Did your baby crawl normally, army crawl, scooter crawl… or skip crawling altogether?

As a pediatric chiropractor, this is something I pay very close attention to.

Over the last few years, crawling has become a surprisingly debated developmental milestone after the CDC and AAP updated portions of its milestone guidelines and removed crawling from its main developmental checklist. While many children who skip crawling still go on to develop without any obvious symptoms, many chiropractors, therapists, and developmental specialists still believe crawling plays an important role in early neurological and motor development.

When I talk about crawling, I’m specifically referring to hands-and-knees crawling, the classic position where babies are up on all fours moving with alternating arm and leg movements.

This type of crawling is different from army crawling, scooting, rolling to move around, bunny hopping, or dragging one leg. Babies are creative and often find all kinds of ways to get where they want to go.

But hands-and-knees crawling is unique because of the amount of coordination, balance, strength, and neurological integration it requires.

Most babies begin crawling somewhere between 7–10 months of age, although there is definitely a range of normal. Before crawling, babies are typically developing important foundational skills like tummy time tolerance, head and neck control, rolling, sitting, weight shifting, and pushing up through the arms.

These early stages help prepare the nervous system and body for crawling patterns later on.

And while every child develops at their own pace, I pay close attention not only to if a baby crawls, but also how they move during this stage. The quality of movement can often tell us a lot about how a child’s nervous system is developing and adapting.

Most parents think of crawling as simply a phase between sitting and walking, but from a neurological and developmental perspective, crawling is so much more than that.

Hands-and-knees crawling is one of the first major cross-body movement patterns babies develop.

As babies move opposite arm to opposite leg, the brain is constantly coordinating communication between both sides of the body. This requires balance, posture, coordination, motor planning, visual processing, sensory input, and movement, all happening at the same time.

That is a tremendous amount of neurological input for a developing nervous system.

This cross-pattern movement helps strengthen communication between the right and left hemispheres of the brain while also helping babies build coordination, stability, posture, and body awareness.

Crawling also provides important sensory input through the hands, shoulders, hips, and core while helping develop strength and stability throughout the body.

In many ways, crawling acts like a full-body neurological workout for a developing child.

One of the biggest things I pay attention to in practice is movement quality. Did the baby move evenly? Could they shift weight well between both sides of the body? Did crawling look coordinated and comfortable, or did the baby appear frustrated, stiff, or asymmetrical?

Development is not simply about checking a milestone box. The quality, coordination, and symmetry of movement can often give us valuable insight into how the nervous system is functioning and adapting.

This is one reason many providers still pay close attention to crawling patterns, even if crawling itself is no longer emphasized as strongly in milestone checklists.

In my office, I often hear parents say things like:
“He always looked one direction.”
“She hated tummy time.”
“He scooted instead of crawling.”
“She dragged one leg.”
“Something just seemed a little off.”

Parents are often the first to notice these subtle movement patterns long before anyone else does. And many times, those little clues are worth paying attention to.

I frequently notice that babies who struggle with crawling may have also experienced earlier signs of tension or asymmetry, including side preferences, difficulty nursing on one side, body tension, torticollis, flat spots on the head, or challenges tolerating tummy time.

This does not automatically mean something is wrong, but it can sometimes suggest that the nervous system and body may benefit from additional support.

As a pediatric chiropractor, I look at development through a nervous system-focused lens.

The nervous system controls and coordinates every function in the body, including posture, movement, coordination, regulation, and adaptation. Because of that, early movement patterns can often give us valuable insight into how a child’s brain and body are communicating.

Pregnancy, birth, and early development can all place stress on a baby’s body and nervous system, even in healthy pregnancies and births. Sometimes babies adapt to that stress beautifully, and sometimes we begin to notice little clues that their body may be compensating or struggling with tension.

That’s one reason I pay so much attention to movement patterns and development in infants and children.

Every child develops differently, and no single milestone tells the entire story of development.

But crawling is one of those stages that offers valuable insight into how the brain and body are learning to work together during early childhood.

The way children move matters.

The patterns parents notice matter.

And paying attention to those early developmental clues can help us better support children as they grow, learn, and develop throughout life.

If you have questions about your child’s movement, posture, or development, our office is always happy to help.