walking before crawling - is it bad?

DD is 7 months, since xmas she has been doing a caterpillar type crawl (her arms go first, then her legs catch up, then her arms again - its kinda looks like the butterfly swim stroke!). Anyway, she loves being on her legs and is already pulling herself into a standing position, and takes steps if you are holding her. DH was lying on the floor and she used him to pull herself up and then stepped herself from his upper chest to his lower legs. If she's in a crawl position, she pushes up onto her feet and tries to move that way. My Nanna said to MIL that it looks like she will be walking before crawling properly, and MIL said "oh no, you can't let her do that, it'll affect her development". Will it? Does it matter if she skips a stage? Its not like we can stop her doing it, although maybe we shouldn't be encouraging her to be on her feet just yet?

Hi SammyRo,
Without meaning to be rude, but your MIL's statement is absolutely ridiculous!!
There are no particular stages that children must adhere to or else they'll have a stunted development! They are just the average stages of progress!
It's fantastic that your little one is walking already!!
A friend of mine's son walked at 11 months - and that was considered early - so congrats!!
The only "problem" with her walking so early is that you'll be running after her a lot earlier!
By the sounds of it I would take everything your MIL said with a grain of salt!
Take care :)

She will either walk or crawl when she is ready to do either - whichever may come first. Oskar never crawled... he actually got around doing the bum shuffle and then walked at 15 months and crawled (playing around on the floor) probably at around 17/18 months??? I found it quite funny to see him actually crawl. So, in my opinion, no it won't hurt her. She is still using both sides of her brain to do what she is doing now. It's funny how our mother's and MIL's are so hell bent on things HAVING to be done certain ways in certain orders. My mother was trying to FORCE Oskar to clap and crawl at 5 months old and I'd have a baby very upset and crying whilst telling my mother off and to leave him alone. I think she's doing just fine!

Just a quick reply...

There is alot of talk that while it's not bad as such, it's not ideal that a baby walks before crawling. Even if a baby crawls backwards, it's fine. This is because the cross-coordination of crawling is important in the development of right-brain and left-brain communication. Another reason that early walking isn't advised is because their little pelvic floors aren't strong enough to support their pelvic/abdominal organs yet, which may lead to continence issues later in life.

That said, I think all those "normal" milestones are pretty outdated, babies are much healthier and stronger than even a few generations ago. However, 7 months is still pretty young to be fully weightbearing (ie. standing).

Sorry for just blurting that out (am about to head out the door!), and I hope it doesn't alarm you! In short, no it's not terrible for your DD to be upright but perhaps try not to encourage it just yet.

HTH! xo

There was a thread about this last month: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...-crawling.html

FWIW my DS was doing what your DD is doing and finally got the hang of crawling at 8 1/2 months. He was always wanting to be on his feet and would try and walk from as early as three months if we were holding him stand.

He was a bub that would constantly pull him up on us, and do his not quite crawl to my knee and get up. He did crawl, but that has been shortly followed by the ability to now pull himself up onto objects and he can also take up to ten steps on his own. Not sure how long it will be before walking.

So she may cral, just wait and see, and enjoy her while she is little! Encourage her to crawl with balls - we have heaps of the rollarounds and also a ball with blue water and a duck inside it that he used to avidly chase after.

Hi again,
I'm not sure if this means much but my DH never crawled as a bubba and went from bum shuffling to walking - and he's a really intelligent bloke. He's a software engineer for defence - I certainly don't think his lack of crawling ability meant anything for him in terms of lack of intellect.
My 2 c worth!

OMG. What a load!!

SammyRo, you are the victim of those snippets of advice from your MIL we all just love as mothers. You know, the ones that make you feel completely guilt ridden, when 5 minutes before the advice you were feeling great about life. Don't listen!!

Crawling exercises the right and left brain. If your DD walks before crawling she will find some other way of exercising and developing her right and left brain. What are you going to do about it?? Knock her down?? Let her go. If she wants to walk - be free!!!!!!

I had the other worry - my DS didn't walk until he was 21 months old. You should have heard the advice and idle gossip getting around the place then!! PAINFUL! Now, he runs everywhere.

People like you MIL just need to be quiet and observe. She will probably crawl, even if she walks first. She'll do what she does. Can you tell this sort of stuff makes me slightly angry??

Hi SammyRo,

It really doesn't matter at all if your bubba skips a bit of crawling, all babies are different, it doesn't mean anything is wrong.

There isn't any certain age either at which babies should or shouldn't walk, some babies do it much later than others. I was walking at 8 months and skipped a lot of the crawling stage whereas my brother didn't walk till 16 months.

Grandma's, MIL's, and mothers often have old-fashioned misinformed ideas, If your daughter is doing it, then it's fine, just like you said it's not as if you can stop her from developing in her own natural time.

Sounds like she is going to be a busy little bee!

My DS was the same, he was weightbearing and trying to walk with us holding his hands at only 4 months. Commando crawling at 6 months and pulling himself up and cruising around the furniture by 8 months. Everyone thought he would be an early walker and skip crawling but he asn't. He eventually started proper crawling at 11 months and walked at 14 months.

Don't worry about it (lol says the mum who did worry!). She will do everything in her own time. And bad news for your MIL, you can't stop babies from walking anymore than you can MAKE them walk. If they are ready, they're ready and if they're not, they won't.

And my DH was a bottom shuffler too, never crawled and he is far from slow, believe me.:rolleyes: