Why Is It So Important For The Baby To Crawl?
It is important for the baby to crawl because crawling is the exercise that contributes to a child’s psychomotor development in the early stages of his life.
Read on to expand your knowledge of these and other benefits of crawling for babies.
The awakening of crawling
Around 8 months, a baby starts to be dissatisfied in a sitting position. The playpen is small for him. That is, the baby has the need to feel free, like when the mother puts him alone on the floor.
The toys around you are not that interesting anymore. Not as much as those at a distance, and for which the little one must make a “superhuman” effort whenever he wants to catch them.
That’s why he throws himself forward, holds himself with only one hand, stretches the other, puts his little feet back and…suddenly, he starts to make his first advances to crawl and reach the so desired prize.
This is the awakening of crawling.
Crawling in psychomotor development
In the beginning, the child who tries to crawl crawls with only his hands. She leaves her little belly resting on the floor and her little legs are back, stretched out, as if they were useless.
With this exercise, while making her first advances, she strengthens the still weak musculature of her little arms.
Then learn to stand on four supports. This serves to strengthen your hips, invigorate your back, strengthen the muscles in your neck, legs, etc.
She also learns to coordinate arms and feet (indispensable crawling skill). When it moves, then we can say that the baby is already crawling.
In his own experiment, he’ll notice that he can go as fast or slow as he likes, and he can even learn other ways like the graceful crawling in a sitting position (when a child crawls on his butt like a puppy).
The crawling baby learns to calculate distances. “This puppet is closer, the one farther away, I have to crawl a little more if I want to reach it.” In this way, he learns to stay balanced on four support points.
The constant practice of crawling favors eye-hand coordination, that is, the child looks at the floor and supports his hand to move forward. When you focus both eyes on the same point, you are somehow preventing visual problems such as strabismus.
These three skills: spatial control, balance and coordination between hands and eyes, in the first stages, develop the vestibular system and prevent falls and stumbling. In the school stage, they will help you learn to read and write much faster.
Why is it important for the baby to crawl?
Mom, it is important for the baby to crawl because, in addition to developing psychomotricity, it is encouraged to be independent.
The child who learns to crawl, and does so daily, does not need the help of the mother, nor any other adult, to move wherever he wants.
She no longer has to wait for others to get her toys that have fallen out of the playpen. If she plays on the floor, she alone can pick up whatever doll she wants.
Crawling gives the child the possibility to decide for himself questions such as “where do I want to go?”. This will be the beginning of many decision-making that she will have to learn and face in her life.
Crawling is a developmental achievement that a child must win. You shouldn’t keep her on your lap all day anymore because a baby crawling on the floor is happy.
Encourage your baby to crawl
Put a sheet on the floor, put it in the crawl position and leave some dolls around. Speak to him with encouraging phrases to want to pick up toys and help him coordinate hands and feet.
But don’t force it! Do this type of exercise only if you notice that your child feels good about it. Every baby is a world. Some never learn this skill and that doesn’t mean they will have psychomotor problems.
Our recommendation is that you place your baby on the floor and observe his behavior. He will tell you if he will be a more rebellious baby, who wanders around the house all day, or a lazy one, who prefers to have toys in his hands and to walk everywhere in his lap.
