The 6 Stages of Crawling (And How to Help Your Baby Succeed!)

hello everybody and welcome to another video today we're gonna talk about the six stages of crawling now way back when my son was just a tiny little guy I remember being really curious about how and when he was gonna learn to crawl looked up all kinds of articles and videos but I never really found anything that broke it down step by step talked about how babies develop the skills and strength they need to crawl and when they're supposed to achieve each one of those milestones that's why I decided to make this video we're gonna go over all that in just a little bit but first a quick disclaimer keep in mind every baby is different so your mileage may vary and everything we're gonna discuss today is all based on our experience with our son Xander and how he progressed during his first year of life later on we'll give you some tips on how you can help equip your infant or newborn for success as they learn and grow into this new skill set so be sure to stick around to the end of the video now without further ado let's jump right into it that's right tell me time your baby starts from day one building those ever-important neck muscles that are gonna allow them to wield that gigantic head with that tiny little body this is the foundation the cornerstone without strong neck muscles and the necessary practice lifting and holding up their head for longer and longer periods of time it's going to take your baby a lot longer to crawl and to develop other ancillary skills like rolling over that's why it's pivotally important for you to give your baby adequate tummy time on a daily basis right from the start as soon as they're home from the hospital you should be making time in their daily routine to let them strengthen that neck spread out a nice thick comfy blanket on the floor lay them down on their stomach and let them try to move on their own they're gonna want to look around and even though newborns can't see very well at first they will still want to look for light patterns it won't be very curious to take it all in but they'll only be able to lift that head for a few seconds at a time at first so they may get frustrated and start to complain a bit as a parent it can feel a little bit like you're you know torturing them or something you don't have to leave them there too long but do give them a chance to struggle a bit it's just like when you exercise or go to the gym you need to feel that resistance but you're not gonna get any stronger right neither are they unless you give them the time to work on it until it becomes too difficult one thing you can do to help and to hopefully encourage them to extend their tummy time a little bit during those early days is to prop them up on a pillow like a Boppy so they're less face down and they can lift up and look around a little bit more easily another thing you can do is give them something interesting to look at Xander really liked the lights on his kick gym so he'd set it to play the songs on a loop and spin around so you could watch the keys light up he really enjoyed this and seemed to be almost awestruck by all the colors and the way they blinked and moved so once you've got a solid tummy time routine down you'll begin to notice your baby extending their tolerance and being able to prop themselves up first on their elbows and then on their hands and this is half the game right here once they're up on their hands their upper body is getting them conditioned to move on to the next step a major foundational element of your baby's journey toward crawling is their ability to roll over both from back to belly and belly to back Xander learned to roll from belly to back first then from back to belly but he'd mastered both these skills well before he started to crawl there was a span of several weeks where he got where he needed to go by actually rolling there he turned his head and locate something he wanted to get to then roll sideways across the floor until he got close enough to reach out and grab it [Music] sitting up on their own is a baby's first test of balance strengthening those lower back muscles holding their head up and looking around these are part of building that core strength and are a sign of a rapidly developing spinal column that's gonna provide that stable base for working on new skills using their arms and legs around the same time your baby is able to stay sitting up on their own you may start to see them pivot or rotate in place while they're on their tummy I remember how nice it was being able to put sander down and knowing that he was gonna stay in the same place if I looked away or took a few steps across the room for something but I got to a point where we'd set him down on his tummy next thing we knew he was facing the other direction once her baby has learned to pivot with their arms and legs it shouldn't be long before they're able to transition from tummy time to sitting up by pushing themselves into a sitting position Stage four is what we call rocking and planky here's where you'll first start to see your baby use those legs in a way that's going to prepare them for the new motion of crawling learning to crawl or walk is no different than any other physical skill that people develop throughout their lives whether it's riding bicycle playing an instrument or learning to play a sport the muscle memory has to come first because once that's there and you're able to perform those movements without thinking they become second nature so this rocking motion gets your baby used to not only moving their legs in that way but to balancing themselves in sustaining that motion over time and distance you may also notice your baby pushing themselves up into what's called a plank position or a push-up position in the weeks before they first start to crawl this exercise helps those little legs build stamina and when you see your baby raise their whole body up and hold that plank position for several seconds you'll know they're getting close not all babies spend very long in this stage and you may notice that your baby prefers rocking to planking or vice-versa but both positions are considered significant late stage signs your baby is getting ready to crawl and will be moving any day now [Music] after all the other stages in which your baby has worked to learn new ways of moving testing their limits and strengthening the many muscle groups required this is where all of those exercises first culminate an actual forward motion we were fortunate enough to capture Xander's first true army crawl on video and I remember bringing him home from daycare that day and when we had brought him there that morning he had never done it before and I I remember being so proud of him and so excited that he was finally starting to be able to move the way he wanted to because we'd watched him for so long get frustrated wanting so badly to go places without having to get there in a roundabout way like rolling so it was such an exciting moment when all that preparation finally paid off the style of this army crawl is such that your baby is using mostly their arms to move while propelling themselves with a little bit of leg strength the rest of the legs is gonna come in this final next step this is it a big show this is the hands and knees belly up off the ground crawl for a little while you may notice your baby breaking into a hybrid form of crawling where they're pushing themselves like they did in the army crawl and then rocking back on their knees and doing the full crawl intermittently maybe dragging their belly part of the timing and lifting it off the floor the rest this is part of that last stage of getting their stamina built up and sometimes depending on what they're wearing what type of surface they're on they may do it as a stability thing until they gain the confidence to stick to all fours either way this should only last a short while and before you know it they'll be in full hands and knees crawling mode taking off like a shot any chance they get getting into all kinds of trouble so congratulations you've got a crawler now hide all your valuables plug those electrical outlets put child locks on the cabinet doors in other words get ready for your little ones to get into anything and everything they can get their hands on we'll talk about child proofing in another video but keep in mind that the less familiar something is the more it may peak your baby's curiosity and the more that I want to go explore it and figure it out so it's likely you'll need to do some major reorganizing of your stuff from this point forward so now that we've talked about all the different stages of crawling let's talk about some ways that you can help your baby succeed first of all and we touched on this earlier tummy time is so important you can't stress this enough you need to get your baby on their tummy when they first come home from the hospital the first few weeks you know maybe once a day for five or ten minutes but then you need to amp up that time and continue to increase the span and the number of times per day that you're putting your baby on their belly so that they truly get that chance to build those muscles in the stamina that they're going to need tip number two this is also important if you have the opportunity let them play with kids who are a few months older than them we learn by doing but we also learn by observing I remember when I was a young musician with very little experience under my belt and I got the opportunity to play regularly with far more seasoned than experienced musicians I improved at my instrument much faster because I was forced to play up to their level same can be said of any sport or scale or area of knowledge in your life whatever it is that you want to be really good at you're going to improve more quickly when you surround yourself with people who are better at it than you are and finally tip number three praise them encourage them cheer them on give them all the support you possibly can now this may seem like a no-brainer because obviously as a parent you want to be supportive right but these little accomplishments and milestones are going to mean so much more to not only your child but to you as a family group when you apply positive reinforcement to build these memories and show your child from an early age that they are important to you that what they do matters and that you are there building up that scaffolding that's going to give them the support they need to be confident in themselves as they grow well that's all we got for you today thanks for watching guys if you're a new parent or you're about to be a new parent and you're feeling completely clueless and unprepared you're in the right place we're not experts we're just parents like you and we want to share our experiences with you in the hopes that they'll help you along on your journey through Parenthood so if you enjoyed this video subscribe for lots more baby things and we'll see you in the next one [Music]

Channel: Xander Torren

Views: 474,103

Rating: 4.8407593 out of 5

Keywords: crawling, stages of crawling, baby vlogs, babythings, growwithme, baby info, baby information, infant and toddler, stages of crawling baby, baby crawling stages

Id: caPPK77Io40

Length: 10min 19sec (619 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 16 2020