Why Is Crawling Good For Your Baby?

It is such a joy to see your toddler crawl for the first time. But, do you know why crawling is such a big child developmental milestone in your little one’s life? Read on to find out why! Crawling is an important part or rather a milestone in your baby’s developmental process. Apart from taking the motor abilities of your toddler to a whole new level, crawling also spurs his or her growth and refines other skills too.

When a baby is first born, their brain is approximately at 25 % of its adult weight size and by the time they are 3 years of age their brain is about 90% of its adult weight. So needless to say, that the first three years of a child’s life is very important for their brain development. (Source)

Now, did you know, this stage is also called the psychological birth of a child by many development experts? Yes, crawling plays a crucial role in developing your toddler’s:

• Balance
• Strength
• Visual-spatial skills
• Spinal alignment
• Socio-emotional development

What Are The Benefits of Crawling For Infant & Babies?

There are a number of benefits that a baby gets when he or she crawls. Some popular benefits of crawling for toddlers are listed below:

1. Crawling Boosts Physical Development in A Baby:

   As a baby learns to crawl, he/she is developing gross motor skills, which are essentially large movements that he/she makes with arms and legs or from the entire body. These skills are needed to walk, run, and jump when your baby grows older. Crawling also develops fine motor skills, which involves the strengthening of smaller muscles like hands and fingers. When your baby crawls, he/she also learn to achieve a balance that gives him/her the ability and confidence to learn how to walk. Crawling develops hand-eye coordination in your toddler. 

2. Spatial Understanding in A Baby Is Enhanced By Crawling:

   Crawling provides your baby with an opportunity to grasp the understanding of spatial concepts. It gives your baby a physical understanding and orientation of his/her surroundings, his/her position in it and, his/her relationship with it. With practice, your baby will learn to go around things rather than through them and will be able to navigate an efficient path to his/her destination. This understanding will remain with your toddler throughout his/her life

3. Crawling Will Improve Binocular Vision In A Toddler:

   When your baby learns to crawl, he/she can reach out for things. Your baby will discover the concept of nearness and fairness. Upon this discovery, his/her visual skills will start to develop in leaps and bounds. This is called binocular vision. Your baby will train his/her eyes to look off into the distance and then back at his/her hands to calculate the distance while crawling towards his/her favourite toy. Binocular vision is what we use to make sense of things that we see and calculate distance; later on, this enables us to drive, catch a ball, and copy from the blackboard. [Suggest Reading - 8 Common Signs That Baby is ready to Walk]

4. Brain Coordination:

   We know, the different activities that we perform daily are controlled by the two halves of our brain that have divided their responsibilities of coordinating certain movements. To function properly, right-brain and left-brain coordination are required. This coordination is boosted when your baby crawls as his/her brain needs to process movement, sight and hearing - all at the same time. The more your baby crawls, the more synchronized his/her movements will become giving him/her better mobility

5. Confidence:

   When your baby starts to crawl he/she learns to make their very first decisions. This will build self-confidence in your baby. Your baby will take risks, some successful and some failed ones, which will help him/her discover his/her abilities, potential and limitations. When your baby will gain experience in crawling, he/she will also learn when to slow down, navigate a step and investigate a hurdle in his/her path, in order to avoid getting hurt. [Helpful Read: How to Help Child to Start Walking?]

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