Military Crawl

My son military crawled all the way to his first birthday. Then he did regular crawl for 2 weeks, and walked at 13 months.

My daughter started army crawling around 4 1/2 months and then she decided to get up on her knees and wiggle back and forth one day, and then she took off crawling. Dont be too anxious for him to crawl he will when he is ready and trust me it will happen soon enough and then he will be into everything and will be everywhere. Get those baby gates ready and the child proofing eyes ready to find all the new discoveries that he will find. Enjoy this time it goes by so fast. Good luck.

My daughter did the army crawl and I guess she did do a bit of regular crawling later on. She was able to get wherever she wanted to go with the army crawl. Now she walks/runs just fine. I wouldn't worry about it.

Our son did the military crawl before he actually crawled. I think he did it for about a couple of weeks to aybe a month befoe he crwled.(I can't remember any more.) Anyway, I wouldn't be concerned. Your baby will probably do the normal crawl eventually, but according to our doctor, some babies never crawl and that's okay. Hope this helps.

crawling is not technically a developmental milestone since there are so many ways to do it. As long as they can get from one place to another in any manner it counts as crawling. So your son's method counts, as would rolling, butt scooting and many other methods.

My youngest army crawled for about two months! He learned how to crawl 'normally', but he was so much faster army crawling, that he preferred the speedier method. Just cherish the time that he is not quite fully mobile! LOL!

Oh yes my son crawled like this for several weeks before finding his knees. My husband called it "the wounded soldier" crawl. Now there's no stopping him, he's a full on speed crawler. : ) Don't worry at all.

My son never ever crawled. He was pulling up and cruising on furniture at 9 months, and walked without assistance at 10 1/2 months.

As you can see, skipping crawling clearly did not affect his gross motor development! If he never 'regular crawls' you don't need to worry UNLESS he shows no interest in mobility. Since he is pulling up to a standing position, it might not be too long before he is cruising. And think about it, it's easier to cruise and walk on two legs than it is to crawl on the belly right? I would not be surprised in the least if he skipped the crawling altogether, and that's fine.

I have twins boys that military crawled for an extended period. Max got the belly up after about 5 weeks, Harry moved really fast army crawling so it took him closer to 8 weeks. They walked shortly after that.
Jenny

My boy did the army crawl until 11 months and then decided to start crawling regularly. I don't think there is anything to be concerned with.

My son did that from about 6 months to 9 months. All of a sudden one day he did a real crawl. I didn't think he would ever do a real crawl and was okay with that. I know a few kids that never crawled at all and are totally normal for everything else.

As long as your baby can move it doesn't matter how he crawls.My child did the same thing and is fine with no problems. Next time let the dr know and they will tell you.

My son is 10 months and he still "low crawls"/military crawls. He will switch between the 2 when he feels like it and is now pulling himself up constantly and trying to take steps. Your son will crawl when he wants to and then again he may not at all. This is fine, my nephew skipped crawling and went from the low crawl to pulling himself up to walking. He is a normal 18 month old and is running now. So dont worry at all. Your son is doing fine. Best of luck!

We called it the army crawl. My son did that till he was a year and then he started crawling normal. Days after he started crawling normally he was walking. I wouldn't worry too much, your son will learn to crawl normally in his own time. And if he skips it and goes right to walking, I doubt there's any problem with that.

my son did the military crawl from 5 months to 10 and then walked. He did skip the regular crawl and in some children that was fine but with my son- we discovered in kindergarten that he had some visual issues and went to vision therapy- even though he had 20/20 vision- also his middle part of his body was weak. I dont think you should worry about it now- just something to think about in the future if there are issues.

My brother went from military crawling to walking. He completely skipped "normal" crawling. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Not all kids crawl that way!

The military crawl is perfectly normal before they start to crawl for real. My daughter did it for about 2-3 weeks until she decided to try to learn to get up on hands and knees. He'll get it. :)

I just asked the doctor about this yesterday. My six month old does it throughout the house, which is pretty large. She said he most likely will not crawl.

It is possible he may go straight to walking. One of my twins walked at 10 months, so she did not crawl for very long. My other twin on the other hand was a speedy crawler, so she did not walk till she was 1yr.

My oldest son did the military crawl for months...crawled regular for only a few weeks then walked...I was afraid he didn't do the regular crawl long enough either but he is now in college on the Dean's list. He had a high ACT score and graduated high school on high honor roll. I wouldn't worry about it, he should be fine.

Both of my boys did the military crawl until nearly 9 months. My youngest (9 1/2 mon) is now trying to stand on his own, cruising furniture and is a speed demon regular crawler.

My daughter did the same thing for awhile until she realized that it took way too much energy to use her arms. After a little bit, she pushed those knees up. My doctor even said there are kids out there who never crawl with no developmental problems. Don't be concerned at all . . . you're little guy is doing great! Before you know it he'll be cruising and walking.

Not all kids crawl. It really doesn't matter, some go straight to walking, some crawl forever, some are content to sit, and I knew one kid who got around by scooting on his butt:)

My son just started to crawl normally and he's 10 months old. I think he's more interested in walking. He is already trying to go back and forth between objects and constantly wants us to walk him around. he will even stand and push his little car and his walker.

Some children more or less skip the crawling and go right to walking. As long as your ped is confident your little one is on track, I wouldn't worry. All children grow and develop in different ways and at different paces. That will continue for the rest of his life.

Enjoy him. They grow soooooooooooo fast.

B.,

No worries. My first son "gimp crawled" his whole crawling life. He would use one foot to push his body around and the other was in regular crawling position. Did some damage to his pants and his one shoe. Lol.

My second son did the army crawl for awhile before deciding to regular crawl. He's now our monkey and is very agile and strong.

Get a lot of videos for some laughs later on!

T.

Hi B.
My oldest son went from a military crawl to walking and my youngest (7 1/2 mo) has been military crawling for a month now. Don't worry if they don't do the "normal" crawl...it's no big deal. Enjoy every moment!

Hi B.!
My oldest ( who is 10 now ) never crawled regularly. He mostly rolled, then went straight to walking. He was also a late walker, 14 months. He is soooo perfect, and I never really worried. He's in gifted ed and so perfect in every way.

B.,

I am not saying that your son has any problem, but this is my experience. Babies crawl all different ways and that just might me your little guys mode right now. However, my son (now age 4) crawled more like a snake. He never crawled normally. He went right into walking after that. We did find out he had a hernia later, but no doctor ever linked the two. Don't worry, at least he's moving.

W.

Hi B.. My son is 19 months now, but he never crawled and now he is starting to run! I asked my doc at northwestern and he said that crawling is not a milestone and not to worry, as long as he is walking okay. He also said don't put him in a room with occupational/speech therapists because they would probably recommend some sort of therapy, but he does not need it. I would ask your doc about it and if everything checks out okay, don't worry about it and take lots of videos of your cute little millitary crawler, sometimes I think I worried too much!

Why are you concerned if he crawls regular or not? Not all babies craw "regular". Like someone else said, he may just go straight to walking. No big deal..I would totally not stress about it

My daughter did a version of the military crawl, and never crawled in the traditional way. She was also a late crawler and walker. I used Early Intervention (free for most, they come to your house). OUr therapist had me model the traditional crawl for her, sometimes I had to take her arms and legs and move them in the "right" way. I have no idea if the EI really helped much, but my daughter is now 5 and has been completely on target physically and academically. Also, my brother did the military crawl and is fine well-developed man today. I wouldn't worry about it.

Honestly, I don't think not crawling is a cause for alarm. It is a milestone that as parents we look forward to seeing but I do know that not all kids will do a "regular" crawl. One of my nephews never crawled when he was a baby. My youngest-now going on 11 months-used to crawl with one knee and the other foot. It was very comical actually and I never worried since she did not seem in pain or have any problems. She is now walking and gets around pretty quickly. I wouldn;t be surprised if your son did the army crawl for a while and then jsut took off. He may prefer it since it can be faster as another mom mentioned.

My son never crawled on his knees, a bit before he walked. But mostly it was months of military crawl, he has a strong upper body...LOL.

I never thought of it as a big deal, just different from what it is "supposed" to be.

No worries, he is perfect, however he crawls.

B., both my boys did the military crawl and then a "regular" crawl, but really it doesn't matter. Some kids never crawl and go straight to walking. Some crawl for a long time and then walk later. Every child is different. Don't be concerned unless you see there several developmental delays that you are expecting and don't see. Discuss it with your pediatrician. Don't worry! In a few months he'll be pulling up and cruising on your furniture...

I have twins (identical), and one did the military crawl, the other didn't. The one who did the military crawl was the first one walking, at about 11 1/2 months, while her sister walked right at 12 months. The military crawler was also the first one sitting up without using her arms for support. I wouldn't be concerned.

We adopted our daughter from China. In her orphanage, they put the kids in walkers and they didn't get a chance to crawl. We were told to encourage a regular (vs military) crawl because studies had shown a link between crawling and developing the part of the brain that develops reading.

So, we moved her legs/feet in a crawling motion and then bought a collapsible tube for her to crawl thru (the tube made it so she couldn't stand up). We would throw her favorite toy into the middle of it and we would demonstrate crawling thru the tube, and then she did it.

She loves reading now! What could it hurt to encourage regular crawling?

My little guy did the military crawl for just a few weeks before getting on his hands and knees. I figured he was just really determined to be mobile. He started the military crawl at just about 7 months, and was walking well before his first birthday. You've got a little mover on your hands!

My little guy miltary crawled at about 7months for about a month to a month and half before he started to crawl on all fours. Honestly, he figured out that he got around a lot faster with his military crawl. By 8months he was pulling himself up onto stuff and cruising the furniture. He did eventually start to crawl on all fours, but he still preferred a modifed version of that as well; he would stick one leg out and use it like a little club to give him a little extra push. At 10 months he is now walking. He did give up the military crawl and he now prefers to crawl on all fours or walk. Keep in mind that is completely normal for them not to crawl on all fours. As long as he is using his legs don't worry. He'll grow out of it before you know it.

My son did the military crawl for about 6 weeks before graduating to belly-off-the-floor crawling and now there's no stopping him. He also just started, at almost 11 months, to pull himself up. I wouldn't worry, as long as he keeps progressing in his development. That's what our pediatrician said.

My son was walking before he did a hands and knees crawl. He went from army crawling to pulling up to walking, then started crawling on his hands and knees when he'd fall down to get somewhere to pull up again.

My son crawled for about 2 days, then he began walking at eight and a half months, and shortly after that was running! He turned out just fine, and in fact is a freshman who got a varsity cross country letter this fall. So, I would not worry about the crawling or not crawling as long as you see normal development in him and the doc has no concerns. I'm sure it is nothing to worry about.

My son started military crawling at 8 months too. He did it for the longest time. He just started regular crawling about a month ago. I wouldn't worry at all. It's normal.

My son did this military crawl, he never really did crawl on all four, he is 11 yrs old now and just find. A.

my son army crawled for about two months and is now crawling on all fours but still sometimes goes into the army crawl because it's faster for him. Enjoy!

Hi B. -
My son only did the army crawl. He went from the army crawl to walking at 8 1/2 months. He never actually did a regular crawl. I know that some people say that doing a regular crawl is necessary for development, but my son is just fine.

R.

Hi-

My son (now 15) did the military crawl. He never did a regular crawl. He went right from the military crawl to walking at 9 months. So as long as he is using his legs, and pulling himself up on things, he's fine:) Enjoy him, it goes fast.

A.

My daughter military crawled for a good 4 to 6 weeks before doing a big girl crawl She is a super, super fast crawler now.

What is your concern about not crawling? My oldest son didn't crawl until after he walked, and he is a very intelligent adult. He was my only child that walked first, but he started walking at about 10.5 months. I am the Mother of 5 boys and 1 girl.

My daughter did the same thing, but after a couple of weeks she figured it out. She only regular crawled for a short time and then she was off walking. He will get it. Just give him time.

Hi B.!

Do not worry yourself needlessly... crawling is no longer considered a developmental milestone by many professionals. If he is scooting, rolling, crawling or doing the "Millitary Crawl" and trying to be mobile that is all that matters... as long as the end result is the same- he gets where he "needs" to go!

A lot of Drs stopped considering this as a milestone since they changed the sleeping to "Back To Sleep" and it is harder for them to get into a crawling position since they are not constantly on their tummys using those muscles that are needed for crawling and holding his body up in that position.

Also, plenty of babies will go straight to walking! My daughter did the scooting around pushing with only one foot or pushing herself backwards on her tummy then graduated to sitting up and scooting backwards on her butt... nice thing about hardwood floors- she became my duster! LOL My son though was walking at 8 or 9 months (I forget since it has been 20 years with him) he never really crawled but he had places to go and things to get into so he was intent on doing it fast so skipped a step!

Enjoy this "free" time while they are less mobile while you can... it does not last long enough! lol
Blessings to you and yours!