Does it matter how your baby crawls?

Hi,

My daughter is 11 and a half months old and has recently learned how to crawl. It is not your standard crawl though, she pushes off with one foot and slides the other bent leg underneath, and uses the usual arm movements to get herself along. Her bottom is getting closer and closer to the ground so she may actually start bum shuffling while still using her arms.
My question is, does it matter how children crawl? I have read conflicting reports. Some say it doesn't matter how they move, only that they are trying to get mobile. Others say they will have difficulties if they don't do it the proper way.
She is developing normally in all other areas, and is pulling herself up onto her knees and is pushing her walker around and cruising the furniture. She is a bright and attentive little munchkin, so I find it difficult to imagine her life will be impacted in any way by crawling in this unusual manner!
Your opinions are invited,
Thanks for your time,
Stella'sMum

You can always teach her to crawl properly later on. DD dragged herself around on her tummy commando style for a few months before one day she just suddenly got up off her tummy and crawled properly! having wood floors probably didn't help, was too easy just to slide around on them! Lol.
You'll find she'll probably start crawling "normally" in her own time. DD has a friend a week younger than she is, and he used to crawl kind of like your DD, used one leg to push himself forward and pulled himself along with his arms.

as far as I am aware as long they eventually learn to crawl 'properly' they'll be just fine. My DS didn't learn to crawl properly until after he could walk. He bear walked (hands and feet only - we called it 4WDing).
It has to do with the neural pathways and their development but from my research it's not the order but the process.
Hope that helps.

Stella'sMum - my little girl who is now 18mo learnt to crawl this exact way you describe also!! I kept wondering when would she ever crawl 'properly' but turns out, that was just the way she wanted to crawl. I think as long as they are crawling (doesn't matter how!) then that's a good thing. She bum shuffled first to get around between 8-10.5mths (oh so cute to watch!!), and then 10.5mths she crawled and walked the day she turned 14mths exactly. She learnt to walk very quickly from that day on and ever since she's been walking, hasn't bothered crawling!! She never really liked crawling much I don't think!! And I think that's fine.
Very rarely will she be on her hands and knees and crawl, why crawl when you can walk?!?! :lol: but when she does, she does seem to do it properly these days which is good rather than dragging that leg hehe.

And my little girl is bright, biggest chatterbox EVER!, and ahead of many of her peers in lots of areas so don't worry your little one is just fine :hug:

I was worried about DD too, she was commando crawling only, but she was due to medical reasons, but the best piece of advice I got on here, and I can't remember who gave it to me, but they said "Have you ever met an adult who couldn't crawl properly?" And I stopped worrying, and DD started crawling "properly" not long after that!

DS has never crawled properly he crawled on hands and feet and my cousin crawled with one knee on the floor and the other leg straight

I had a friend over the other week, her little girl is the same age as your DD and she was crawling the same way as you described. She was funiture surfing and chattin g away, shes gorgeous and bright. I cant offer any more insight .... just wanted to share :)

As others have said, kids can learn to 'crawl' properly later if they need to. The developmental problem is if they don't learn to coordinate across the body properly as in left side right side movements and brain coordination ITMS. Most children who don't crawl properly will develop the skills later by just performing normal physical activity. For example, my DD was a bum-shuffler but at the age of 2 when she hadn't crawled for at least 10 months was suddenly very keen on crawling round like a tiger... right hand/left leg forward, left hand/right leg forward. I think the secret is providing lots of opportunity later on for your child to be physical and try out different physical activities to develop all of the skills they need.

The other thing is, if your DD gets to formal education like kindergarten and still has not mastered 'crawling' or has underdeveloped skills, an early childhood educator should easily be able to pick that up and teach skills necessary. My mother is a kindergarten teacher and has talked about having to take some kids back to crawling games etc as they show difficulties 'crossing the midline' (eg when painting a picture - they may paint with the right hand, but when working on the left side of the picture they will put down the brush in their right hand and pick it up in the left hand. In a normal situation, the child would simply lean across and paint on the left side with their right hand. crawling helps develop this ability to coordinate the sides of the body and the brain. )

My little sister never crawled, she bum-scooted. She didn't start walking til about 18 months, apparently bum-scooters don't feel the 'need' to walk like other bubs as they are already upright itms. She is now 11 years old and has always met her milestones.

DS1 comando crawled from 10 months till 13 months then started proper crawling, walked at 21 months!!!!!!! They are all very different in what they do how and when.

Try not to stress too much. By school they can all walk, talk etc!!!!!!!!!