Show me the actual research on crawling (or rather, not crawling!)

[2boyzmama]

Gavin is my third boy. He's 9.5 months. Unfortunately, I have yet to have a "normal" child, so I don't know what's normal! My first was ridiculously early with all milestones, and my second is special needs, so was delayed in many.

Gavin doesn't crawl. Even my special needs son was crawling by this age. I know, people say crawling isn't an important milestone, our ped says don't worry until a year, I hear stories all the time of perfectly "normal" kids who never crawl. But where is the research? Because I also hear stories of how crawling may be more important to development than once thought, may increase visual-spatial skills, may effect fine motor skills, etc.

Now, when I say he doesn't crawl, I don't mean that he's just a blob. He does *move*. Right now he's on the floor tearing up an old magazine, and he's been moving all over the floor. He sort of does a butt-scoot, or he'll lean forward onto his arms and drag his legs behind him (still in a seated position). He does all movement from a seated position.

He hates his tummy, but I think maybe that's because he's a tummy-sleeper, so he associates that with bed time. He did recently figure out how to get from his tummy to a sitting position (he pushes into a crawling position, then brings his legs forward until he's sitting up). He's not a big roller, he can roll, but he almost never does.

He can bear weight on his legs, but he does not stand (independently or while holding on to something) If I hold his hands, he can stand, but if I transfer his hands to something (the side of the couch, for example) he gets a little panicky. Definitely not ready to pull up yet.

He is not hypotonic, his upper and lower body strength seems normal. His trunk strength seems normal. He does have a very large head, the ped actually is having us come back at 10 months just for a head check because his head jumped a few percentage lines between 6 and 9 months. He is otherwise developmentally normal, babbling, signing, smiling, interacting, progressing with solids, etc.

SO...help reassure me! Is he just not going to do a traditional crawl? Is movement more important than the type of movement? Is lack of crawling really not a big deal? I want to see the research.

[Bokonon]

DS's physical therapist contends that crawling is an important milestone, for the reasons you mentioned. When we went through PT with him, he was "taught" how to crawl before walking.

I know some doctors aren't concerned with lack of crawling, but it was important to me that DD learn it before walking. She was on the late end of normal, and started crawling at about 10.5 months adjusted age.

I don't have any articles off hand, but found the book "Why Motor Skills Matter" to be incredibly informative and helpful. I think it is out of print now, but you could probably get it used off Amazon or eBay.

At 9.5 months, I wouldn't be concerned. If you are worried though, you can always have a developmental evaluation done through Early Intervention (which I did with DD because of DS's delays and her prematurity, though they declared her on track, it was a good check-in for me, KWIM?).

HTH!

[Llyra]

I don't have research. I'm sorry. But what I do have is some experience. My twins are 3 1/2 now. Neither one of them crawled. Both of them are normal and intelligent and perfectly healthy in every way. Also, my mom is nanny to a baby 14 months old, who wasn't crawling at that age. She wasn't mobile at all; she was really like a blob, and seemed uninterested in doing anything towards mobility. She's 14 months now and taking a few steps; she did finally crawl at about 11 months. I also have four or five children in my extended family who also weren't mobile at that age. All are normal preschoolers and school-age kids now. I also work with preschoolers and kindergarten children professionally, and part of our intake evaluation consists of talking over a child's developmental history with the parent. We see kids who crawled, and kids who didn't crawl, and kids who are struggling in school, and kids who are doing fantastically whose parents are looking for enrichment, and I've never noticed any correlation to do with crawling.

I also know that our early intervention criteria don't look at crawling as a milestone. Their red flag criteria list as a problem a child who isn't sitting alone by 8 months, a child who isn't pulling to stand by a year, and a child who hasn't achieved some form of independent mobility by a year. "independent mobility" can be crawling, hitching along, butt-scooting, rolling, or anything else that gets a child where he wants to go.

The main REASON they're concerned about mobility by that age is because of cognitive development. A child who has no mobility at all is not able to approach objects, situations, or people that he wants to explore or interact with, and is therefore missing out on opportunities to experience the world that will promote cognitive growth.

DD2 did finally learn to hitch herself along, using one leg and one arm, at about ten months old. She never crawled in the usual way. She pulled to stand at 11 1/2 months, and walked at 15 months. She is extraordinarily intelligent.

DS started scooting on his behind, without using his hands, at about 11 months. That was his preferred way of getting around for a very long time. He did pull to stand just after his first birthday, and walked at 17 months, which is considered "late." He is, however, a perfectly normal child now in every respect. He became very enthused with climbing right after he learned to walk, and can pretty nearly scale bare walls now.

The baby my mother cares for didn't budge, at all, until about 11 months. She went from sitting in one place waving her hands for somebody to move her to where she wanted to be, to full-on crawling, in under a week. And three months later she's just begun to walk.

I don't really buy into the research about crawling being so essential. Why then do I have a three year old with reasoning skills that surpass her six year old sister's? I do believe that the lack of crawling may be an "alert" that something is amiss with a child's development, but I don't believe that the lack of crawling CAUSES the developmental issues. It's MOBILITY that matters so much, not the particular type of mobility the child favors, although I would be concerned about a child who seems to only use one side of his body and never the other.

I would definitely advise not worrying so much. Scooting IS mobility, so even if he only scoots ever, that's still well within the range of normal.

[littlemizflava]

just letting you know there is people out there that are normal who didnt crawl. i am a non-crawler. i walked when i was 7.5 months crawled when i was 2.5. both of my children walk before crawling. for the life of me i cant remember when they walked i need to go find that out.

[wombatclay]

There is "crawling" and there is the sort of traditional "cross crawl"... the research is a bit jumbled so you need to seperate the two a bit.

Crawling (be it a butt scoot, crab walk, side winder, or traditional "baby cross crawl") is important because it lets the kiddo explore. It sounds like your babe has the whole motion thing down pat. So in that sense everything really is fine! Your babe is solving problems, exploring the world, developing fine!

The traditional cross-crawl is thought to be important for neurological development since it encourages coordination across a child's midline. So it's not that cross-crawling is important for getting from A to B, it's more that cross crawling is important for getting the brain properly integrated.

But the research? It sort of depends on what you accept as research. There are a few in pubmed that suggest that the type of crawling isn't as important as the fact of crawling:

Dev Med Child Neurol. 1989 Feb;31(1):25-34.
Locomotor strategies preceding independent walking: prospective study of neurological and language development in 424 cases.

Five forms of locomotion were distinguished: crawling on hands and knees, creeping on the stomach, bottom-shuffling, other, and none before independent walking. <snip> Analysis of the influence of locomotor strategies on psychomotor and linguistic outcome up to five years showed no significant relationships within the index group.

and

Child Dev. 1988 Aug;59(4):908-17.
Locomotor experience: a facilitator of spatial cognitive development.
Taken together, the pattern of findings suggests that infants with more efficient modes of locomotion are more likely to profit from the experiences generated by locomotion.

and

Dev Psychol. 2010 Mar;46(2):326-36.
Locomotor expertise predicts infants' perseverative errors.
As predicted by a cognitive capacity account of infant perseveration, overtaxed attentional resources resulted in a cognition-action trade-off. Experts who found the task less motorically effortful than novices had more cognitive resources available for problem solving.

and

Prog Brain Res. 2007;164:237-55.
Learning and development in infant locomotion.

Limits and advances in means-ends problem solving and cognitive capacity affect infants' ability to navigate a cluttered environment, while locomotor development offers infants new opportunities for learning.

However, the importance of cross crawling on neurological development turns up frequently in chiropractic journals and physical therapy journals dealing with adult rehabilitation. Chiropractic pediatrics: a clinical handbook By Neil J. Davies suggests that parents should encourage cross crawling to ensure proper development (he provides a lot of research, but much is from the 70s/80s so you may need to leapfrog from his citations), and there is some interesting research being done by people working to treat children on the autism spectrum or with asperger's (like this site).

So there isn't a really clear cut answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FWIW... my intellectually gifted and extremely physically coordinated dd1 never cross-crawled and walked on her own around 8mo. DD2 had a classic cross crawl, didn't walk well till around 14mo and still falls off a sidewalk if she moves too fast, and was diagnosed with SPD at a year.

I did/do yoga and baby massage with all my kiddos so they do get "midline crossing" motions even if it doesn't come from cross crawling. So maybe that's the answer? Any locomotion is good, and midline crossing can come from other things?

[ledzepplon]

My ds1 didn't really crawl, and we later found out that he has a vision tracking problem. His opthamoligist thinks the vision problem and the crawling are related. Just something to consider.

[boobs4milk]

millie is 2 wks older than your ds and she JUST this past few days started crawling belly off the floor. she was army style crawling/scootching for about a month before that. she didn't roll both ways until she was 6 months old. she's in EI, and they said she's doing great and is tracking right on. she was 35 wks and had torticollis.

[CalaRei]

I've seen a few articles with regards to the "cross crawl" importance mentioned above. Like so: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/26/sc...to-autism.html

One of mine started by dragging himself on his arms, but did eventually pick his belly up and start the cross crawl. The other sort of steps with one foot and crawls on the other knee, though he's our "more advanced" guy. Who knows. There's always something to worry about isn't there?!?

[Bokonon]

Crawling is also considered important because of the upper body strength and coordination that is required. Babies who go straight to walking are less likely to have that benefit.

[tzs]

ok so this is not scientific evidence but just today i read this really cool chapter about crawling in this "montessori at home" book i am reading.

to paraphrase, it says that at around 8 months a babe will reveal himself to be a "crawler" or a "sitter," sitters preferring to visually explore their world to crawling around within it. it says "Although they appear to us to be not very active, in fact a great deal of activity is occurring within. "Sitters" very often acquire language early, for example, and tend to be very verbal throughout childhood." and blah blah blah. basically the line that you've heard about the brain focusing on language over locomotion.

i dunno, thought it was kind of interesting but still anecdotal.

[Pandme]

Originally Posted by tzs

ok so this is not scientific evidence but just today i read this really cool chapter about crawling in this "montessori at home" book i am reading.

to paraphrase, it says that at around 8 months a babe will reveal himself to be a "crawler" or a "sitter," sitters preferring to visually explore their world to crawling around within it. it says "Although they appear to us to be not very active, in fact a great deal of activity is occurring within. "Sitters" very often acquire language early, for example, and tend to be very verbal throughout childhood." and blah blah blah. basically the line that you've heard about the brain focusing on language over locomotion.

i dunno, thought it was kind of interesting but still anecdotal.

Wow, EXACTLY my experience. Exactly.

So that's my anecdote. My son was a sitter. And was/is SO freakin' verbal. My daughter is a sitter too. She is a lot like he was so far. I swore I wouldn't worry about it with my second yet I am. She is quite a good roller though. A good sitter too. An extremely babbly and vocal.

My son never cross-crawled as a baby. Maybe for one day before he did this scoot thing he vastly preferred. However, after he was walking, he did learn to cross crawl and now if he's playing around, etc. and he crawls, it's always a cross crawl.

When he was 2.5 he was talking nonstop in paragraphs. Everyone remarked on his vocabulary/enunciation, including those who worked professionally with young toddlers. They didn't believe he was 2.5.

[colsxjack]

Our DD did a backwards army crawl thing from about 7.5months until 9.5 months.Then she started crawling the "normal" way. It took her going to the library and being on the carpeted floors to crawl. We have slippy hard wood floors.
Then she started pulling herself up and cruising along furniture. By 10 months and 3 weeks she was walking. She is now 12.5 months and running around everywhere and climbing anything she can. She is very mobile.

[2boyzmama]

Thank you everyone!

I'm working my way through the links, that'll take some time

Yes to the midline...in fact, I did voice some concern to the ped at his 6 month well baby that he was already preferring his right hand, that if you offered him a toy, he'd always grab right. Of course then the ped offered him a toy and he grabbed left! Darn kid But between 6 and 9 months I paid careful attention and made sure to get him reaching with his left. He can pass a toy from hand to hand, so that's good.

I think some of this might be personality. He is by far my most observant baby. My oldest was outgoing, extroverted to the extreme, a sensory seeker if I've ever seen one, and fearless. My middle son was very calculated, much more likely to try something, then sit back and contemplate it for a while, then try again, then contemplate some more. Very deliberate. Gavin, though, is quiet, observant, less interactive, etc. He watches his brothers all day, just sitting and watching. Sometimes getting excited about it and clapping his hands, bouncing, etc. When it comes to strangers, he's very reserved, not as quick to smile or interact. Preferring to be close to mommy.

I also think part of it is the fact we have slippery hard wood floors. Although Connor learned to crawl on these same floors, so maybe that's not it.

Today we were at the mall and there's an indoor play place. I set Gavin down on the floor in front of me and instead of sitting with me and watching, he surprised me a little by scooting off, using some combination of rocking, leaning, pivoting, etc to get all the way out to the middle of the play area. I had to bring him back to me several times because the other kids there were going a little crazy and he could easily get trampled. So he was very mobile today, but not in any kind of traditional crawl.

Anyway...I'm just being a bit of a concerned mama Which is odd for me, I'm not an alarmist at all! But Gavin is our surprise baby after we decided not to have any more since Connor's syndrome is genetic. We chose not to do any genetic testing on Gavin, deciding instead to wait until he was born and test only if there were signs of issues. So I feel like I've been watching him very closely since birth, looking for signs of Connor's syndrome. There are none, really. A few isolated things that are easily explained. But it's little things like this that make me pause for a second and analyze his development.

[Pookietooth]

I am intererested in this myself because my almost 9 month old is not really crawling either, although yesterday she did sort of army-crawl around a bit. For the most part she just lies on her tummy and makes swimming motions with her arms and legs and fusses. I was taking her to a craniosacral therapist for neck issues and head flattening on one side, and the therapist said that it's important for her to crawl first. Right now she makes dh be her human walker, but the therapist says that this is bad for her. I would like to hear more so I can either tell dh to stop doing it, or else figure something else out. The therapist said to put her onto her hands and knees and get her used to that, and also at diaper changes to touch opposite hand and foot/knee several times to teach her the muscle memory for crawling, but that hasn't seemed to help (I haven't been super great about doing that though).

[BathrobeGoddess]

Crawling is considered important because it is believed the motion sets up the neural pathways in the brain for later tracking. Of course, this is very hard to prove because you can't scan a brain while it is moving very well There isn't any proof but anecdotal stories that crawling before walking is needed just crawling before age three when the brain begins to prune.

So your son scoots around on his bottom? That can be a sign of a slight hip dysplasia, most times it self-corrects but if walking doesn't happen by 18 months, braces might be needed to correct it.

Also, there at more than 25 recognized crawling postured...and the bottom scoot is one of them

[tzs]

do you think the not crawling could be also related to the existence of siblings???

i mean, my babe is non-stop all over the house, i think partly because she has to entertain herself.
when we stay over at SIL's house with the 5 young cousins she is way more content to just sit, chill out, and take in all the insanity. i love it. it's the best break i can give myself from chasing after her all day.

maybe gavin is just being entertained already?

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by tzs

do you think the not crawling could be also related to the existence of siblings???

i mean, my babe is non-stop all over the house, i think partly because she has to entertain herself.
when we stay over at SIL's house with the 5 young cousins she is way more content to just sit, chill out, and take in all the insanity. i love it. it's the best break i can give myself from chasing after her all day.

maybe gavin is just being entertained already?

I do think that is part of it. He really is very entertained by his brothers! He is always watching them, always laughing at them. And our house isn't big, and the kid-approved play areas are pretty limited, so he can sit in one room and watch them playing in the only two rooms they're allowed to be rambunctious in.

[tzs]

i would love to borrow them for a few hours!

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by tzs

i would love to borrow them for a few hours!

Haha...where do you live?!

[belltree]

First, the WHO Milestone tables clearly shows the average of crawling to be 8.5months with a huge span of what is normal.

Second, 4.5% of Babies do in fact skip crawling. So did mine, who walked at 7 months.

I dislike the whole your baby might or will develop learning disabilities, might become autistic etc because he did not crawl. How the heck am I supposed to force a child to crawl that walks at 7 months? There might be a risk, but one cannot really enforce milestones or the order of milestones on the child. I prefer dealing with my child as it is and not making it fit some norm.

We do infant massage and midline crossings and he might learn cross crawling later on in life.