22 Sep 🥴Is your child bum shuffling to get around instead of crawling or walking? 🤞Hoping that baby will grow out of bum shuffling but baby is now 18 months old and still bum shuffling?

Bum shuffling is when baby is sitting on their buttocks and using their hands to push or their legs to scoot themselves forward or backward. Often the babies who bum shuffle are the babies who did not tolerate Tummy Time and were propped in sitting most of the time. It is important to note that bum shuffling is not a normal variant of crawling movement. 🙅‍♀️It is an abnormal movement pattern and should discouraged and replaced with normal movements of crawling.

3 Top Reasons why babies bum shuffle:
😬#1 Lack of Opportunity For Tummy Time
Babies who miss out on Tummy Time as newborns, miss out the opportunity to strengthen their neck and shoulder muscles. Often this is because babies may have reflux and vomit whenever they are placed on their tummy or because parents become distressed when baby cries on their tummy, removing them from their tummy quickly. The end result is babies have weaker shoulder and arm muscle strength, and they are unable to crawl effectively at 6-9 months old.

😬#2 Low Muscle Tone
Some babies actually have low muscle tone which means that they struggle to hold their head up when on their tummy on in supported sitting and they struggle to put weight through their feet. Bum shuffling is easier because they do not need to control their knees and ankles in weight bearing and they do not weight bear through their shoulders, elbows and wrists.

😬#3 Not Learned Normal Movement Patterns
Babies often discover bum shuffling by accident, when they are throwing a tantrum in sitting, bouncing so hard they start to move forward. This then evolves into efficient bum shuffling. Instead babies need to be taught how to transition from sitting to crawling.

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

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