Crawling

Crawling forwards is an essential skill to master. Crawling stimulates the brain to develop convergence of vision – and that as a result, people who skip this phase as babies may find it extremely difficult to learn to read and write as children. In addition, children who missed out on crawling may suffer from speech problems, because the same part of the brain controls both functions. There have been some studies that indicate that late walkers score better later in life on academic achievement tests. It is hypothesized that because of the use of alternating sides of the body (e.g., right arm and left leg, then vice-versa), there is increase communication between the two sides of the brain thus enhancing learning.

The fact that babies can belly crawl from birth is well documented – and it is this at-first-instinctive crawl that usually leads to the most advanced type: crawling on all fours in a cross pattern (where the right arm moves with the left leg and vice versa). It all has to do with an innate reflex called the symmetric tonic neck reflex. This reflex tells the neck and arms to work in opposition to our legs. If the arms bend, the legs want to be straight and if the arms are straight, the legs want to bend. So in a nutshell, they are learning to operate the upper and lower body independent of each other.

This reflex emerges between six and nine months and should be inhibited between nine and twelve months. This reflex dissipates as the child learns to stand and walk.

In addition, crawling requires that our little ones learn to lift the body off the floor while on all fours. This helps align the spinal cord for standing and walking later on.

Crawling – assuming your baby does it – normally starts between 6 and 10 months of age. Besides giving your baby regular tummy time, preferably on the floor, there are several things you can do to make it easier for him to get moving.

Frog Kick
Your pediatrician will tell you to spend some quality tummy time with your baby. This is a great time to play frog kick. First introduce tummy time to your newborn gently, start by placing him on his tummy on your chest, and slowly move him to the flat surface. When he is comfortable in tummy time, you’ll notice that he’ll try to move forward with his feet. Gently place the palms of your hand on his feet and help him frog kick forward. I love seeing both mom and dad play this game where dad helps baby go towards mom and mom encourages the little kicker. Don’t force your baby into this position though, and don’t try to rush her into crawling on all fours.

Another important piece of development that occurs during the crawling stage is binocular vision. This involves training the eyes to look off into the distance and then back at the hands while creeping. This helps integrate the vestibular, proprioceptive and visual senses for the first time. The integration of these senses helps the sense of balance as well as space and depth perception.

It appears that for some kids where this reflex does not dissipate. The cause could be genetics, little time spent crawling or extended periods of time spent in walkers or exercisers. Whatever the cause, there are some hypothesized negative outcomes for some kids when this reflex does not subside:

  • Sitting at a desk becomes uncomfortable
  • Poor eye-hand coordination
  • Difficulty copying from a blackboard while at a desk
  • Slowness at copying
  • Difficulty with vertical tracking (needed for math equations!)
  • Difficulty with activities where the upper and lower parts of the body have to work independently, e.g., swimming, etc.
  • Poor attention