Crawling - One of the most important developmental phases for your child

Crawling is one of the most important developmental phases for your child. Not only does it support the development of good posture by building strength in the neck, arms, shoulders and core. The action of learning to crawl stimulates different parts of the brain and influences future learning.

The cross crawling movement strengthens the connection between the left and right brain, coordination between the eyes, hands and feet. It also stimulates and strengthens a part of the brain called the cerebellum, important for memory, attention, decision making, body position sense and language.

Children begin to crawl between 7 – 11 months. We want to see children develop at their natural pace and not push them to do things before they are developmentally ready. So with that in mind it is important not to encourage your child to walk to early, we suggest resisting the urge to stand your child up before they are ready and limit the use of jumpers and walkers

Crawling development starts with a child lifting their head and chest off the ground. Next they will pivot in circles pushing up with their hands and feet. They then begin to do the commando crawl pulling themselves forward dragging their tummy along the ground. This movement then becomes hopping forward with their tummy coming on and off the floor. At this point and a great sign to look for is the rocking back and forth while on hands and knees, this will develop just before they begin to creep forward – you now have a mover on your hands

What to do if your child is not crawling

👉 Talk to your local family Chiropractor who can assess the nervous system, spine, pelvis and hips ensuring the communication pathways between the brain and body are clear and connected

👉 Play as much as possible with your child on their tummy – use toys they love to engage head movement and encourage them to reach and move to get objects

👉You can help brain and body connection by placing your child on their back and bring the opposite arm and knee together in a cross body rhythm

👉 If they they have started walking encourage them to play games the get them back down on all fours