The benefits of crawling

The benefits of crawling

We believe there are many advantages to teaching children how to crawl.

Crawling is an important part of the child's motor skills. It is very important that they gain the confidence and strength needed to make it easier for them to learn how to walk later on.

When the child crawls:

• The child trains to keep his head up, thus strengthening the neck and back muscles. This gives the child a good posture.
  
  
• The muscles in the arms and legs are strengthened, which is important to control arms and fingers to draw, cut, zip zippers, etc.
  
  
• The cross-movements provide small rotations in the spine for a smooth and natural upright walk.
  
  
• Research suggests that cross-movement promotes collaboration between the left- and right part of the brain. This is beneficial when the child needs to learn to write and read.
  
  
• The position of crawling encourages speed, confidence and determination, and when babies crawl, they become better at judging distance and speed.

To learn how to crawl, the child must feel safe on a firm surface. Lack of stimuli and optimal conditions can prevent your baby from learning to crawl. Many parents experienced that children easily slide and slip on wooden floors or carpets. It can therefore be beneficial to let them crawl on a yoga mat or use GoBabyGo crawl tights with rubber pads on the knees or GoBabyGo crawl kneepads if the child crawls outside to avoid cuts on the knees.

Easy tips and exercises for teaching babies to crawl

Learning to crawl requires good coordination and concentration for the child and it is important not to rush the child and not to get angry. It can be exhausting for the child to have to decipher what it is that mom or dad is trying to say.

The most effective way is to do the exercises every day, preferably several times a day, rather than doing exercises intensively for a long time.

1. Teach the child to lie on his stomach on a blanket. The very first thing every child must master before learning to crawl is to lie on its stomach. You get the best results if you talk to the baby and play with it when it's on its stomach.
   
   
2. Roll a beach towel into a sausage and leave the baby with its arms over the towel and let it get used to lying on the stomach. The arms should hang over the front of the towel. It should support the upper body, not the stomach. Elbows must be able to touch the floor – they should not hang in the air. The towel helps to raise the child's upper body so that the child has an easier time looking around and discovering the surroundings.
   
   
3. Place the child's elbows close to the body. Help the child to put pressure on the elbows. You do this by gently holding your baby on your elbows and pulling them towards the body. Let the child keep the pressure on the elbows while you give continuing support to the elbows with your hands.
   
   
4. Cross-exercises are some of the most important exercises in this stage of a child's life. With cross-exercises, the child strengthens his cross pattern, which is what it uses to crawl, but also when walking and running and later cycling, skipping etc. 
   
   
5. Let the child feel the ground. Today, our children are wrapped up most of the day. But in fact, it can be good to let the children move around on the floor with bare toes, arms, etc.
   
   
6. Movement, movement, movement. Before babies start crawling, many will typically be happy to be twirling, tumbling and mingling around. And that is very much encouraged. Inside the inner ear is the sensory organ, which contains a liquid. There is a unique connection between this liquid and the child's motor skills. It is therefore good for the child's motor skills to tumble, and it will also be beneficial for the child if you stimulate the movements further by e.g. rocking, swinging, alternating, rolling and doing other movements. Watch our motor skills videos here that help develop the child's motor skills and balance.
   
   
7. Your baby is copying you. Lie on your stomach with the baby and crawl around on the floor. When your child sees you crawling, it will try to do the same.

Every child is unique

We can't say it enough - every child is different. Some children will already start crawling when they are 5-6 months, while others will not crawl until they are 1.5 years old. Both is perfectly normal. The crawling may start to take off when one day something is tempting at floor height.

Praise, recognition, exercises and a safe environment are some of the most important things that can help the crawling learning process. And then patience. The most important thing is not just when your baby learns to crawl – at least as important is the process of how your child is learning it. It is crucial that your child has a good learning experiences and has developed a healthy curiosity for future learnings.

With the help of non-slip rubbers on the knees and on top of the toes, your child will find it easier to stand and easier to move forward when it doesn't slide and slip all the time. When the child stands firmly, it will quickly feel its own body, and become brave enough to explore the world even more.

If you have the feeling that your child is developing its motor skills slowly, discuss it with your doctor and healthcare provider. They can tell you where you might be able to get more guidance on the stimulation of your child's motor skills.

Safety Precautions

Be aware of new dangers that may lay all around the home when the child starts crawling around...

• Remember to block all stairs both at the top and bottom…
• Be aware of doorsteps, fireplace/stove, radiators, outlets etc.

Be aware that your child can often get around even before learning to crawl.

In other words, don't let the baby out of sight, even before it has learned how to crawl.

Good crawlin'! Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions info@gobabygo.dk