Pulling to Stand Before Hand & Knees Crawling?

“My baby is still only army crawling, but has now figured out how to pull to stand on me. What do I do?”

Answer: There are a few things worth mentioning here! 

First, please know that army crawling can be an absolutely normal progression on the way to hands and knees crawling (typically while they work on strength and coordination in the big muscle groups that are active during crawling – hips/shoulders/core). 

Also, hands and knees crawling and pulling to stand often happen almost simultaneously! Mostly because they are stronger. As they become more mobile independently, they can explore their environment more, which leads to attempts at pulling to stand! 

That being said, while it is awesome that they are TRYING to pull to stand, I would just try to make sure they’re doing it on objects other than you. The reason for this is because oftentimes, we may unknowingly give a little bit more help, which lets them be successful in a skill they may not be TOTALLY ready for. If you allow them to do it on things like furniture, diaper boxes, etc – you can be sure it is truly them being active and working through the necessary muscular contractions to be successful! 

So – all in all, don’t stress! If they are doing the skills on their own, it’s usually totally fine to let them continue working on them. BUT, my two quick suggestions are to make sure they’re pulling up on items, rather than us assisting them into standing AND try a lot of obstacles on the ground to encourage the progression and strengthening from army crawling to regular crawling. 

Hope that helps! 

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