Babies Skipping Crawling

[clutter]

My dd15 walked at 9 months. Never crawled (first time was at 18 months), hated belly time, hated being on the floor (I was ok with that, didn't want to clean it that well anyway! ). From about 3 months, no matter what you did with her, she tried to practice standing and walking. Sit her on your lap, and she'd be pushing those little legs against yours trying to get up. At about 6 months, I decided to let her practice walking, holding her under her armpits, for as long as she wanted. Two hours! Loved the walker. Once she conquered walking, she settled down and decided to do other baby things that she'd passed on in her determination to walk. To this day, she had an incredible determination when she decides that she REALLY wants to do something. Too bad it's not always school.

As for disabilities, her ADD tendencies tend to mirror mine: procrastination and inability to focus at the beginning of a task. No problem with math, she's advanced in that.

 

[weluvdisneyx4]

My DD started walking at 9 months w/out ever crawling and it was right at Thanksgiving! I was so worried about the Christmas decorations, but she never really bothered them. She is a smart girl and good athelete in several sports, so I don't really see a problem w/ the comparison of not crawling...I never heard that before.

DS started walking about 10 months if I remember correctly...he did crawl for a bit.

 

[Piper]

Both my son and granddaughter walked at 8.5 months. They did everything early--sitting, crawling, pulling up, talking, reading, etc. They were just quick to learn. Unfortunately--that also included climbing (as well as climbing out of bed.)

My daughter was born 3 months early and has mild CP. She walked as soon as they gave her orthodics that supported her ankles and feet. She was 17 months old. She took her first steps in the shoe store as soon as they put the special shoes and orthodics on her! (Have you ever seen a mother crying in the middle of a shoe store!?!) She needed speech therapy because of uncooperative muscles and she also wore glasses. She did read before starting school. This was 45 years ago. Now they are much quicker to give babies the aids they need.

 

[undertheradar]

My oldest walked at 6 months, middle at 9 months and the youngest at 12 months. The youngest took her time because her sibblings were too busy getting everything for her!

 

[Pigeon]

I have one who never crawled. She was a butt-scootcher. She could move much faster using her legs and still have her hands to get into stuff, so it seemed to work pretty well.

My pediatrician said the whole crawling is a vital part of child development thing has been pretty well debunked.

Dd developed perfectly normally and never showed any signs of ADHD or slumping or any of the other things on that list.

 

[badblackpug]

I have one who never crawled. She was a butt-scootcher. She could move much faster using her legs and still have her hands to get into stuff, so it seemed to work pretty well.

My pediatrician said the whole crawling is a vital part of child development thing has been pretty well debunked.

Dd developed perfectly normally and never showed any signs of ADHD or slumping or any of the other things on that list.

Take this for what you will, because my kids are still preschoolers, but my daughter who never crawled is very layed back, my son, the crawling fool, is the hyper one. He is the one that was climbing everything, including out of his crib at 14 months.

Both of my kids have met all their developmental milestones on target, and both, according to their teachers, do well in preschool.

 

[Pigeon]

Take this for what you will, because my kids are still preschoolers, but my daughter who never crawled is very layed back, my son, the crawling fool, is the hyper one. He is the one that was climbing everything, including out of his crib at 14 months.

Both of my kids have met all their developmental milestones on target, and both, according to their teachers, do well in preschool.

My non-crawler is now 15. I wouldn't describe her as laid back though, I'd describe her as a teenaged girl!

 

[LilyWDW]

I was crawling at 9 months. Didn't set me back in anything else. I was also reading and talking early.

As someone said before, it's not like the kids are reading the "What to expect" books when they decide to do something. Remember, a lot of that is AVERAGES. That means you will have those doing things sooner and later. Plus, you will also have outliers that can skew the data.

 

[katrina1122]

I skipped it.

My mom said I started to try and crawl and would use my hands to drag me forward. One knee in a crawl position, the other leg out straight behind me dragging. She called it the "wounded soldier"

Aparently it was too difficult for me so about 2 weeks later i just started walking.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

I skipped it.

My mom said I started to try and crawl and would use my hands to drag me forward. One knee in a crawl position, the other leg out straight behind me dragging. She called it the "wounded soldier"

Aparently it was too difficult for me so about 2 weeks later i just started walking.

That's exactly what my younger DB (23 in a few weeks) did. "Wounded soldier" - perfect description!

 

[DarthMama]

My older child did -- he would roll everywhere (most often, under the couch) and then he started walking. He walked for a few days and then he went right to SPRINTING. Oh, those were tiring times! And he learned to walk at 10 months. Very tiring times.

My daughter was a speed crawler -- she could crawl almost as fast as I could run. It was a relief when she learned to walk (also at 10 months) because that slowed her down, at least for a little while.

 

[married2mm]

Not very common. But I thought I read somewhere that crawling is a huge link to development later in life.

There is an interesting theory about a link between lack of crawling and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. It all has to do with a reflex we are born with called the "symmetric tonic neck reflex" (STNR). This reflex helps us operate our upper and lower body independently. Usually this reflex is inhibited, or matures, between nine and twelve months. When a child gains independent control of his or her neck, arms and legs, the STNR is matured. This can be achieved through alternate hands and knees crawling for at least six months. When this reflex does not integrate, some of the symptoms are:

Tendency to slump when sitting at a desk
Difficulty keeping bottom in seat and feet on the floor when sitting at a desk
Poor eye-hand coordination
Slowness at copying tasks
Difficulty copying from a blackboard while at a desk
Difficulty with vertical tracking (important for math equations)
Poor attention
Clumsiness

my ds experienced/experiences all of the above.

he was delayed with all of his childhood development.
he did not crawl at all,"walked" on his knees,then finally got up and walked.

 

[akcire]

My daughter has speech delays and general oral motor issues - crappy nurser etc. We did extensive evaluations about 8 months ago. The developmental therapists were very happy to know my daughter did crawl before walking. They told me it was absolutely an important step. There are kids who are fine without crawling, but not crawling often goes along with other issues.

I am happy to report my kid just talks funny. Speech twice a week starting at 17 months, after 4 months we have added 100 words but no one else understands her.

 

[aristocatz]

Thanks for the feedback.

God bless you posters who's children learned to walk at 9-10 months! Though, maybe if that happens with my daughter, I will lose the rest of my pregnancy weight much quicker than anticipated lol

I did wonder if skipping crawling has anything to do with babies being less on their belly these days. My daughter is 3.5 months old & lasts about 5-7 minutes at tummy time before she starts fussing. She will, however, lay on her tummy on top of DH or I for much longer.

 

[quentina]

Not sure if it is common but, my oldest did it. He stood up and walked at 8 months....no crawling at all. I remember trying to push his butt to make him move LOL.....

 

[CammelleandBre]

My dd was an early crawler around 5 months, and she was walking by 9 months. But she didn't get any teeth until she was 13 months old. So sometimes if they are fast in one area, they are slow in another.

 

[BrerMom]

Not very common. But I thought I read somewhere that crawling is a huge link to development later in life.

There is an interesting theory about a link between lack of crawling and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. It all has to do with a reflex we are born with called the "symmetric tonic neck reflex" (STNR). This reflex helps us operate our upper and lower body independently. Usually this reflex is inhibited, or matures, between nine and twelve months. When a child gains independent control of his or her neck, arms and legs, the STNR is matured. This can be achieved through alternate hands and knees crawling for at least six months. When this reflex does not integrate, some of the symptoms are:

Tendency to slump when sitting at a desk
Difficulty keeping bottom in seat and feet on the floor when sitting at a desk
Poor eye-hand coordination
Slowness at copying tasks
Difficulty copying from a blackboard while at a desk
Difficulty with vertical tracking (important for math equations)
Poor attention
Clumsiness

I skipped crawling but I strongly suspect it had something to do with my mother supporting this. She was very competitive and what I get from pictures she seemed to have helped me walking by holding my hands I guess mainly in order to show others how advanced I was . (she also wanted me to sit my daughter up before she was ready and stuff like that)

I have two friends who are teachers and they told me both that crawling is important for brain development, something to do with coordination?
There are exercises spefically for children who might be lacking in this area because they skipped crawling. If they have a kid in class who seems to have difficulties with coordination and other stuff, they those exercises with them a lot.

I wouldn't so much say they are too stupid but as I tell everyone, I would NOT wish an early walker on anyone!!! My 2nd one walked at 9 months. My MIL told me my DH walked at 9 months....I thought she was going a little senile. She told me this when my oldest was about 9-10 months and she wasn't even close to walking.

THEN....I got one. My oldest son did give me a hint in the hospital when he tried to crawl off my shoulder a couple of hours old -- newborns should NOT be able to do that.

He basically got moved to the 18 month old room in daycare since he was attempting to climbing on the other babies! YIKES!!! He was way too mobile for the room he was in even though he was the correct age.

I was never so happy in my life when my 3rd child wasn't close to walking early!

I have read that crawling is a developmental stage but it's not like you can do anything about it if they decide they are going to skip crawling so they can be off running/climbing on everything before they are even a year old. THESE are the children those harnesses were made for -- since he was walking so early, had running down early too and could be gone in a flash when something caught his eye. That boy always kept me on my toes when younger...it does get easier when they get older for that.

My daughter has speech delays and general oral motor issues - crappy nurser etc. We did extensive evaluations about 8 months ago. The developmental therapists were very happy to know my daughter did crawl before walking. They told me it was absolutely an important step. There are kids who are fine without crawling, but not crawling often goes along with other issues.

I am happy to report my kid just talks funny. Speech twice a week starting at 17 months, after 4 months we have added 100 words but no one else understands her.

Most kids that skip crawling will continue to develop just fine. SOME may have trouble because of it.

I remember reading research about kids that were having trouble learning to read and speaking. The parents were to told to work with the kids on crawling. After they could crawl WELL, then start teaching them to learn to read again. (Speech therapy never stopped.) In the research studies I read at that time, it was successful with those kids.

I also found this:
http://www.hoofbeats.us/cross-hemispheric-intergration/

 

[HannaBelle]

Not very common. But I thought I read somewhere that crawling is a huge link to development later in life.

There is an interesting theory about a link between lack of crawling and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. It all has to do with a reflex we are born with called the "symmetric tonic neck reflex" (STNR). This reflex helps us operate our upper and lower body independently. Usually this reflex is inhibited, or matures, between nine and twelve months. When a child gains independent control of his or her neck, arms and legs, the STNR is matured. This can be achieved through alternate hands and knees crawling for at least six months. When this reflex does not integrate, some of the symptoms are:

Tendency to slump when sitting at a desk
Difficulty keeping bottom in seat and feet on the floor when sitting at a desk
Poor eye-hand coordination
Slowness at copying tasks
Difficulty copying from a blackboard while at a desk
Difficulty with vertical tracking (important for math equations)
Poor attention
Clumsiness

Wow, I have never heard of any of this.

My DS19 didn't really skip crawling, he just walked at a very early age. He was 7 months when he took his first steps and was running by the time he was 8 months old.

He literally was born with the ability to stand and started taking steps (while holding our fingers) when he was 4 months. He does not have any of the above issues.

My second was 10 months when she took her 1st steps.

While I would not sweat the small stuff in terms of time frame of walking it looks like not crawling could be very detrimental to development.

 

[PatsGirl]

DS took his first steps on his first birthday but could talk in full sentences at 18 months. He was a tiny little thing so everyone thought he was a genius lol. DD walked at 8.5 months but didn't talk well until more than three years old. The doctor said that babies develop one skill at a time, perfect that skill, and then move on to the next one. My biggest problem was with DS climbing. He started climbing out of his crib at about 8 months. I'd hear a thump and he'd come crawling into the tv room I had to take him out of his crib before his first birthday. I also taught him to do the stairs on his bum because he was constantly climbing over the baby gates to get to them. Unfortunately, he roamed the house at night, once getting into the fridge and eating all the yogurt. When I woke up in the am, he was sound asleep on the kitchen floor covered in yogurt. Didn't sleep much after that night.

 

[badblackpug]

DS took his first steps on his first birthday but could talk in full sentences at 18 months. He was a tiny little thing so everyone thought he was a genius lol. DD walked at 8.5 months but didn't talk well until more than three years old. The doctor said that babies develop one skill at a time, perfect that skill, and then move on to the next one. My biggest problem was with DS climbing. He started climbing out of his crib at about 8 months. I'd hear a thump and he'd come crawling into the tv room I had to take him out of his crib before his first birthday. I also taught him to do the stairs on his bum because he was constantly climbing over the baby gates to get to them. Unfortunately, he roamed the house at night, once getting into the fridge and eating all the yogurt. When I woke up in the am, he was sound asleep on the kitchen floor covered in yogurt. Didn't sleep much after that night.

LOL I think your kids are my 2 younger kids. My daughter talked so early and so well people always thought she was way older than she was. I attributed that to the fact that my older two kids were 7 and 10 when she was born, so she was surrounded by talking.

My son was climbing out of his crib (actually climbing everything) at 1. He was a crawling fool, and he crawled fast, he really didn't start walking he started running. ....and he is still running.