Baby Crawling - 6 Tips to Encourage Your Baby to Crawl
If you’re here, you’re in search of tips and tricks to help your baby learn their next gross motor milestone. Whether you’re someone who likes to be prepared for the next step or you’re concerned that your little one is falling behind, I want to remind you that all babies develop at their own pace! MOST babies will start to crawl between 7 - 10 months but some may begin crawling earlier and some later. There are a lot of factors that contribute to babies meeting their milestones. If your baby does not fall within the traditional “baby crawling” window, don’t panic! If your baby is close to crawling and just seems to need a little extra help, these tips are for you!
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Lots of Tummy Time
Start with the basics! New parents hear it all the time, but it is true that tummy time is important to help your baby develop the neck, arm and upper back strength that they need to crawl. Babies have to have the neck strength to lift their head and hold it upright while they crawl. They also have to have the core strength to control their movements as they move their arms and legs independently. If your little one hates tummy time try some of our tips and tricks to keep tummy time fun.
Leave Them On the Floor
I know how convenient activity circles, swings, and bouncers can be (trust me, they get their fair share of use in our house) but if you want your baby crawling, they need to spend time unrestricted. Laying on the floor, they have all the room they need to explore space, move their bodies and figure out how to get from one place to another. My daughter is 6 months old and I still use her bouncer to keep her safe and close while I shower and I use her activity circle to keep her occupied while I make dinner, but most of the time she spends rolling around on the floor. As a pediatric PT I know how important freedom to move is and I think it has contributed to her being an early roller and early crawler.
Teach Them to Twist and Turn
Once your baby has mastered tummy time and they have the strength in their arms and neck to push up and hold their head upright, they will start to get up on all fours. This is where things get tricky, this is when your baby has to figure out how to move one hand at a time forward. This is one of the first times in their lives that they will have to move their arms and legs independently of each other. Not only does this take some serious thinking, but it also takes weight shifting
Weight shifting is moving all of their weight onto one arm so they can move the other. This requires a TON of core strength! Helping your baby get a strong core is key to making sure they’re ready to crawl. The easiest way to do this is to place toys on either side of them when they are playing in sitting so they have to turn their trunk to reach them. Bonus, this will also help them learn how to rotate out of sitting into a crawling position!
Provide Some Motivation to get Your Baby Crawling
This one can be tough for some parents! As parents, we want to keep our babies happy and give them what they want. When we are trying to help them learn to crawl, we need to give them a little motivation. The easiest way to do this is to take their favorite toy and place it in their eyesight but out of reach. This is where your parental instinct will kick in and you will want to hand your baby the toy or scoot it closer, but I promise they are more resourceful and more patient than we give them credit for.
They will not magically start crawling right away, but you will be amazed at the creative ways they will use to get to the toy (wiggling, scooting, stretching, rolling). If you can resist the temptation to move the toy a little closer, they will begin to develop the skills and your baby will be crawling across the room to get their toys (or most likely things they shouldn’t be getting into) in no time.
Baby Rea’s current favorite toy to chase after is the is the Baby Einstein rolling tiger ball. Not only does it play music that she loves, but it actually rolls around encouraging her to move even more. Now, don’t feel like you have to go out and buy a new toy to get your baby crawling… her second favorite right now is an empty bag of baby wipes.
Show Them the Ropes
The best way to learn any new skill is by example, so don’t be afraid to get down on the floor with them and show them how it’s done. My son loves crawling around in front of his sister and in typical “Monkey See Monkey Do” fashion she will get up on hands and knees and rock back and forth trying to crawl after him. If your little one doesn’t have siblings to watch, get down and crawl around with them! On top of encouraging your baby to mimic you, they love when we get down and play at their level!
Give Them a Hand
Have you ever tried to run through sand?! Trying to move when you have nothing solid to push against is really tough! When babies are learning to crawl, they will try to push with their feet, but there is nothing to push against. If your little one is able to get onto their hands and knees and rock back and forth, try gently placing the palm of your hand against one of their feet to provide them some leverage.
This is especially helpful if your little one has figured out how to scoot backwards, but can’t seem to figure out how to move forward.
We Love the Baby Crawling Phase!
This is such an exciting phase in our little one’s lives! It seems like they are learning new skills and meeting new milestones every time we turn around. I hope by the end of this read you feel like you have learned at least one tip or trick to help get your baby crawling and on the move…but don’t blame me once they start crawling and getting into absolutely everything! lol
Like I said at the beginning, gross motor milestones happen for every baby at different times. That’s why there is a range of multiple months that are considered typical or average, but if you have concerns about your little one not meeting their milestones I want to empower you to reach out to your pediatrician with your questions and concerns. They are the best authority on your child’s wellbeing and development.
If these tips helped you let us know! Or share some of your tricks that helped get your little one moving. We’d love to hear from you.
