09 Jun Did you know that babies should be crawling on their hands and knees by 9 months old

Did you know that babies should be crawling on their hands and knees by 9 months old  Babies begin to crawl on there tummies commando style, and then they develop the shoulder and hip strength  and coordination to crawl on their hands and knees. Some babies start to commando crawl on their tummies at 7 months and by 9 months old, they are able to sit independently and move in and out of sitting to crawling on their hands and knees.

Crawling is a crucial step for babies  learning to strengthen their shoulders and hips, and to improve the coordination between moving their arms and legs. It is the foundational steps for learning to walk with one foot in front of the other. Some children do a “bunny hop”  when they are crawling and may require help to correct their movement pattern, because walking requires an alternate hip, knee and foot pattern. Babies do not need to be crawling for a long period of time,  but they must be able to know how to move from sitting to crawling and back.

Research also shows that children  who crawled as babies tend to be better at hopping, running, jumping and handwriting at school age! 

If baby  isn’t crawling by 9 months old, then they likely delayed in their gross motor skills. some babies need help to learn to transition from sitting to lying onto their tummies to crawl. Babies who did not tolerate Tummy Time often struggle with this transition. Instead they then adapt by “bottom shuffling” to move around. Bottom shuffling is an adaptive movement pattern, and eventually needs to be corrected. The longer baby is left bottom shuffling the harder it is to break the habit and learn to crawl on their hands and knees.

If you are concerned that Your baby  is not crawling on their tummy or on their hands and knees, instead of waiting and hoping for baby to do it, why not speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapist today? Ring  My Favourite Physio on (02) 9700 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to book a 15min free phone consult with one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapist.
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