When did your LO start crawling?

[newsolarmomma2]

when did your LOs starter crawling, and being able to sit up, and stay there, on their own?

I am not sure if we are doing something wrong with my DS, or if I am just ill informed about what he should be doing by now. He is 5 months, 2 weeks, and does not crawl when tummy down on the bed/floor. He might move an inch or two, but always starts crying instead. He can sit up if you put him in position, but can't pull himself up, and often falls over. He can roll over, but can't seem to get up from lying down. He is huge, 23#, 26", and not fat.

I want to hear from parents, not the general crap you get on the web. I'm not sure if what we do with him is right, or if were hindering him in some way. We make sure to give him tummy time, but he's not loose on the floor much because the whole house is hard tile. He sits on laps, gets carried a lot, has a excersaucer and johnny jump up, but Im worried he spends too much time sitting.

[Knitting Mama]

Don't worry, mama!! There is a huge range for all of the physical milestones. I know you said you don't want the generalities, but I really find the WHO's milestones charts to be helpful. Look at the graph one here. Sitting unsassisted is a range from 3-9 months, crawling from 5-15 months, and so on. Your baby is totally fine!! And this is an anecdote, but I hear that the bigger babies are a lot of times slower with gross motor skills, presumably because they have more mass to move!

Cecilia is a pipsqueak, but she hate tummy time sooooo much, so crawling was not an early skill for her. She successfully began crawling forwards at 8 months old. Within a week she was pulling up and cruising too! Sitting, though, she did early-- she was 4.5 months when she was sitting independently.

[ssh]

At 5 months my DD was sitting up. She could balance alone sometimes for several minutes, but she was still pretty wobbly . By 6 months she was playing while sitting alone. At about 6.5 months she would get on all fours and sway. When she started trying to crawl at about 7 months she'd end up crawling backwards. Right at 7.5 months she started crawling forward, 4 days later she pulled up and started cruising. As long as she was holding onto something she could walk anywhere. In a month she was climbing.

Your DS sounds like he's doing about what my DD was at that age and she was definitely not late on her gross motor skills. With the early cruising, we thought she was kinda early. Don't worry, kids do things at their own pace. Like your DS my DD didn't like tummy time. When she was sitting we played with soft rubber blocks and small soft balls. We put a nice soft thick blanket on the floor and let her play on it. She was kicking and throwing balls before she could sit up. If your worried about a blanket sliding around they make soft foam interlocking tiles you can put on the floor. I've seem it a walmart in the baby dept. I've seem plain ones at preschools.

[carmen358]

DD started crawling on hands and knees at about 7 1/2 - 8 months. She took her first steps at a little over 11 months and started walking full on just past her 1st birthday. I'm pretty confident that she is well within 'normal'!

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by ssh 

If your worried about a blanket sliding around they make soft foam interlocking tiles you can put on the floor. I've seem it a walmart in the baby dept. I've seem plain ones at preschools.

Just watch out if you have cats! Mine have chewed ours to the point that we had to stop using them.
 

[katelove]

J was sitting (but very wobbly) at 5 months but, it took her ages to be able to get herself into a sitting position. I'd have to look it up but I'm thinking around 7 months. She has *just* started to tentatively crawl now at 8 months but just a few "steps" and she'll stop. She can pull herself up to standing and is cruising but still fairly wobbly.

I second the WHO charts. They show the very wide range of normal. My anecdata is that J seems to be ahead on some things and behind on others which I guess makes her average overall

[Chloe'sMama]

DD1 was crawling at 6.5 months and that was way sooner than all of her 'friends' and cousins..... Most of them started more around 8 months.

DD2 is not sitting at all and can sometimes pull her knees under her into a crawling position... she will be 5 months next week.

[ssh]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama  And this is an anecdote, but I hear that the bigger babies are a lot of times slower with gross motor skills, presumably because they have more mass to move!

My DD was a big baby and wasn't at all late on gross motor skills. I think the main point is your DS is doing fine, so you are doing fine and don't worry.

[GingerNinja]

I'll add in another 'definitely don't worry' to the pile!

My DS is fairly large at 24lbs and 9 months, still doesn't technically crawl yet, but can kind of scoot and push himself backwards on the floor... can't quite get his knees tucked under his belly for long.

As for fine motor skills, they're ahead of the pack.. ;)    Everyone's different! 

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by ssh 

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama  And this is an anecdote, but I hear that the bigger babies are a lot of times slower with gross motor skills, presumably because they have more mass to move!

My DD was a big baby and wasn't at all late on gross motor skills. I think the main point is your DS is doing fine, so you are doing fine and don't worry.

That's why I said "a lot of times" and not "every time." Of course there are always exceptions.

[mom2happy]

My 3 babies:

sat up at 5-6 months with a boppy behind them

sat up unassisted at 7 months

rocked back and fourth on all fours at 8 months

Crawled at 10 months

walked at 13 months

Well, my third baby is 9 months and she looks like she is going to crawl sooner than the other two.

I am in NO rush though. I like that she cant make it to the dishwasher or the cat food dish while I'm cleaning the kitchen.

At 5 months none of my babies or my sisters did much besides a roll here and there. Some babies are very early.

IMO all you should worry about at that age is smiling, tracking objects, trying to reach things, babbling,- stuff like that.

I never expect more from a baby so young.

[mom2happy]

Originally Posted by ssh 

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama  And this is an anecdote, but I hear that the bigger babies are a lot of times slower with gross motor skills, presumably because they have more mass to move!

My DD was a big baby and wasn't at all late on gross motor skills. I think the main point is your DS is doing fine, so you are doing fine and don't worry.

Mine are all fatties and don't crawl till about 10 months. It could be true, but then again, I'm there mom and I am not agile in the least.

None of my kids are uncoordinated, but I do see that some kids in their classes are more coordinated than they are.

We are all very fine motor artistic types.

I dont know if the babies who develop earlier wind up being the athletic/ dancer/ extra coordinated people. This is just my experience.

[Knitting Mama]

That's actually an interesting theory. My nephew was walking at 7 months (yeah...that was disastrous; he was always covered in bruises!) and now at 6 he's one of the most athletic kids I've ever seen. He's just a natural; he picks up the concept of sports he's never played before in about 10 minutes of play. I remember watching him in amazement recently when my husband showed him the basics of tennis, and within a few minutes he was actually hitting about 8 out of every 10 serves that came his way.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

I definitely think there's a correlation between early gross motor development and later athleticism - based entirely on my observations LOL.

One friend had twins - one was rolling at 4 months, and at 11 months could purposely peg you off with a ball. At 5, he's an awesome hockey player. His twin was much later, and looks like he's on track to be at the top of his class academically.

Another friend is very athletic, and has three children who were walking before 10 months - her youngest was rolling at 2 weeks (we have video to prove it!) and walking at 6.5 months. His sisters were a touch later, but still very early and are little monkeys still - climbing trees, swinging by their hands on the play structure - totally different than my cautious little miss.

It makes sense really - body awareness could totally be innate.

[newsolarmomma2]

THANK YOU, I feel much better. I don't have anyone to compare him to, which isn't always a bad thing. I will check out the WHO charts, I think that is a good source.

I didn't know about the foam panels, I will have to get some. I'm sure the cats will Destroy them, but if I can keep them off for a few months I will consider it a success. I put him on the floor with blankets, he just has limited patiene for this. right now he is rolling arou d chewing on one of the mats and kicking. 5 minutes to melt down, lol

If DS is like me, he will be very uncoordinated but artistic. DH is both. I walked way early, at 9months, so Im not sure that always correlates with coordination : h

thanks again! Always good to know when your not screwing up!

[NicolleLynne]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama 

Originally Posted by ssh 

If your worried about a blanket sliding around they make soft foam interlocking tiles you can put on the floor. I've seem it a walmart in the baby dept. I've seem plain ones at preschools.

Just watch out if you have cats! Mine have chewed ours to the point that we had to stop using them.
 

Just had to chime in! This exact same thing happened to us with the interlocking squares and our kitties. Within an hour of putting them down the felines were like, "Aha! New things to scratch and bite!" Two days later the squares were in the trash.

By the by, my little love started crawling successfully around 7 months but much prefers to pull up and have us help her "walk".

[octobermom]

Margaret my almost 11 month old really started crawling WELL this month probably in the last few weeks. Shes been attempting to crawl since about 9 months. Shes LOVED/LOVES tummy time and she has always been on the smaller side.

 Cecilia (our first) also on the smaller end of the charts wasn'ta tummy fan at all but se\he begain crawling around 6.5 months she took her first steps at 7.5 months and was running ans climbing before w\the week was out. She has always been amazingly cordinated as well so not all early walkers have issues.

[wishin'&hopin']

We did lots of tummy time (mostly in the form of TONS of baby wearing) and our LO didn't start crawling forward 'till just shy of 9 months.  For 2 months he would scoot backwards if he was on a slippery enough surface but couldn't get up to his knees or figure out how to bend them).  Of course, he also started pulling himself up and standing independently the same week!  Every kid is different...and when they started crawling/walking/talking (for most kids) is pretty much a moot point by preschool!

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by wishin'&hopin' 

We did lots of tummy time (mostly in the form of TONS of baby wearing) and our LO didn't start crawling forward 'till just shy of 9 months.  For 2 months he would scoot backwards if he was on a slippery enough surface but couldn't get up to his knees or figure out how to bend them).  Of course, he also started pulling himself up and standing independently the same week!  Every kid is different...and when they started crawling/walking/talking (for most kids) is pretty much a moot point by preschool!

With most things developmentally I totally agree that babywearing is a good equivalent to tummy time (stronger neck and core, etc), but when it comes to crawling, I think there's a difference. If the baby doesn't like being on his or her tummy until later, then they start "practicing" for crawling later. Of course, there are exceptions, like octobermom's babies, but generally that seems to hold true.