Tummy Time for Babies Who Don't Crawl

Why Do Some Babies Not Crawl and Does it Harm Development

Mar 30, 2009

At around six to ten months, your baby is likely to start crawling. However, some won't fit the pattern. What accounts for this? And does it matter?

One reason for babies not crawling, says paediatric physiotherapist Peta Smith, is the "Back to Sleep" campaign, aimed at ensuring that all babies sleep on their backs. "The Back to Sleep campaign is marvellous, and I support it one hundred per cent," she says. "But it's easy for very caring parents to misinterpret the advice, and to take it to mean they should never put their babies on their tummies". In fact, she says, it's positively desirable for babies to have "tummy time" so that they can build up their arm and upper body strength.

Margaret Barnes is a paediatric occupational therapist and co-creator of the "Wee Exercise" programme, designed to promote active play for babies through motion and sensory experiences. She also links a lack of "tummy time" to babies being less likely to crawl. "When a baby is on their tummy, they are strengthening their arms, hands, and shoulder girdle muscles to push themselves up against gravity. All of this repetition and practice eventually gets the baby up on all fours and in the crawling position".

Crawling and Development

However, Barnes believes that more than just body strength is at stake. "Crawling is also super-important for development and a lot of children miss this important skill".

Research by George Pavlidis and Timothy Miles has shown that developmental co-ordination disorders (ranging in severity from impaired motor skills to dyspraxia and dyslexia) may be related to a lack of the core stability that crawling gives a baby [Dyslexia Research and its Application to Education, 1987]. Of course, not all non-crawling babies will become dyslexic. According to statistics published by the Bristol Dyslexia Centre, however, around seventy per cent of dyslexics never crawled.

It appears that children need to be able to bear weight on their arms when they learn to form letters. "The early weight-bearing in the hands and through the shoulders helps the baby develop the arches in the hand which are precursors for handwriting and pre-writing skills," says Barnes.

Crawling has also been linked to later reading skills. Crawling uses cross-lateral motions which cross hemispheres in the brain. These cross-lateral skills are also used when reading as your eyes track across a page. Treatment for children with developmental co-ordination disorders often includes crawling and rolling over on the floor.

Genetic Influences

The vast majority of non-crawlers will of course develop perfectly normally. They may be slightly later walkers than the crawling brigade, but most delays are slight and will have disappeared by about 15 months. Many babies are born non-crawlers: bottom-shuffling, for instance, is an hereditary trait, and "tummy time" would make no difference.

If you're keen to encourage your baby to crawl, give him plenty of "tummy time" when you're watching him. If he dislikes "tummy time", try taking him to bed and putting him face down on your chest. He'll hold his head up to see you, but he'll also have the physical contact and warmth that he craves.

And if that fails and your baby just isn't interested in crawling? Well, if you're pretty sure he's otherwise developing normally, enjoy his relative immobility while it lasts. Because once he gets mobile, you'll really know about it ...

Interviews for this article with paediatric physiotherapist Peta Smith and paediatric occupational therapist Margaret Barnes were conducted by the author in November, 2005.

The copyright of the article Tummy Time for Babies Who Don't Crawl in Infant Toddler Development is owned by Rachel Ragg. Permission to republish Tummy Time for Babies Who Don't Crawl in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.