Crawling is the term used to describe moving across the floor with your hands and knees with your stomach lifted off the ground. This type of mature movement is different from crawling, which is defined as the baby dragging his body with his stomach in direct contact with the ground.

Crawling usually appears after the baby has learned to crawl on the ground. However, don’t be surprised if your baby doesn’t crawl onto his knees and begins to try to crawl first. Most babies will develop the ability to crawl around nine to ten months. However, some babies begin to crawl at six or seven months. Others may take twelve to thirteen months before crawling. If you are concerned that your baby is not crawling, a discussion with your baby’s pediatrician may be helpful. Alternatively, you can contact your local Early Intervention program and request a physical therapy evaluation to determine if any type of intervention is necessary. In the meantime, try these simple techniques for immediate results.

Swinging back and forth on hands and knees

• Place your baby on his tummy.
• Kneel behind your baby and hold him gently but firmly around his trunk, with one of your hands on either side of his body.
• Use your fingers gently to lift his hips off the ground and bring his knees under his torso so that he is on his hands and knees.
• Use one of your hands to support yourself under your torso, if necessary.
• Gently move your body from front to back while maintaining the position of your hands and knees.
• Once she’s stable on her hands and knees, kneel on the floor in front of her and show her how much fun it is to rock on your hands and knees.

Reaching with hands and knees

• Place your baby on your hands and knees as described above and support him under your torso with one hand.
• Place a toy in front of the baby and have him reach for it with one hand.
• Increase the support under her torso as needed to help her balance on both knees and one hand while playing with the toy with the other hand.
• Let him play with the toy in this position for about a minute.
• Bring the toy closer to her other hand and encourage her to switch hands and play with the toy with her other hand while you support her under the trunk as needed.

Creeping forward with support on the hips

• Place your baby on his hands and knees as described above, but this time place his favorite toy in front of him, out of reach.
• Kneel on the ground behind her and move her gently. right knee forward about 2 “, then rock it left hand forward 2 “.
• Move it left knee forward 2 “, then move it right hand forward 2 “.
• Continue alternating your hands and knees until you reach for the toy.
• Move the toy out of his reach and encourage him to move forward with his hands and knees to retrieve the toy once more.
• Give her knees support as needed to help her move forward.
• Practice crawling on the floor every day until your baby can do it on his own.

In the next module in this training series, I’ll go over some simple tips and tricks to help improve your baby’s balance when sitting.