Your little one is finally mobile and has gained a whole new level of independence, how exciting! Many babies first learn to crawl while keeping their tummy against the floor (and many babies skip this step and go straight to crawling on all fours, both are okay!). Army crawling, however, should quickly transition into a four-point crawling pattern within a couple of weeks. If your baby continues to utilize an immature army crawling pattern, it typically indicates underlying weakness and proximal instability. And once your little one has become proficient at army crawling; it can become a “bad habit” that is difficult to break.

Below are my Top 3 Activities to help bridge the gap between army crawling & traditional hands-and-knees crawling:

1. Play on Hands-and-Knees: This activity is so great because it targets a lot of things at one time! It allows your baby to work on upper body strengthening, weight bearing through hands, hip & core strengthening, proximal stability, and weight shifting on all fours. If your little one has difficulty maintaining this position, try placing him/her on all fours over a Boppy pillow/towel roll/your leg. As your child gets comfortable being on hands-and-knees with support you may even start to notice your baby lift one knee in an attempt to crawl over the obstacle - hello core and arm strengthening! Be sure to use something super motivating to sustain their attention in this position; and don’t forget to encourage weight shifting and reaching with both hands. The goal is to progressively reduce the support you provide until your baby is able to maintain the hands-and-knees position independently. Your baby must be stable on all fours before he/she will be able to crawl forward on all fours.

2. Transition from Sitting onto Hands-and-Knees: Your baby needs to be able to transition from sitting onto all fours in order to consistently crawl with a four-point pattern. This is especially important for babies who have become reliant on army crawling and are very quick to transition out of sitting directly onto tummy. You can start by encouraging your baby to transition from side sitting to kneeling at an elevated surface. I typically like to practice at the bottom step of a set of stairs (standard step height 7-8”). This setup will block your baby from transitioning directly onto his/her tummy. It will also place your baby in a modified hands-and-knees ending position to allow for more upper body weight bearing to simulate the crawling position Hint: If your little one is quick to stand up, kneel behind your baby and squeeze his/her knees between your knees to maintain the kneeling/modified hands-and-knees position.

3. Walk Forward on Knees: To practice moving forward while on his/her knees, have your little one practice kneeling at a laundry basket/empty box/push toy (or something similar). Once your child is stable, start slowly sliding the basket away from her so that she must walk her knees forward in order to stay upright. If your child hasn’t quite figured out how to walk on her knees, you can help by moving her legs forward in an alternating pattern as she pushes the box forward (although, if you’re helping move your child’s legs from behind, you may need a second set of hands to prevent the basket from sliding forward too quickly). The goal is to progressively lower the surface to work toward moving forward from the traditional hands-and-knees position.

Bonus: Practice putting it all together by throwing couch cushions and/or pillows on the ground for your little one to crawl over! Your baby will have to press up onto her hands-and-knees in order to clear the obstacles. In addition, your child’s knees will sink into the softer surfaces making it a bit easier to practice crawling on all fours (compared to a firm flat surface). Does your little one prefer to crawl around your obstacles rather than over them? Create a circle of pillows around your babe. He/she will have to crawl over them in order to get out of the obstacle course that you created.

The most important thing to remember with all of the activities listed above is to make sure that your child is highly motivated! It may be worth saving his/her most valued toys for these purposeful play activities only so that the toys remain novel. But, I’m also not above using food, iphones, remote controls, laptops, etc. Use whatever is most motivating for your child if you want to have the most success!

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