Crawling is about much more than just getting around. Among other things, crawling develops upper body strength, fosters independence, and helps babies develop their eyes which are changing focal length as they move. Most importantly though, crawling develops the sharing of information between the two sides of the brain.

Top 10 Tips

1. Make crawling fun!

2. Get down on the ground and crawl with your baby.

3. Make a tunnel with your body for your baby to crawl through.

4. Create opportunities for your baby to crawl on different surfaces, such as grass.

5. If your child is in an early learning centre, check that there are plenty of crawler-friendly learning activities on offer.

6. There are no rules as to when a baby sits and crawls. All children develop in their own time and in their own way.

7. Some babies don’t sit independently until after they crawl. Whatever the order, don’t try and make it happen before it naturally does. Be guided by your baby.

8. If your baby doesn’t enjoy being on their tummy, don’t push it. They’ll find a position they want to be in.

9. After your child has mastered crawling, the next stage is pulling themselves up to standing and cruising. Again, don’t be in a rush to make them walk by holding their hands.

10. They need to learn how to balance in their own time.