Every stage in a child’s development is exciting for both the baby and the parent but as soon as the child starts to crawl, there a few precautions that the parents must take to ensure their baby is safe.
The crawling phase of a child’s development will be a learning experience for the two of you. To ensure that your baby goes through this stage successfully, there are few things you need to know. We have provided in this article, ten of such things:
#1. The right time for your baby to start crawling
Each child develops at different rate. However, a number of babies start to crawl when between the ages of 7 and 10 months. By this age most babies master the act of digging in with their knees and pushing off. In this way you baby can propel himself round the room to anything that tickles his fancy.
#2. Some babies never crawl at all
If you found that your child has reached this age and is unable to crawl, unless, this is a health related issue; there is no cause for alarm. Some babies never crawl and instead of crawling, they move straight from sitting up to standing which is absolutely normal. However, if you are concerned about your child’s developmental milestones, book an appointment with your pediatrician to discuss your concern as soon as you can.
#3. A few important Crawling Facts
Scientific study found recently that babies born during the summer and fall months tend to crawl later than children born during the winter and spring times. This is because babies born during summer and fall reach crawling age in winter, when they are fully clad with more restraining clothes.
Some babies at this time may be skilled enough to get down on all fours but may not be able to do more than just rock back and forth. However, with time, he will take to one of the several forms of crawling to be able to move round the room.
#4. Different forms of crawling Styles
The manner of crawling style adopted by varies as much as there a many babies. A number of babies try different methods before they discover what is most comfortable for them. The most common forms of crawling adopted by babies are:
The Combat Crawling
Here the baby crawls with her forearms flat on the floor and her bottom in the air and creeps on her belly.
Scooting the butt
The baby sits on his butts and propels himself with her arms and legs.
The Bear Walk
The baby keeps her arms and legs straight and lumbering all along instead of bending her elbows or putting weight on her knees.
The Bunny Hop
This crawling type is where a baby gets down on all fours and hops.
The Crab Craw
The crab craw is where the baby tucks one knee in and extends the other, while maneuvering himself sideways and backwards.
#5. Knee protection: Baby Knee Pads
There are two forms of baby knee protection products: The Baby knee pad and Leg warmers.
A hard or rough floor can bruise your baby knees or make it bloody when he starts to crawl. The baby’s skin is very soft and delicate and thus can easily be injured. Marble or concrete floor can especially cause problems. Carpets can as well make your baby knee feel sore.
The good news is that there are things you can do to protect your baby’s knee and avert possible knee injury. Knee protection ensures your baby knees are safe as she crawls. When she starts to stand, the knee protection also ensures that she doesn’t injure her knee when she falls over and bang her knees on the floor.
If your floor is not the friendly type, the best alternative for your baby knee is a baby knee pad. The knees area of a baby knee pad is structured with a thick padded material that protects your baby’s knee from harm.
Your baby may need some time to get used to crawling in knee pads because the extra padding on the knees makes your baby knees a bit higher than the normal knee position during crawling.
However, babies frequently learn to get over this hurdle in a small space of time and with the knee pad on your baby’s knee, she would before long start to craw on any form of floor without constituting any form of harm to her knee.
#6. Knee protection: Baby leg warmers
Baby leg warmers are basically long socks without feet. What this means is that the leg warmer only provide protection to the baby’s knee as much as a thick socks would. The use of leg warmers for knee protection has different issues like:
It provides less knee protection than the knee pad. It can be slipper and can easily slip off the baby’s knee. The best knee protection product is the knee pad.
#7. Childproofing
A crawling baby can get injured accidentally. To avoid this undesirable possible occurrence, you need to childproof your house. There are a lot of things you need to do to keep your house safe from the crawling baby. Some of these include the following:
Install child proof Gadgets and safety gates
Install safety gates
A good number of parents use safety gates to keep their crawling baby inside within a specific territory of the home. Safety gates makes it possible for you to keep the outside doors open to let air into the home while at the same time blocking the baby from getting across to stairways which can be dangerous and to rooms like the toilet and the kitchen where the child is not to enter while navigating the home.
Safety gates can cause problems if not properly installed or outdated. It is better to install gates that cannot be easily dislodged by your child and which would not be difficult for you to open and close.
There are different forms of gadgets you can buy to help you keep your crawling child safe. If you can afford the bill, you may wish to consider hiring a professional childproofer to help you select and install safety devices for you. However, you need to bear in mind that gadgets should not act as a substitute for your eyes and ears. Your best bet is to make use of your eyes and ears to supervise your child.
Baby Safety gates
A good number of parents use baby gates to keep their crawling baby inside within a specific territory of the home. Safety gates makes it possible for you to keep the outside doors open to let air into the home while at the same time blocking the baby using baby gates for stairs from getting across to stairways which can be dangerous and to rooms like the toilet and the kitchen where the child is not to enter while navigating the home.
Safety gates can cause problems if not properly installed or outdated. It is better to install gates that cannot be easily dislodged by your child and which would not be difficult for you to open and close.
#8. Get down on your knees and have your baby’s view of the territory
The most efficient way to keep your baby safe is to have a baby’s view of your home. To do this, you need to get down on your hands and knees and view the environment the way you baby would see it from there. Doing that, you would be able to discover things that your child can reach and what can be tempting to your baby and put them away.
#9. Protect power outlets
Get outlet covers and cover up all electrical outlets in your home that are within the reach of your child. The baby can easily put the detachable small plug-in caps into her mouth, unfortunately. It is better to replace the outlet covers especially those that can easily be reached by your baby with models that are made up of a sliding safety fastener. If you are making use of using extension cords in your home, wrap any uncovered outlets with electrical tape.
#10. Be cautious about furniture and fixtures
Always close the dresser drawers when they are not in use. Babies can turn them into ladder which can be dangerous. Also, try to always close the file cabinet drawers when you are not making use of them. The cabinet can fall over when one is left open.
Other things you can do is to check the ties on blinds and curtains; secure your windows and doors and watch out for small bits and pieces that can choke your baby like coins, marbles, beads, paper clips, and other small objects. You also need to store poisonous products out of the reach of your child.