TTMA crawling before walking

[chickypoo2468]

O's PT keeps saying how important it is for him to crawl before he walks bc of the cognitive benefits. And I understand this. But at what point do you say hey, maybe we're holding him back, let's work on the walking thing too?
She does occasionally have him stand for a minute. But not often.
I can't help but wonder, does he need that step even more because of his cognitive delays, or does it really not matter in the grand scheme of things because there are already cognitive issues? She's been saying he's "almost there" for months. But I just don't see him developing the coordination anytime soon. The poor guy can't even make food end up in his mouth because his arms go the wrong way. He's getting better at pushing up on his belly but he can't get his legs and his arms both under him at the same time. At what point do you kind of accept it and move to other things? He doesn't pull to stand and doesn't step, I can kind of lean him against the couch or windowsill but he doesn't know to hold on so he just picks his hands up and falls. He has zero balance. He also isn't sturdy on his feet so he just leans to the side or falls back.

[brachysira]

I didn't know there was an official position on that. MIL says DH walked and didn't crawl and he's adequately coordinated. My weak preemie loved to walk around with us holding her hands before she crawled and that's supposed to be bad for walking but she just was so curious and didn't want to wait to walk to get where she wanted. She knee walked forever and the pt didn't care--said she was good at it and so had no motivation for walking. I think if you want to let him put weight on his legs that's probably fine unless there's a more specific reason the pt says not to do it. However, I don't think you need to "work on" walking.

[Deleted]

To be perfectly honest I really don't know. I do know that crawling is not really considered a milestone and can vary quite a bit- army crawl vs regular crawl. One kid crawled maybe 5 months before she walked. My other kid crawled late and it was only 2 months before he walked.

Can you get a second opinion or ask the pedi what they think? I suppose since crawling is not considered a true milestone there might be a small percentage of kids that go right to walking. I imagine that number is pretty low though. Balance issues would swing me to crawling but I can understand your frustration if he isn't making progress with either.

[chickypoo2468]

I wasn't aware that crawling wasn't a milestone. I remember reading that kids that skip it tend to do poorer in certain subjects.

[chickypoo2468]

And if he's going to ever walk, it will be something we have to actively work on. He won't step or anything.

[akafred]

I have heard this in the s/n community. Not positive but I think it is at least partially because of the opposite hand/feet thing and brain connectivity between the two sides of the brain that is lesser in walking.

Outside of s/n it seems to be less of an issue. I know several people who walked before crawling who seem no worse for wear, including one very NT very athletic and bright nephew (possibly my only fully NT nephew tbh; I have a couple with ADHD, one with ASD, one profoundly gifted and a couple gifted but not highly, and a couple who are ASD-ish; not enough for dx probably but also not really NT).

[chickypoo2468]

Nov 3, 2016 14:56:54 GMT -5 lfigge said:

My daughter did not do a traditional crawl until she was 13 months old. Prior to that she puled herself around using her arms and scooting. Then she did not walk independently until 2 years and 3 months old. He PT also told us it was important for the crawling to happen. I copied and pasted everything below this...but it is basically what both our PT and Neuro have told us in the past.

There is growing evidence that crawling plays a role in the development of an infant’s strength, balance, spinal alignment, visual-spatial skills, and socio-emotional development.

Crawling engages the baby’s whole body. When a baby crawls, he has to use his arms and legs to lift his trunk off of the floor. While working against gravity to move about, he is strengthening the muscles in his trunk, shoulders, arms, legs, and hands. Holding his wrists in an extended position and bearing weight on his hands while crawling develops the arches in his hands, influencing fine motor skill development. The action of crawling also plays a role in forming the curves of the spine, which are important for future spinal function.

When a baby crawls in the traditional manner, the right and left sides of the brain and body must work cooperatively together. This action is called cross-lateral integration, and it builds a foundation for skills that require motor coordination. However, many infants get around by rolling, bottom scooting, or crawling commando-style, and that is just fine. You can always play crawling games with your child later on to provide experience with cross-lateral integration.

Obviously, there are many children who completely skip the developmental stage of crawling and never have any problems later in life – yet it’s evident that crawling has the potential to impact many facets of the developmental process.

O doesn't do any sort of crawl at all at just over 15 months. He does roll but he does it rather haphazardly around the room.

If he wasn't so delayed in all the things I wouldn't even be worried about it.

[toastie]

Crawling isn't considered a milestone if a child skips it independently, however, it's still very important. It strengthens brain connections across midline, it strengthens reciprocal motion, etc. it's important for hand eye coordination too

My oldest crawled at 21 months. Walked at 3.5. My youngest crawled at 18 months and at 4 still isn't walkmg.

There is also the idea that if they aren't crawling their core strength and reciprocal motion isn't developed enough for walking.

We have never had a PT encourage skipping crawling. However, we were encourage to practice walking simultaneously. My children spent time in their gait trainer walking around and we practiced standing while holding on.

[luvboston]

I am a mother of a boy who crawled then had a spinal cord injury then walked. It was imperative to build strength in his arms back that he crawl. When kids crawl they are building shoulder and arm muscles that are needed to do just about everything. At first he crawled with his fists down but even this was helping him. He is a kid with low tone. So I think it is important to crawl however if your child has hypotonia crawling may never happen and therefore walking makes more sense.
Also a shoulder brace was made to help support him in the early days when he only had 10% use of both arms perhaps this would be helpful for your lo.
I never crawled and am terrible at spacial things and puzzles.

Again you could get a second opinion from the dev ped or another therapist.

[greysonsmom]

I never realized crawling was so important to somewhat recently. DS barely crawled, he started working on standing and cruising before he could figure it out. He maybe crawled for a month before he started walking. Only recently I come to find out how I should have encouraged him more. His OT told me there could have been a correlation between almost skipping over crawling and sensory processing disorder, which includes motor planning. Crawling takes much more motor planning than waking because you have to coordinate your arms and legs together. I never really thought of that until it was pointed out to me.

[chickypoo2468]

See and he still has that ATNR so he's got that as an obstacle. (Once he kept reaching for a bite of food that was in his hand and as he would lean in his hand would move away. It was so bizarre and I had no idea what was happening. He gave up trying to self feed a couple days later)
I do wonder too if he has motor planning issues.

But so where is the correlation? Like does the lack of crawling lead to SPD or spacial difficulties or are the kids who already have those issues in their genes more liable to skip crawling because it's too much/hard for them?

[greysonsmom]

Nov 3, 2016 20:58:41 GMT -5 chickypoo2468 said:

But so where is the correlation? Like does the lack of crawling lead to SPD or spacial difficulties or are the kids who already have those issues in their genes more liable to skip crawling because it's too much/hard for them?

I don't think the lack of crawling leads to SPD but from how it was explained to me from DS's therapist kids who have motor planning issues are more likely to skip crawling or only crawl for a short time.

[chickypoo2468]

Nov 3, 2016 22:01:45 GMT -5 greysonsmom said:

Nov 3, 2016 20:58:41 GMT -5 chickypoo2468 said:

But so where is the correlation? Like does the lack of crawling lead to SPD or spacial difficulties or are the kids who already have those issues in their genes more liable to skip crawling because it's too much/hard for them?

I don't think the lack of crawling leads to SPD but from how it was explained to me from DS's therapist kids who have motor planning issues are more likely to skip crawling or only crawl for a short time.

That's what makes sense. So then I keep thinking he's already got whatever issues he's got, and crawling won't fix it. But I suppose it can still help make it not so bad?

[Deleted]

chickypoo2468, I would tend to agree that it is not causing any issues, but could help with motor planning. I don't see why you can't also work on walking too though.