Crawling

Rachel Heidling, OTR/L — December 9th, 2024

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed crawling as a milestone in 2022, but we think this was a mistake

The change made by the CDC is due to the fact that not all infants crawl in the traditional sense, and some may skip crawling altogether. However, they fail to explain why some babies skip crawling or what potential downstream impacts this has on development.

Why is Crawling Important?

Crawling is a major milestone. It significantly impacts the following 5 areas of development:

  1. Grip strength and development of the arches of the hand: this impact on fine motor skill leads to improved strength and dexterity, which is required for writing, cutting, buttoning, and zipping as your little grows.

  2. Visual tracking skill: a foundational skill for reading and writing. Similarly, as babies reach and grasp while crawling around, they are integrating and bettering their visual-motor systems, or what is more commonly called “hand-eye coordination”.

  3. Body awareness, spatial awareness, and balance: all of which increase success navigating a playground, confidence moving their body, and continued gross motor maturation.

  4. Bilateral coordination AKA the connection of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Strengthening one’s bilateral coordination improves ease and efficiency with learning to play catch, ride a bike, and swim, all skills that required skilled use of both sides of the body.

  5. Trunk and shoulder girdle strength: directly correlated to posture, handwriting, and balance.

Thus you can see how the benefits of typical hands and knees crawling go far beyond just checking off the movement milestone at a doctor’s office. However, many babies babies crawl in an atypical pattern due to tightness or weakness in the arms, trunk, or hips. A baby then misses out on crucial opportunities for sensory integration, to strength building, coordination, and visual-motor skill development.

4 Different Crawling Patterns

  1. Hands and knees symmetrical crawl: this is the gold standard for crawling. We want to see all babies able to demonstrate this skill. This skill typically develops between 7-10 months.

  2. “Hitched” or “janky” crawl: a suboptimal crawling patterns where one knee is consistently up and the other is on the ground. When a baby crawls in this pattern, it is often due to tightness and weakness along the “hitched” side. It is common within the first month of crawling. However, if this pattern persists after 4 weeks, it indicates asymmetry in the body and lead to long-term repercussions in posture, strength, and coordination.

  3. Army crawling: a suboptimal crawling patterns and yet an extremely common movement pattern as baby is figuring out how to get up on all fours. However, if your baby is becoming or has become an expert army crawler and is not attempting to get up on all hours, going into downward dog, or planking, then there is a physical limitation. Consistent army crawling is due to trunk/hip tightness, weak hips, a weak core, or weak arms.

  4. Butt scooting: a suboptimal movement pattern as baby misses out on opportunities to strength the upper body, develop the arches of the hand, promote bilateral coordination, and integrate their visual-motor system. Booty scooting is a compensatory movement pattern that babies utilize to get around when they have either weakness in the core or arms, making it challenging to maintain a hands and knees position. Although not common, sometimes butt scooting is due to difficulty with bilateral coordination and thus they avoid this coordination challenge with butt scooting.

If your babe is doing a “hitched” or “janky” crawl, has become a proficient army crawler, or they are butt scooting, then this is your sign to schedule a Free 15 Minute Call with Rachel. We’ll get you set up for a virtual evaluation and then provide you with purposeful play activities to get your little one crawling over the span of only a handful of sessions!

It is recommended to seek the support of an in-person physical therapist if you are noticing floppiness of muscles (hypotonia), no movement on one side of the body, or crawling delays paired with speech delays.

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