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Babies grow up so fast it’s often hard to keep track of all their developments over a short period of time. Oftentimes it can feel like you just brought your baby home, pliant and sweetly tucked in your arms and now they are wiggling about and ready to start creeping and crawling. But no matter how overwhelming these changes can be, it’s important to keep track of all the small milestones your baby reaches. Creeping and crawling happen to be two of them as they indicate that your little one is making progress and is growing well. However, there is a subtle difference between the two and parents often tend to mix them up. So, we’re here to shed some light on what creeping and crawling really is and how it affects your baby. Read on to know more!
What’s The Difference Between Creeping And Crawling?
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Many parents understandably cannot tell the difference. In fact, many of them don’t even know that the former exists. The likely reason could be that the two actions are quite similar in appearance. But if you look closely, there are a few key differences. Creeping is when your baby lies on their stomach and slightly moves about. That’s right, the baby’s stomach is touching the ground and they only move their arms and legs around. Crawling is the next natural progression of this stage of development. This is when they are able to lift their stomach and learn to move their arms and legs in a coordinated manner or just remain stationary in this position. Nonetheless, if your baby has managed to crawl or creep, it is a clear indication that they are making good progress in physical development. As your little one grows, they will start to explore their environment and relish the feeling of being able to move about independently. Your job as their parent is to encourage their movement so that they can develop mentally as well as physically.
Why Creeping Matters?
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Creeping is the little movements that your tiny tot does when they are lying on top of their stomach on the ground. They learn to slowly pull their body using their knees and hands. They may not be able to fully support the weight of their body yet but they may utilize their arms to somewhat hoist themselves up while their stomach is still making contact with the surface. There are different types of creeping, 4 of which are most common. These are; when your baby reaches with one hand and pulls using the other, when they use both their elbows to drag themselves forward, when they only use one elbow to pull themselves forward and when they push forward using both their hands and knees, that is, crawling on their stomachs. Essentially, your baby should be able to creep properly by the time they are 9 months old (1). Creeping is a building block for crawling so it’s important that you encourage your baby to keep at it.
Creeping is important because it helps build the strength of your baby’s upper body. This is also how they learn to balance their body and move about. Their motor skills are developing along with their spatial awareness and their primitive reflexes are improving as well (2). Not to mention that they are finally getting the hang of hand-eye coordination.
Why Does Crawling Matter?
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Crawling comes right after creeping. And after this stage, your baby is going to be ready to walk. How exciting is that! So, the most common enquiry is learning to recognize when your child has started to crawl. The first obvious sign that your baby is gearing up to crawl is them being able to lift their belly off of the ground. Then they will soon start to move using the same arm and leg movements they did while creeping. And then they’ll really start to move about, which means that if you haven’t gotten to baby proofing your entire house, this is definitely the moment to do it because your baby is on the move.
Crawling is a telltale sign that your baby’s hands, feet, and back have developed well. Their coordination skills have improved and they are getting ready to walk. They’ve tapped into some gross motor skills and vision and conceptual thinking has improved (3).
Watching your infant go from creeping to crawling in a short amount of time can be very exciting. But don’t forget to encourage your little one every step of the way so that they can gear up for their first baby step!
