Not crawling and later reading skills?

Question

My daughter just turned 7 months old yesterday. She has been pulling herself to stand for about 3 weeks now, whenever she is on the floor or in her crib she is standing. She has just began trying to "cruise". She never really crawled. She did get on her fours and rock back and forth. To get around she usually sits herself up from her tummy, puts her hand out, lets herself fall, scootches, and then gets up again and so on. This is just how she has always got around for about 2 months now. Anyway, I was talking with my mom telling her that she is attempting to cruise, when my mom said that it was bad if she never crawled. She said that babies that never crawl are not good readers later on in life. She claims there have been studies proving this theroy. I was wondering what everyone else thinks on this matter? I think its false, I don't see how crawling has anything to do with reading. What do you think?

Answer 1

http://www.parenting.com/parenting/baby/article/0,19840,1588323,00.html?topic=11996&stage=01

It was really nice of your mom to scare the crap out of you.

Crawling isn't a devopmental benchmark, but moving is by any means. Some babies scoot on their bottoms, some army crawl, or your daughter's "stand, fall and scooch" method. As long as she's getting around, she is fine.

Talk to your pediatrician about it so they can better explain, but it sounds like your baby is fine.

Someone actually told me that if I taught my baby sign language the other day that their speech would be delayed. It seems like they just make this stuff up.

Answer 2

I get monthly updates about things my little one should be doing she is turning 7 months next week. It said crawling could be expected but that some babies never crawl and there is nothing wrong with that for they ( the baby) has come up with its own way of getting around. The article said its not a big deal to miss this milestone as long as the baby is getting around some way. The only thing it did say was not to use walkers because it limits movements. Crawling and reading arent related in my mind. Good luck.

Answer 3

That's a new one to me because my daughter technically never crawled. She got around "crawled" on her hands and feet. My daughter was talking and reading at an early age. She's 9 now and she still is a good reader...I think this all depends on the child...I wouldn't worry yet...Good Luck!

Answer 4

Every child is different but I think you are fine. I don't know if there is a connection between the two. My son is 9 months old & he didn't start crawling until recently. I know that some kids never crawl they just keep rolling over to where they want to do. I would not be concerned about but if you want ask his peditrican they would be able to let you know.

Answer 5

It's simply not true. If it is, we would know of it already.There are many baby who didn't crawl at all and turned out to be really smart. What she said may just be rumor. That's how the older generations are. Whenever your baby is ready for crawling, they will crawl. My son didn't learn to crawl until he was 9 months, but he was already walking around holding on to things before then. Don't worry, she'll learn when it's her time. Every baby develop differently and will choose to learn thing differently.

Answer 6

Crawling is not a developmental milestone that early intervention PTs look at too seriously....in fact, it's not considered to be a developmental milestone anymore, since the back to sleep campaign has babies sleeping on their backs...The reason behind this is that many babies don't get enough time on their stomachs since they're not doing it in their cribs and it always has to be supervised, and as a result, they aren't developing the muscles that they used to develop when we all slept on our tummies....the most major milestone for this age is pulling up....it's great that your daughter did it so early...and she seems to be ahead of the curve at this point, trying to cruise at this point.

I've never heard a connection between crawling and reading...but I have heard a connection between parents reading and children reading...it's important to make it a part of your daily routine and to let your child see you reading, too...anything is okay, magazines, newspapers, anything, but let them know that reading is important and they'll get the message....

Good luck!

Answer 7

my daughter just turned 8 months yesterday and does pretty much the same thing my mom said the same to me but i really looked into it and the only thing i found is that children who DO crawl develop their hand eye cordnation faster than those who don't. nothing was said about reading ... i never crawled and i was reading at college level coming into high school!!! i think what it really is, is the material your child reads while developing their reading habits. make sure their reading what they are interested in. mine was comics which are written at a college level.. in other words don't worry about it!!!!

Answer 8

Not true here for me. My son never crawled he rolled and then walked at about 10-11 months. Now he is nine and in third grade. On his lat reading assessment he scored proficient at the 6th grade reading level.

More important is reading to your child at this age and encouraging a good vocabulary and love for reading.

Answer 9

My best friend is Dyslexic. He never crawled. He just got up and walked one day. NOW- he went to therapy and they made him learn to crawl, because it's something that you need to know how to do, but nope- he got up and started walking at 10 months. His dyslexia isn't that bad. He can read, it just is more difficult than most. Good luck!

Answer 10

if there is a connection, its good to know. I don't think you have much to worry about, just keep an eye on it when she gets to 4-6, when kids start leaning letter ect and getting ready to read. The #1 to help her be agood reader is to read to her now, so she is familiar with book adn words. Good luck