Despite Its Removal from the CDC Milestones, Crawling Plays a Key Role In Motor and Cognitive Growth
When the CDC updated its developmental milestone guidelines in 2022, one notable change was the removal of crawling as a critical milestone. While this decision was made to reflect the varying ways in which babies develop, as a pediatric physical therapist, I want to emphasize that crawling remains a fundamental part of early motor development. Despite its absence from the CDC’s list, crawling provides numerous physical and cognitive benefits for your child’s long-term growth.
The Benefits of Crawling for Motor Development
Crawling is often one of the first ways babies learn to move independently. Typically occurring between 7 and 10 months, this phase involves using the arms and legs together in a coordinated, repetitive motion. Crawling helps develop strength in the upper body, including the arms, shoulders, and hands, while also building core strength in the trunk and abdomen.
In addition to strengthening muscles, crawling encourages balance and coordination. As babies learn to move both sides of their bodies in an alternating pattern, they develop bilateral coordination, an essential skill for more advanced motor activities like walking, running, and even tasks like handwriting. Crawling helps babies learn to distribute their weight evenly between their limbs, a key component of motor control and balance.
By skipping the crawling phase or moving straight to walking, a child may miss out on these valuable strength and coordination benefits, which could lead to challenges in gross motor skills later on.
Crawling’s Impact on Cognitive Development
Beyond the physical benefits, crawling also plays an important role in cognitive development. As babies crawl, they explore their environment and engage their senses in new ways. This process of exploration helps develop spatial awareness and depth perception, both of which are critical for problem-solving and navigating the world.
Crawling requires babies to make decisions about where they are going, what obstacles they need to avoid, and how to move toward their goal. This decision-making process engages different areas of the brain and promotes cognitive development. It also encourages cross-body movement, where the right and left sides of the brain communicate with each other. This cross-lateral movement is essential for cognitive tasks such as reading, writing, and even processing information in school.
Encouraging Crawling: What Parents Can Do
If your baby hasn’t started crawling yet, you can encourage them by providing plenty of tummy time, setting up toys just out of reach, and creating a safe space for them to explore. Tummy time strengthens the neck and back muscles, which are essential for crawling. By engaging your baby with interesting toys and objects, you can motivate them to start moving.
If your baby is showing signs of skipping the crawling stage or is struggling with movement, it’s worth consulting a pediatric physical therapist. We can assess your child’s motor development and provide exercises and activities to support crawling and overall movement.
Conclusion
While the CDC no longer lists crawling as a required milestone, its importance cannot be understated. Crawling offers crucial benefits for both motor and cognitive development, helping to build the strength, coordination, and problem-solving skills that lay the foundation for future growth. Encouraging crawling in your baby is an investment in their long-term physical and cognitive health.
Reference:
Piek, J. P., Dawson, L., Smith, L. M., & Gasson, N. (2008). The role of early fine and gross motor development on later motor and cognitive ability. Human Movement Science, 27(5), 668-681.
