24 Feb Is your Little One bum shuffling to get from place to place

Is your Little One bum shuffling to get from place to place
Wondering what’s the big fuss about bum shuffling, don’t they say some kids never crawl

Studies have shown that most babies who bottom shuffle are later walkers, typically walking
from 18-24 months of age. When a child is not walking by 18 months old, they are then considered to be delayed in their gross motor skills. Here at My Favourite Physio, our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists strongly discourage bum shuffling and instead help little ones learn to transition to crawl.

Here are 3 Reasons why bum shuffling is not a good idea for little ones:
1. Bum shuffling is an adaptive movement. Often it is a movement pattern that little ones learn out of frustration because they move in or out of sitting. Usually little ones discover bum shuffling by getting upset and bouncing on their bum. Soon they learn to bounce forward on their bum and by shuffling their legs they can actually move faster. At that point, little ones tend not to “see the need” to learn transitional movements like sitting to lying or lying to sitting.

2. Bum shuffling inhibits the ability to learn to crawl. Little ones who do not crawl on their hands and knees, miss out on the opportunity to strengthen their core muscles, shoulder girdle and pelvic girdle. This leads to poor balance and coordination to jump, hop, run and skip as well as difficulty in handwriting, dressing with buttons, zippers and shoelaces.

3. Bum shuffling is not a functional movement because a child cannot be bum shuffling outside across gravel. Even bum shuffling indoors on carpeted areas can result in carpet burns and bleeding thighs. At some point, a child cannot be carried around everywhere and needs to learn to move from sitting to crawling, to pull to stand, to walk.

The longer a child bum shuffles the harder it becomes to break the habit and to learn to crawl, pull to stand and walk.

If your little one is bum shuffling and you are concerned, ring My Favourite Physio on (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists today!