21 Jul 🥴Is your little one shuffling on their bottom to get around the room? 😬Concerned that your 12 month old is still not crawling or putting weight through their feet to stand? Wondering how to stop your child from bottom shuffling and start to learn to crawl or walk?
Bottom-shuffling refers to the way babies 👶🏻sit on their bottoms and move themselves around using their legs, and sometimes their arms to propel themselves, rather than crawling. There are variations of Bottom-shuffling where some babies lean to the side and use one arm and leg, some babies use both legs together and some babies bounce on their bottom so hard, they leap forward on their bottom to move.
Typically, babies who bottom shuffle do not like playing on their tummy and are often reluctant to take weight through their legs; they will lift their legs up when you attempt to support them in standing. Most bottom shufflers tend to be delayed in walking, usually achieving walking between 18 to 24 months old.😫
3 🔑Key Strategies to stop babies from bottom shuffling to get around include:
1. Discourage floor play by removing all toys off the floor and onto coffee table height surfaces, so that baby has to move onto their knees to kneel to play or learn to stand to play.
2. Encourage baby to be High Sitting on a stool instead of sitting on their bottom when playing at the table, so that baby will learn to sit with their feet flat on the ground, taking weight onto their feet as they move about in their seat to play.
3. Limit the space that your child is bottom shuffling around by fencing off a play corner so that baby is not allowed to fly through the house on their bottom. It is important to limit the space and time spend bottom shuffling so that baby doesn’t keep getting better at bottom shuffling, and feel less motivated to try to crawl or pull to stand to walk.
Try the above strategies with your little one 👶🏻 at home, and if you still need help to correct your child’s bottom shuffling so that they learn to crawl and walk, ring My Favourite Physio 📱on (02) 9790 433 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to find out how we can help your child today!
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