Mom's Editorial

What a wonderful feeling it is to see a baby take his first steps to crawling or to see him trying to make the effort of sitting up. Where some babies sit up as early as 4.5-5 months (with support), others take more time than usual. But for everything, one baby cannot be compared to the other for many reasons in terms of developmental milestones as they all reach them differently.

ALSO READ – Speech Delays – My Baby is 2.5 Years And Not Speaking? Why?

Obviously when your baby skips any of the developmental milestones like crawling or sitting up by a certain age, it naturally makes the parents feel a bit concerned. But from the viewpoint of a number of pediatric experts, there should not be reason for worry, unless of course there seems to be a different problem with your child.

But if you’re truly worried about your baby skipping this developmental milestone, then here are a few things you could try –

1. Give your baby as much supervised tummy time as possible. When babies are made to lie on their stomachs, it not only helps them to strengthen their neck muscles but also their muscles that help them crawl.
2. Although it is highly understandable that in order to avoid the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), many parents make their babies sleep only on their backs. However, once in a while you should also make them sleep on their stomachs. This will encourage them to use their hands and feet to move.
3. Every once in a while let the baby explore the world around him on his own. Don’t tie him down to slings, carriers, walkers, car seats etc… it is found that the more we restrict our babies, the less willing they are to take a step ahead in something themselves.
4. When you are giving your baby some supervised tummy time, keep his favorite toy a few inches away from his reach right in front of him. The more effort he makes to reach it, the more he will work his muscles to crawl. Yes, your baby may get a little frustrated for not being able to reach the target (his toy), but you will see a world of a difference only after a few days of giving tummy time to your little one.
5. Last but not least, when your baby is on all fours, try to place your hand under his feet to give him a little push when he tries to crawl. Yes, chances are your baby will keep falling. But there will be a start to the crawling journey at least.

One more thing worth mentioning here is that although a number of babies will sit up around 6-7 months of age, some of them skip this developmental milestone altogether.

ALSO READ – All About Health And Development of 7 Months Old Baby

My daughter was crawling at 8 months, however, my niece never did. She straight away started taking little steps for walking around 11.5 months of age. My point here is that even if your baby does skip this milestone of either sitting up or crawling, it shouldn’t give you a reason to worry about unnecessarily.

Segolike Baby's Piggy Seat Support Cushion Sofa Pillow Sitting Training Safety Chair

₹8,418.00 ₹4,510.00

Baby sitting chair nursery pil... read more

Buy From Amazon

Please keep in mind that if you have a chubby baby, then his weight will prevent him from doing a lot of things he wants to. Mostly when a chubby baby wants to sit up without support, he rolls over from his weight most of the time he tries.

However, don’t consider it being a negative for your baby. Because every baby is different, even a chubbier baby will learn a few tricks of his own to start sitting up or crawling but in his own sweet time.

Did your baby skip the crawling or sitting up development milestone? Were you anxious as a parent? What did you do to encourage him to crawl? Share with us your experience in the comments.