Have Knees Will Travel

Have Knees Will Travel

Nothing will satisfy. On the back? Nope. Under the activity gym? Uhuh. How about the bouncy chair? No! Absolutely nothing seems to make Julia happy. What can be wrong?

Babies begin to crawl between six to nine months of age, (although with the new guidelines where they are not left on their tummies it is a bit later), and it is this frustration with being stationary that provides the drive to move. They see a toy and in the attempt to grasp it, find it is out of reach. They wiggle and squirm and cry. Finally as the leg, arm and shoulder muscles grow stronger, the baby attempts a new task. That of balancing on his/her knees, and rocking back and forth. They seem to enjoy this only temporarily though, for motion is really the goal and they won’t be completely satisfied until they are on the move. Lifting one chubby leg forward, then bringing the hand into play, then back to the other leg. Slowly they are moving. Each baby travels at his/her own pace, some actually go backwards rather than forwards in the crawl. Other babies cleverly decide they don’t have to crawl when rolling does the trick quite nicely. Either way don’t worry, little Julia will soon be into as much mischief as the other children in your play group.

             

Larger babies and are frequently a little later in their crawling skills and premature babies often have a different milestone. Sometimes a baby may be focused on another activity rather than crawling and will turn his/her attention to crawling later.

Caution

Now that your baby is crawling, your house is in need of another check over. What do you see at his/her eye level that could be put into the mouth, tipped over, broken or fallen over. Stairs are a definite hazard so find those baby gates and be sure to have them properly installed, and toilets! Who wants a baby playing in the toilet; but worse yet would be for them to lose balance and fall head first and be unable to get their nose and mouth above water.

This age is a big caution and a big delight; get ready it’s just around the corner.

Bring to the doctor’s attention: A baby over twelve months that doesn’t show an interest in crawling or is moving legs and arms incongruous with each other.

http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/early-development/crawling.html

http://www.parents.com/baby/development/crawling/

http://www.babycenter.com/0_developmental-milestones-crawling_6501.bc