Crawling is a very important part of a baby’s development. Whenever a baby begins to crawl, it shows that the motor skills are developing properly in the baby’s brain and the baby has developed coordination skills of hand, legs, and eye. Some babies crawl at an early age and some do crawl at a later age and there are other kinds of babies who skip crawling and directly start to walk. But, in order how to teach your baby to crawl, you should look for the following signs like holding the head up properly, rolling over and sit.
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How To Teach Your Baby To Crawl
In order to make your baby ready for crawling you should follow the following things
- Lots of tummy time
- Active time on the floor
- Develop strength in your babies back muscles
- Comfortable place
- Carefully place your baby on the floor
- Move your baby on his tummy
Lots of tummy time
As the baby reaches the age of 4 to 6 months then the baby will start holding up his head and looking around. This is the indication that you can start tummy time with your baby. As such you can start tummy time earlier than 4 months but, at this age, the babies will find tummy time uncomfortable. After 4 months when you put the baby on the floor for tummy time you can start with a few minutes and then the baby will start enjoying it. The baby will slowly learn to lift up its head and look around and will be on the way of crawling.
Active time on the floor
It is good for the baby to sit down for some time, but, when the baby is awake and full of energy it is better that the baby spends more time on the floor having its tummy time because the more movement a baby does, the earlier he or she will learn to crawl.
Develop strength in your babies back muscles
In order for the baby to crawl it is important that the baby should learn to sit. Tummy time will help your baby learn to sit. The baby will learn to sit with support, but, if the baby tries to sit on his own put your hand behind its back and head. This will help in strengthening the back and muscles and will help in crawling also. Also, you can give a good massage to your baby to develop a baby’s body strength
Comfortable place
The kid should learn to crawl in a comfortable place that should not be very hard to hurt the kid and should not be too soft. A comfortable carpet over the hardwood floor will just be fine. The place where the baby is learning to crawl should be properly lit so that the baby does not doze off to sleep and also the baby will not get hurt.
Carefully place the baby on the floor
Once the baby is properly fed and is happy after about 10 minutes of feed place the baby on the floor carefully on his back. The baby will rollover or you can teach the baby to roll over. But, it is necessary to carefully put the baby on the floor so that the baby does not get hurt.
Move your baby on its tummy
Once your baby rolls over, you can help your baby move on its tummy. The baby should be able to support its head with his head and he or she should also have control over its hands and legs. If the baby is uncomfortable stop it immediately.
Teach Your Baby To Roll Out
In order to get your baby to crawl there are various different ways that you can follow
- Place your baby’s favorite toy at a few distances
- Let your baby crawl towards you
- Crawl beside your baby
- Encourage your baby after crawling
Place your baby’s favorite toy at a short distance
You can keep your baby’s favorite toy at a short distance and encourage your baby to move towards it by calling “come and get your toy”.
Let your baby crawl towards you
You can walk a little bit away from your baby and then let him or her crawl towards you. You can call out “come to mamma/daddy”.
Crawl beside your baby
Sometimes babies feel lonely while learning anything. You can crawl beside your baby and make it more fun to reach out to a toy or other parent calling out. The baby will love to imitate what you are doing.
Encourage your baby after crawling
Even if the baby does not try to crawl after you teach encourage the efforts made by the baby. Give the baby the toy that he or she was crawling towards and lots of love and kisses.
Exercise to help your baby to crawl
Also if the baby has not learned to crawl till the 9 or 10 months mark you can give the baby a few simple exercises while giving a good massage to the baby. While massaging, you can put the baby on its tummy across your legs. Then slowly lift up your knees so that the baby’s torso is lifted up and the baby is able to strengthen its hands and legs muscles. Also while the baby is having its tummy time you can lift up the baby’s torso and crawl with the baby. So, this is how your baby learns to crawl. But, you should also keep in mind the safety measures you need to take when your baby learns to crawl. Here are a few
Safety measures to take when your kid starts crawling
When the kid starts crawling, the kid will love to move around the house and enjoy the freedom. At the very same time, the kid will also start exploring and touching the other things around the house. These things may not be safe for the kid. Here are the areas you should cover for the kid’s safety and the safety measures to take when your kid starts crawling.
Areas to cover for your kid’s safety
- Bed and Crib
- Stairs
- Kitchen
- Electric Sockets
- Dining table
- Glass center table
- Loose dangling wires
Bed and Crib
When the baby starts to roll over and crawl, we should be careful while putting the baby on the bed. Be sure that the height of the bed is not too much. Also, make sure that you put a lot of pillows around the baby. The baby might wake up at any time and start crawling out of the bed and fall from the height. When the baby is sleeping in the crib, make sure that the crib is near to the bed and the sides of the crib are up. Always keep an eye on the sleeping baby and if possible put the baby’s bedding on the floor, so no chance of an accident.
Stairs
The baby will also start to crawl up on the stairs or try to come down. You will love to see your baby try to climb the stairs, but, make a point to always be with your kid when your baby is crawling on the stairs and coming down. If possible have a small door that gets bolted in the wall near both the end of the stairs. This way your baby can not crawl on the stairs.
Kitchen
Once your baby starts crawling, make sure that you have a small latch door outside the kitchen also. This way the baby can stand outside the kitchen, you can have an eye on your baby and the baby is also safe. You do not need to worry that the baby will go inside the kitchen and will get hurt or burnt.
Electric Sockets
Make sure that all the electric plug points are covered with plastic covers. The baby might try to put anything inside it and get a nasty shock.
Dining table
If you have a dining table at home then make sure that you do not put a table cover on it. The kid may take hold of the dangling end of the dining table cover and all the hot and the glass things can fall on the kid and the kid will get hurt.
Glass center table
If you have a center table at home, then make sure you put it in a corner. It should not be accessible to the kid. If accessible by the baby then make sure that the corners of the center table are covered by plastic protectors. There are chances that the baby might get hurt by the corners. Also, the baby might try to stand up holding the center table and the table might fall on the baby.
Loose dangling wires
Make sure that after using any electric equipment, it is stored in a proper place and the wires are not dangling. If the wire is dangling then the kid might go and pull the wire and the heavy electronic equipment might fall on the kid and the kid will get hurt.
So, these are some of the measures that I feel should be taken when the kid starts crawling.