What Happens If My Baby Doesn’t Crawl?

“ If you had a baby who skipped crawling but was otherwise on track, did you notice later delays?”

ANSWER- I took a poll on Instagram for this one, and I loved the results (pictured)! The results really speak to exactly what I have tried to articulate in the past. When it comes to milestones (including any skipped or delayed!), I find so often, “survivor bias” can creep in (things like- “I skipped crawling, and I am just fine”). And those things may VERY WELL be true! There ARE undeniably many people walking around in the world who did not crawl and are just fine…AND, there are also people who may not be!

Ultimately, what I want people to take away is that it is NOT just about isolated milestones, right?! It’s about your child as a WHOLE – this is what I mean when I talk about with laying the foundation. Each skill/ministone/milestone a child works through in the developmental progression helps lay the foundation for the next more advanced skill to emerge.

That being said, is it possible for children to NOT follow the ‘expected’ order of milestones and it NOT be a reason that requires intervention?! OF COURSE! Many children, likely the ones that become adults that truly are ‘fine’ even though a skill was skipped, may miss one and work through whatever was contributing to that- and that’s wonderful! AND you can always always always take a child (or adult) back down and work on crawling through play – 10/10 recommend that BTW! HOWEVER, keeping focus on the bigger picture, when we are thinking about that foundation, pediatric professionals feel passionately about this because we KNOW that if skills are being skipped, there IS a reason for it. That reason might very well be small, and they might workn through it & it won’t affect anything, OR, it might be something that requires a little help. THIS is where these poll percentages really speak to what we see anecdotally in practice – the results were 79% of the children that skipped crawling, no concerns were noted, and the other 21%, future concerns DID arise that may have been related – and for that 21%, making sure we don’t let our personal experiences dictate advocating for help for them as early is possible is so, so important!

Again, as with everything, it’s so important to look at the big picture of what your child is doing, not just isolated milestones for this exact reason!

Hope this helps!

Want More?

For developmental questions, tips and guidance related to milestones about tummy time, rolling & sitting, crawling and walking, check out KC’s developmental Masterclasses linked here.

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KC is a pediatric doctor of physical therapy, wife and mom of three! She has spent her career working with children and young adults of all ability levels, and currently specializes in birth to three years.