to not confine him to a small area and let him explore safely. So, I have to watch him like a hawk, lol!

Just wanted to share our timeline since I started this thread. Thank you for everything mamas!

[seafox]

this is good to know - DS started rocking back and forth on his hands and knees at around 4.5 months (and is 5.5 months now) so I was surprised crawling didn't happen faster! He now is doing the seal flop as of a week ago (I love that term!) Before all this he would downward-dog-crawl (shoving his head across the floor, when it was too heavy to pick up) and was actually able to move a few feet that way pretty fast (at 3 months). His seal flop is not quite as speedy. He also crawls on his back, shoving his head when he's in a backbend. He *really* wants to move. He can stand and hold on to the side of the couch as well for balance (or holding our hands), but isn't pulling himself up the whole way yet (can almost do it)

I do think he is trying to stand up more than crawl which is why its not working so well. he puts one foot kind of offset from the other trying to give himself leverage to get up. On his back, his weird insane backbend (he only touches the ground w/ his head and toes) I think is also him trying to stand up. He often ends up on his side trying to push with his arms to get up as well. We might just skip crawling, but I wonder how soon he'll be able to stand up physically but not have any balance! I see some bruises in his future!

He loved the standing w/ balance help for the last two months, but now is so interested in jumping instead of standing its way harder to do! He'll let go and bend his knees and try to jump and topple over.

He also isn't that interested in sitting up, he goes straight to eat his toes and flips to his belly pretty quickly. he wants to move, and that's it! He is balancing better sitting but not because he practices at all!

its definitely an odd progression - my mom thinks its hysterical, she had three kids and none of them evidently were quite as acrobatic. (the backbend thing is very odd to watch especially!)