Crawling is an important tool in helping children learn to cross their midline, as someone said some early walkers miss this stage but I'd be encouraging my baby to crawl first.

If you have concerns you can have your child assessed by a physio who specialises in child development (through a referral from CHN) and they can give you excercises to do. My SIL has had to do this with her DS in order to get him to sit indpendently and walk. Some kids take longer than others.

My DS was always falling over his own feet and had poor fine motor skills but he was always a big kid (110th percentile on the growth charts) and is just coming into his own now at 13. He crawled at 6mths and walked at 11mths. My DD crawled at 6mths and walked at 8mths and is well coordinated.