Crawling/tummy Time

He might not be ready to crawl. I thought my son was going to bypass the crawling stage completely but then one day at around 8 months he just took off. Now I can't stop him and boy is he fast. My son liked to be in his exersaucer and stand with help also.

The only thing I can say don't worry. My son who is 15 months only started walking before he crawled. He never wanted to do it. We tried everything. Just like you if we put him on his stomach he would start crying. After a while we just gave up. He always liked walking more. Since he was 8 or 9 months we would hold his hands and he walked. Now he does both. So don't worry.

Hi, J.. My question: do you feel in your "gut" that it's a problem your son isn't crawling? Go with you gut. My personal opinion is that it's a little early for him to crawl and he will do it in his own time. As long as he's healthy in every other way I wouldn't worry about it. It's easy to be overly conscious of the milestones and when your baby should be reaching them but remember that each child is different and their own person. He'll figure it out eventually! It's not uncommon for babies to dislike tummy time, just keep offering it and eventually all this worrying will be a distant memory, replaced with the worry of "what is he getting into now?!" Sit back and enjoy this time with your son! There's nothing better! And, to respond to your update, let him get frustrated. That's the only way he will figure out what to do with that leg. If you always help him out he will never have to figure out how to do it himself!

My son is almost 7 months old (6/6/06) and has been crawling for about a month. Sometimes when he wants to be lazy and not crawl, I try to put a bottle or a toy in front of him or even lay on the floor and have him crawl to the prize. Let me know how that works.

a lot of babies don't ever crawl, they just go right into walking, so i wouldn't try to 'make' him crawl if he doesn't want to. maybe he'll be an early walker :)

hi J.....I have heard and read that some babies completely skip the crawling phase and go straight to walking and that its completely normal. This may be the case with your son.

Hi J..
I wouldn't worry about crawling. All babies are different. My first son wouldn't crawl for ANYTHING and HATED tummy time. Screamed his head off. He never crawled and went to cruising around furniture by 9 months. He didn't start to walk without assistance until a year...it was difficult because he would want to hold onto my fingers ALL THE TIME and walk everywhere. Once he started walking, then he crawled. HA. go figure.

My second son liked tummy time and crawled (like a wounded soldier...always dragging one leg behind him. HA) It was interesting to me that he wasn't as interested in walking right away. He also started to walk at a year.

So all this to say, don't worry about it. 6 months is still very young. My little guy didn't sit up until 5 1/2 months. He didn't start crawling until he was about 8 months. They're all different. Oh, I would also help him if his leg gets stuck. :)

Hope that helps. You're doing a great job.

hi J. dont worry if your son does not want to crawl i have 3 kids and my two oldest hardly crawled at all they just started walking when it was there time.

From my experience with my 2 1/2 year old he never wanted to crawl he too went from sitting on the floor to at 11 months getting up and walking. Now that he has a little brother he will get down and show off by crawling but for whatever reason it was not something he had interest in when he was younger. Don't worry and you never know one day he might surprise you. These little ones do their own things. Enjoy

J.,
My first daughter did the same thing. In fact she only crawled for about two weeks and started walking at nine months. The first child tends to be an over achiever. She turned out fine, she's now 27 and has a two year old. Only use the baby books as a guide line, and remember they all have their own schedule.
C.

I wouldn't worry about getting your little one to crawl. My 2 boys didn't crawl until 11 months old, and then didn't walk until 15 months old. They are totally normal in development and are fine. My 7 month old daughter just sits there, and doesn't seem to have any interest in crawling...just reaching (amazing distances...lol) So have fun with him through each phase. It all just goes too fast :) Before you know it, he will be potty trained and starting school.

My son did the same thing when he was little. I didn't push him. That was one of the things I never wanted to do. All of a sudden, he just started walking. Skipped this whole crawling thing almost in its entirety. (He crawled backwards for a little while) Maybe your son will just start to walk rather than crawl? Hope a little of this was helpful to you...Good luck.

my son didnt crawl until he was 8 months old, only because he was concentrating on walking more. he walked at 9 1/2 months old. it was only after he walked that he started to crawl.he is now 19 months old and is fine.

Believe it or not, some babies crawl very little and get into standing and wanting to walk right from the start.
I would assume that the walker has something to do with this.
My son is now almost 4 months old, and has a huge preference to being "up" he likes to sit up on your lap, be held over your shoulder, or propped in a high chair, walker or anything else with a vertical back.

My son didn't start crawling until he was 9 mos old. There is no true "normal" for any baby. They all do things when they will do them. If he is cruising around on the furniture then he is mobile. Some babies never really crawl. Like I said there is no "normal" when it comes to kids.

you could try to get one of the boppy pilllows for tummy time, they have ones with toys attached, target has them.. or try brightly colored toys in a bucket that your son can move towards..

maybe he will just skip crawling..my nephew wasn't much of a crawler, he just went right to walking..

by the way. my daughter was born on june 11th, 2006!

My first son didn't crawl at all, ever. At around 7 months he began to ROLL across the floor. He'd get halfway to what he wanted on the other side of the room, look up, realign himself so he was aiming the right way, and continue rolling, it was kinda funny! "Educators" have said that crawling is necessary to train your brain to work and be a good reader, strange as this sounds. You use opposing hands and knees to crawl, and doing this action trains your brain for the "way" it works to read. Some adults who never crawled who cannot read are even taught to get down and crawl in an effort to help them to read! Bizarre as that sounds (I have a few teachers in my family, I, as you can tell, am not one of them! LOL) anyway, in the end, my son who never crawled is an avid reader, go figure! So there are always exceptions. Don't worry though, I now have 5 kids... and they all crawled at their own pace, eventually (except Tony, the roller). All at different times. Gina, my 2 year old, didn't crawl until she was around 8 months. Crissy was earlier, she was around 6 months. I think the more you make them have tummy time, crying or not, the more they'll develop the strength in their neck, arms, upper body, and the faster they'll crawl!