Learning to crawl

Crawling is an important skill for your baby to learn and is a big milestone in their development. Your baby will crawl when they're ready, with their own unique style. Your baby will love this new freedom and will have lots of fun exploring and discovering everything around them.

Babies usually start crawling between 7 and 12 months old. They are usually able to get into a crawling position on their hands and knees between 6 and 9 months and will probably be rolling around and crawling on their tummies, called 'commando crawling', by around 9 months, though this varies from child to child.

Crawling is a new skill for your baby to learn. Each new skill your baby develops builds on all the previous skills they have learnt, with each one being more complex than the last.

Before crawling, your baby has been busy developing skills like:

• controlling their head
• moving their arms
• sitting up with and without support
• rolling over from front to back and back to front
• holding their own weight through their arms and legs

All of these things are important for developing their strength and ability to start crawling and later, walking.

Your baby will probably crawl on their hands and knees, but not all babies crawl the same way, and that's okay. There are some other crawling styles you might notice, such as:

• shuffling on the tummy 'commando-style'
• sliding along on their bottom ('bum-shuffling')
• crawling backwards instead of forwards

There are many things you can do to help your baby learn to crawl. Be sure to give your baby space to crawl and a chance to try to pull themselves up on furniture. Show them that you're excited by offering praise and words of encouragement — your baby may not understand everything you say, but will hear your excitement in your tone of voice and notice your facial expressions.

Here are some more tips on helping your baby learn to crawl:

Tummy time

Tummy time is when you place your baby on their stomach as part of their daily play routine. This helps strengthen and prepare your baby's head, neck, back and leg muscles for crawling. Try tummy time in different locations to make it fun for you both, such as indoors on a mat or outdoors on a blanket and talk and sing while you do it. You can start doing tummy time from birth and increase with age and ability (10 seconds to 10 minutes). Always supervise your baby during tummy time.

Play on the floor together

Play is how your baby learns and playing with you is fun for your baby. Incorporating movement during your play, such as moving objects from side to side in front of their face or turning pages of a picture book, can help build your baby's physical skills.

Encourage reaching

Place a favourite object or toy (or even you!) just out of your baby's reach, to get them reaching and moving. Reaching across the midline (from the left side of their body to the right, and right to left) is particularly good for your baby's motor development.

Make your home safe

Move any obstacles (such as furniture) out of the way so your baby can crawl around without the risk of getting injured. Move any dangerous items out of reach, such as:

• small toys that could present a choking hazard
• cords that could get wrapped round your baby's neck
• hot drinks

Avoid baby walkers

Baby walkers do not help your baby's crawling or movement and can delay their crawling. They also result in thousands of injuries every year in Australia.

Not all babies crawl. Some go straight to walking and skip the crawling stage completely. But if your baby is 12 months or older and isn't crawling, or if you're concerned about any areas of your baby's development, ask your doctor or child and family health nurse for advice.

You can find Pregnancy, Birth & Baby's guide to keeping baby safe here, for tips on age appropriate toys and keeping your home safe for your crawling baby.

For more information about the dangers of baby walkers, how they slow down your baby's physical development and why they are not recommended for your baby, read the Pregnancy, Birth & Baby page on baby walks and exercise jumpers.

Find out more about 'tummy time' health benefits, when to do it, and how long for on Pregnancy, Birth & Baby's page tummy time.

For more information about your baby's physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language development see the Starting Blocks website.

You can call Parentline in your state or territory for advice and information:

• Parentline ACT: (02) 6287 3833, Mon to Fri, 9am – 5pm AEST / Sat, 10am – 12 midday
• Parent Line NSW: 1300 1300 52, Mon to Fri, 9am – 9pm / weekends, 4pm – 9pm
• Parentline Queensland and Northern Territory: 1300 30 1300, 7 days, 8am – 10pm
• Parent Helpline South Australia: 1300 364 100, 7 days, 7.15am – 9.15pm
• Parent Line Tasmania: 1300 808 178, 24 hours, 7 days
• Parentline Victoria: 13 22 89, 7 days, 8am – 12 midnight
• Ngala Parenting Line WA: (08) 9368 9368 or 1800 111 546, Open 7 days a week, 8am – 8pm

Looking for information for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people?

Visit the SNAICC — National Voice for our Children resource on Early Childhood Development, including a resource on early years support.