Childhood Fears. Your 4th of July Survival Guide. Getting Baby to Sleep. Skip to main content Skip to footer. Close Search Submit. Upcoming Events. Learning Center. Search Submit. Feb 23, Q: My 8-month-old isn't crawling yet. Read more about: Ages and Stages. Back to top. What to Watch For: You may notice that your baby's feet curve inward.
In most cases, this is quite normal -- another result of being cramped in the womb. If the bones are flexible enough for your pediatrician to gently pull the feet into a straight position, there's no need to worry, says Kristin Hannibal, MD, clinic director of the Primary Care Center at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. But if they seem rigid, you may be referred to a pediatric orthopedist.
Contact your pediatrician if by 3 to 6 months, your child isn't wriggling her legs, seems to flop in your arms, or she doesn't put her feet down when you try to support her in a standing position.
Sometime between 7 and 10 months babies get up on their hands and knees and begin to rock back and forth. This signals their readiness to start crawling. Of course, some kids find other ways to get around, such as scooting on their bottom. Whether babies crawl or not may be simply a matter of temperament. Indeed, some kids never crawl. It's usually nothing to stress over as long as they're meeting their other developmental milestones, such as pulling to stand, cruising on furniture, and using their hands properly, explains Dr.
What to Watch For: If your child can't support his body weight or doesn't have energy to move around, tell your pediatrician. Your baby may have low muscle tone when the brain doesn't send nerve impulses to the muscles or the muscles don't receive them, which can lead to muscle weakness or maybe he's not spending enough time on his tummy, says pediatric physical therapist Gay Girolami, executive director of the Pathways Center, in Glenview, Illinois.
Another potential red flag: Tell the pediatrician if your baby isn't scooting, rolling, or crawling at all by 1 year, or seems to favor one side, particularly if she's not meeting other developmental milestones, says Dr. This could be harmless, or it may indicate a neurological problem, such as cerebral palsy, which is diagnosed in about 8, babies annually.
Around 9 or 10 months, kids' curiosity motivates them to pull themselves up for a better view of the world. And by 11 to 12 months, they're generally taking their first steps while holding on to the furniture -- known as cruising -- or your hands.
During this period, you might also notice that her feet appear flat. That's partly because the arch hasn't entirely formed yet and because it's somewhat hidden by a fat pad, which disappears around age 2 or 3. While low arches in young kids are normal, feet that remain flat may need shoes with arch supports to encourage the arch to take shape, says podiatrist Alan Woodle, DPM, of the Greenwood Foot and Ankle Center, in Seattle.
Otherwise, baby shoes shouldn't have any support. Your baby's feet may also turn in. Again, this is usually nothing to worry about and is likely the result of baby's position in the womb. Generally, both feet and legs straighten out by 18 months, and unless the in-toeing is totally rigid which would require a visit to an orthopedist , causing pain or interfering with your child's ability to walk, most pediatricians allow children to outgrow it.
What to Watch For: Does your child only use her arms to pull to stand, seem to have difficulty getting up because her legs are stiff, fall more than would be expected, or frequently fall to one side? These are red flags that could signal a range of problems, including joint disorders, spinal cord abnormalities, and cerebral palsy.
Discuss the signs with your pediatrician. Kids need balance, coordination, and confidence to take their first steps. That's why children reach this milestone at different ages. They do, however, go through a scoot phase in which they sit upright and propel themselves along on their bottoms. Tracer says the Au believe that this scooting, rather than crawling, is the universal human prewalking phase.
The Au are not alone in discouraging their children from crawling. Tracer notes that babies in a number of other traditional societies—including ones in Paraguay, Mali and Indonesia—are raised this way.
Furthermore, he observes, neither do our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and gorillas, put their youngsters on the ground very often. Thus, it may well be that our early hominid ancestors toted their babies around, too, rather than letting them crawl.
Citing a study of Bangladeshi children showing that crawling significantly increases the risk of contracting diarrhea, Tracer proposes that carrying infants limits their exposure to ground pathogens. It also protects them from predators. He therefore contends that the crawling stage is a recent invention—one that emerged only within the past century or two, after humans began living in elevated houses with flooring, which would have been much more hygienic than dirt.
Wenda Trevathan, an anthropologist at New Mexico State University, agrees that babies were probably rarely placed on the ground in the past, adding glowing embers as another potential hazard.
Kate Wong is a senior editor for evolution and ecology at Scientific American.
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