If your baby walks before he crawls, don’t be proud – be worried!

Case 1: ‘‘I (Wendy) was so excited when my son (Jake) started walking. In fact I don’t remember him crawling much. That was not a concern for me at that time. I thought the sooner he learnt to walk, the better. But suddenly she was shocks when their therapist said her son host of learning disabilities, including dyslexia, which might have linked to his lack of crawling. Unfortunately as time pass by she did not seek professional help until her son attend pre-school. Her son couldn’t master phonics, couldn’t read and couldn’t spell much. I was hoping he’d eventually mature and catch up with his peers- but he never did.’’

According to Yael Sasson, senior occupational therapist and director of Dynamics Therapy Centre Singapore, explains that the action of cross crawling – moving the right arm with the left leg, followed by the left arm with the right leg – helps the child to develop bilateral coordination. She adds that the crawling movement also helps to strengthen his upper girdle, which is important for developing his fine motor skills, such as writing. Crawling also develops the muscles needed for good neck and postural control. With crawling, you babies increased mobility also means he will be able to explore his surrounding more. This will helps to increase his learning experiences.

What mummies can do?

Give your baby tummy time. Regular supervised tummy time for babies, even newborns are recommended. This is an opportunity for them to learn to negate gravity and crawl. It can be at least 10 minutes a day and gradually increase.

According to Dr. Chong Shang Chee, head of Child development Unit of University Children’s Medical Institute at the National University Hospital of Singapore~ parents need be overly worried if their babies aren’t too enthusiastic about crawling. There are kids with normal development who didn’t get on all fours. Some babies prefer to bottom-shuffle-sit and shuffle along on their buttocks and the next thing you know, they start pulling themselves up to stand up to stand and walk. Usually, parents should be reassured if the baby is alert, curious and wants to move around in other ways. Most babies start crawling when they are seven to 10 months old. They start to pull themselves up to stand by eight to nine months and cruise along while holding on furniture at about 10 to 12 months. From year onwards, they can usually walk. If your little one is not meeting these development milestones, you may want to visit a paediatrician to see if the delay is due to neurological problems.   

While Yael adds, working with kids who facing developmental delay, such as coordination problems, visual-motor dysfunction and handwriting difficulties. Even they may not necessarily be less intelligent than their peers, these children often struggle with the school curriculum. This group would have typically skipped their crawling stages during babyhood!

Reference: Yan Shuwen, Young Parents (Singapore’s No.1 Parenting Magazine), July 2010.