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When Do Babies Army Crawl? (When To Expect)

Mobility is a big milestone in your baby’s life. From kicking while in the womb to standing up and walking on two feet, every parent is excited when their child starts moving around. Between kicking and walking there is usually a crawling stage that involves army crawling and creeping. So when do babies army crawl?

Main Points

  • Babies crawl in different ways.
  • The 6 to 10 month mark is usually when babies start crawling.
  • First, babies need to build up strength in order to drag themselves around.
  • You need to baby-proof the room before they start moving.-Some babies never crawl and that is perfectly normal.

When Should I Expect My Baby To Start Crawling?

Usually, the crawling stage starts anywhere from 6 to 10 months. All babies are different so don’t worry if your baby hasn’t started showing locomotive skills before the 10th month. 

What does army crawling look like?

Before a baby can start crawling they need to adjust to being on their abdomen. You as the parent probably always lie them down on their back when it’s time to put them in the crib, so at first, they will probably start to try to turn over.

When someone mentions crawling you probably have an image of a baby making its way across the room using all fours. But army crawling is different. 

This is when a baby props up on its elbows and starts dragging itself across all the while its tummy and legs are touching the floor. 

As the name suggests, this looks similar to an army training exercise when the soldiers need to pass under a net close to the grown so they drag themselves using their elbows while keeping low. 

Of course, a soldier’s moves are more coordinated than a baby’s but they look very similar and that’s how the technique got its name. 

The Crawling Stages

Babies need to gain strength before they can move on to regular crawling and later walking. They often drag themselves across the floor with their bellies flat because they need to gain strength in their shoulders and core before moving on to the next stage of their locomotive skills.

If our baby is army crawling this is a good sign! It means that they are building up strength and working on the momentum which will help them with further movement milestones. 

Army crawling/creeping 

In fact, what we traditionally think of when we say crawling is called creeping. Creeping is when the baby’s belly is away from the floor and they are holding themselves up on their hands and knees.

This requires quite a bit of strength so usually, the baby will start to crawl, or as we called it army crawl before they can prep themselves up on their hands and knees.

Getting stronger

They need to have strong a strong back and arms to start dragging their body around the room. You can’t expect your baby to start showing signs of mobility like this very early on. Your baby will start moving and rocking back and forth pretty soon though. 

Mild movement

They will eventually start bending their knees and elbows and try to lean over and grab something. The hands will start to bend at the wrist and fingers while they learn to hold things. Careful, this is where the hair-pulling stage can start, also your baby can start to put things in its mouth so be mindful of that.

Crawling

To build more strength, your baby will probably first rock around and fall over many times, but this is a part of the process. Once the muscles on its legs and arms are strong enough, it will start maneuvering around. 

This stage gives your baby freedom, which is a wonderful thing but also possibly dangerous. Babies have no sense of danger, so make sure to baby-proof the room before letting them crawl in there. 

Make sure that there are no sharp edges they can hurt themselves on. You can do this by getting down on your knees and start looking for anything that can be a threat. 

Keep all the doors closed at all times. If you have a pool in the backyard make sure to check the outside door twice every time your baby is around. 

My baby doesn’t crawl

If you searched when do babies army crawl because you’re concerned by the lack of movement your baby does, there is likely nothing to worry about. If what you read so far doesn’t resonate with your baby, there is no need for panic. We are here to tell you that some babies don’t crawl at all. 

Some babies never start dragging themselves across the floor, but rather they go from sitting directly to walking, or we should say stumbling and then walking. 

Other babies drag themselves on their bottom in order to get across the room. Either way, if your baby is showing signs of some type of movement and developed locomotive skills, there is probably no cause for concern.

Can I help?

If you want to help your baby start crawling you can get down on your hands and knees and show them the position they should be in. Then start crawling around and see if that resonates with them.

You can also try to put a toy a little out of reach so they will try to lean over and grab it. Over time you can put the toy further away so they will have something to crawl towards.

You can also make a game out of it! You can build a tunnel or a fort to motivate your baby to go explore. A game of peek-a-boo is known to be used as a motivator to get kids to start moving around.

Conclusion 

If you were concerned about when do babies army crawl, now you have your answer. Crawling and moving around means freedom for the baby and once they start there is no going back. They become little explorers and good luck trying to stop them. 

Every baby is different, some army crawl at 6 months, some start creeping on their hand and knees at 10 months, and some go from sitting to walking directly.

This is all very common. As long as your baby is moving in some way and progressing every day it’s completely normal. 

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