Crawling is such an important part of a baby's gross motor development. And we are RIGHT there with Theodore. He is at the point where he is constantly up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth. Now, he's even starting to experiment with "bear crawling" where he goes up on his feet to try to move. While he is quickly army crawling around, he hasn't quite gotten to the point of moving efficiently on his hands and knees, but it's coming super soon.
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Natural Gross Motor Development and Supporting Crawling
Supporting his effort to crawl is really important for me. As he moves away from some of the earlier transitional movements, I want to make sure we continue to support his natural development. In particular because we know just how important movement is for babies! They are naturally driven to move, and it is through this movement that they learn.
"One of the most thrilling achievements for a child is learning to move himself through space to get to a desired object." Susan Mayclin Stephenson, The Joyful Child
Environmental
These are things that we do in our environment to allow for crawling to happen. These include:
- baby proofing and removing obstacles for movement
- avoiding (or removing if you use them) baby containers like jumpers and walkers
- making sure his clothes allow for movement (avoiding clothes that inhibit crawling) - listen more about clothes and movement in this podcast
- adding some materials that encourage movement
Behavioral
These are changes to my behavior that I am conscious of to allow for freedom of movement. These include:
- makings sure I'm giving lots of time for him on the floor
- avoid sitting him up which could cause him to get stuck in that position and limit his movement
- allowing for frustration - it's ok to let them get a bit frustrated and not always step in at the first sign of frustration to "help"
- respecting the forms of movement that they discover - I don't correct or encourage one form of movement
- respecting the path and timetable he's on - there is no one time when he has to be doing something, or one particular time he should be moving by
I suspect that any day now, Teddy will be crawling on his hands and knees all over the place! A fun new phase is upon us!
How do you support your baby's desire to crawl?
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Comments
Hello, I love your blog, it is such a great resource for a first time mom! My little boy is almost 7 months and is already crawling everywhere and pulling up to a standing position all on his own (I was definitely not prepared for him to do this so early). We have hardwoods and rugs in our house and I am nervous about him banging his head against the hard surfaces. Do you have any tips? Thanks! any help would be amazing!
