Crawling

Crawling

Crawling can be seen as our very first form of independent movement. The moment that a baby starts to crawl a world of possibility, opportunity and learning is opened for them. Hello to a whole new world of exploration – life’s best teacher! Crawling is a crucial developmental milestone as it forms the foundation for many skills. Crawling not only has physical benefits, but also cognitive and sensory benefits for your child.

Gross Motor Benefits of Crawling:

1. Proximal joint stability and strength – Crawling helps to develop stability and strength in the joints and muscles near the center of our body which we refer to as our proximal joints and muscles. These include the stomach, back, neck, hips, and shoulders. These are strengthened as your child bears weight on their arms and legs and must sustain themselves against gravity. This helps to provide a stable foundation for the further development of gross motor and yes, even fine motor skills.
2. Integration of reflexes – You might hear the words primitive reflexes mentioned when gross motor skills are analyzed in a child. When it comes to crawling – there are two specific reflexes that need to be mentioned. The first is the Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR). This reflex is present from birth and should normally be integrated by the time your baby is 6 months old. For a babies whose ATNR is not yet integrated you will notice that when they are playing on their hands and knees their elbow on the opposite side to which they are looking will bend. However, if this reflex is not yet integrated crawling will assist to integrate the reflex by giving your baby the opportunity to turn their head from side to side whilst scanning their environment as well as reaching for objects in front of them instead of to the side.
3. Transitioning between positions – In order for a baby to successfully crawl, they start to experiment with transitioning between different positions which requires shifting their weight and rotating their trunk. This ability to transition between positions allows the child more freedom when engaging in critical play activities. These transitions also allow your baby the opportunity to develop more dynamic movement in the trunk, pelvis, and shoulder all of which are required for later motor skills such as playing on a playground and throwing a ball.
4. Bilateral-Coordination – As we grow our body needs to learn how to coordinate both sides of itself together to produce planned controlled movement. This skill is known as bilateral-coordination. In order for this skill to develop the two sides of our brain need to start talking to each other. This communication is made possible by a part of the brain called the corpus callosum. When babies start to crawl, this part of the brain is activated assisting the two sides of our brain to communicate with one another. Thus, the more time a baby spends crawling, the stronger this communication becomes. This assists them to execute activities requiring the two sides of our body to work together. These activities include clapping, dressing, catching a ball, and even scholastic tasks such as writing

Fine motor benefits of crawling:

1. Lengthening of the finger flexors – When babies are in the hands-and-knees position we often see them rocking backwards and forwards. This movement starts to work on lengthening the long finger muscles also known as the “extrinsic finger flexors” in the child’s hands which are critical for a functional grasp. This 4-point kneeling position also helps prepare the wrist to be able to move in a full range of extension which is crucial in supporting the hand when grasping objects.
2. Development of the hand arches – Take a close look at your hand and you will see that there are areas of your hand that are more raised than others. These arches are important as they help the hand to form correctly around different shaped and sized objects when grasping. So you might be thinking, what does crawling have to do with the arches of the hand? Interestingly when a child is in 4-point kneeling, and they rock backwards and forwards they are actually developing the vertical arches of the hand. And when they are rocking side to side they are developing the horizontal and diagonal arches of their hand. How cool!

Sensory Benefits of Crawling:

1. Development of the visual system – I know it seems strange that a skill involving the arms and legs could possibly have any effect on your baby’s ability to see, but you will be surprised to know that it in fact does! Crawling helps to strengthen your baby’s neck and eye muscles. As they crawl and need to look around them, they develop the ability to stabilize the image that they are seeing. Whilst moving through the environment on their hands and knees, babies are developing their understanding of spatial awareness and visual perception. These skills assist them in being able to accurately interpret what they are seeing.
2. Development of the vestibular system – Our vestibular system is located in the inner ear and assists our bodies with understanding movement and balance. It also assists in developing muscle tone, postural control, and visual skills. When a baby is crawling and rocking backwards and forwards, they are providing their vestibular system with lots of information to process therefore providing amazing stimulation.
3. Development of the tactile system – As a baby crawls over different surfaces including tiles, grass, sand, and carpets they are challenging their tactile system to process the different textures.

As you can see there are so many benefits to crawling, and this blog post has only touched a few. With this being, please don’t panic if your child never crawled, in fact, I never did and I turned out alright. This blog is just to help bring your attention to the benefits of crawling and to encourage your child as much as possible to reach this crucial developmental milestone.