Crawl

Crawl Means the movement of the baby on hands and knees, whereby the child lifts his body off the floor. Crawling is a milestone in child development and the precursor to walking upright.

What is the crawl?

For the child, crawling is the first possibility of independent locomotion. Crawling usually starts with the baby turning on itself. Robben is a preliminary stage to crawling. Here, the child pulls himself on his stomach with his arms across the floor. After that, it begins to lean on hands and knees. From this position, they practiced pushing their knees and moving forwards or backwards.

The time when crawling begins varies from baby to baby. As a rule, the first attempts at crawling begin between the ages of six and nine months. At around one year old, the baby has mastered this technique properly. There are also children who don't crawl at all, but rather pull themselves up on furniture and start running without a crawling phase.

If the child has already practiced the prone position, they can also use their arms to push themselves off the floor. It lifts the chest and head and strengthens the muscles that are necessary for crawling.

Function & task

The developmental steps of a child's locomotion are turning, crawling and running. With the onset of the age of cables, times are restless for parents, because now the child can hardly be stopped and many things within their reach can be a source of danger.

When the baby starts crawling between the sixth and ninth months, it strengthens the muscles of the arms, legs and back. This allows him to stay level on all fours. If the baby realizes that it can even make rocking movements with propped up arms and knees, it crawls in a coordinated manner, i.e. it moves the left arm and right leg forward at the same time or vice versa.

Like running in a horizontal position, crawling is important for child development because it strengthens the muscles of the arms, head and back. The sense of balance and coordination are also trained. A child who crawls well later learns to walk without any problems.

The diagonal movements when crawling are an important gross motor development step. Strength and gross motor skills are trained as well as the connections between the two halves of the brain, which control the cross-coordination of arms and legs. Training the right and left hemispheres of the brain is the basis for learning many other skills such as reading and writing.

Simultaneously with mobility, the child's vision begins to improve. Its optical radius is getting bigger and stimulates the baby's curiosity. It can now also recognize objects that are further away and wants to reach them for research.

Crawling also sets in motion a number of psychological processes. The child learns that it is capable of independent locomotion and thus experiences freedom as well as insecurity. The baby can now even disappear from the mother's field of vision on its own. It's exciting, but also frightening.

For healthy development, it is important that parents give their child security during these discovery phases and always give them the opportunity to return to the protective lap. In addition, the apartment should be made crawling-proof, i.e. potentially dangerous things should be cleared aside and stair gates installed.

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Illnesses & ailments

Since humans are not machines, every child's development is different. There are no norms for when a child should crawl. However, parents quickly worry if their child starts certain developmental steps later than other children of the same age. Or they fear that crawling will not start at all. A child always has its own pace and crawling is only part of the overall development.

When learning basic motor skills, the sequence is crucial. If a development phase is skipped, deficits can, but need not, arise later. Crawling links both halves of the brain (bilateral integration) and trains coordination.

However, parents can encourage their child to crawl. The prone position helps to strengthen the arm and leg muscles. If you lay your child on their stomach, you can place toys in front of their face and thus stimulate their urge to move. By distributing favorite cuddly toys around the room, parents create an incentive to crawl towards these objects. When the baby reaches its cuddly toy, it has a great sense of achievement. However, these attempts should be accompanied.

However, there are developmental delays or disorders that require medical treatment. The disorders can be motor or neurobiological in nature. Physical limitations in small children can arise, for example, from malpositions of the bones or insufficiently developed muscles. The nerves may also have a part in it.

Furthermore, genetic diseases, viruses, tumors, ulcers and metabolic diseases can hinder normal child development. Weak spots in the brain can affect the muscles. Environmental toxins can affect the development of the child in all phases.

Premature babies are particularly prone to developmental disorders. If in doubt, consult a doctor. During the usual preventive examinations, the pediatrician carefully examines the age-appropriate development. If he notices deficits, further treatments, for example occupational therapy, are necessary.