We are working on arm exercises with Anna so we canl help our baby crawl. Babies need strong arms to crawl because it is a complex motor skill that requires the coordination and strength of various muscle groups. One of them being the arms 💪
Some of the reasons why strong arms are important for crawling
Support and stability: Crawling involves supporting the weight of the baby’s upper body on their arms while maintaining balance. Strong arms provide the necessary support and stability to keep the baby’s body elevated off the ground and prevent it from collapsing.
Upper body strength: Crawling requires the development of upper body strength, particularly in the muscles of the arms, shoulders, and chest. These muscles help the baby push their body forward and propel themselves while crawling.
Weight shifting and balance: Crawling involves a coordinated movement pattern where the baby shifts their weight from one arm to the other while moving their opposite leg forward. The arms serve as a pivot point, allowing the baby to shift their weight and maintain balance as they move.
Coordination and bilateral movement: Crawling also helps develop coordination between the arms and legs. Strong arms enable babies to generate the necessary force and coordination to move their limbs in a synchronized manner, facilitating crawling movements.
Sensory and proprioceptive feedback: Crawling provides babies with sensory and proprioceptive feedback. The pressure and weight-bearing on the arms during crawling stimulate the sensory receptors in the muscles and joints, providing valuable feedback on body position, movement, and spatial awareness.
Some babies never crawl though
Some babies never crawl and Anna might be one of them. I think that she might walk without crawling, and although we are trying to help her to crawl, here are the reasons why I think that she might never do it:
- Her head is proportionally much bigger than her body. She is able to hold a semi-crawling position but not for long. She gets tired and it does not surprise me. I always imagine that she feels like I do when I have to do a plank for long
- Her arms are not strong enough and you do need to be able to support some weight to be in a crawling position
So we are working on baby arm exercises to help Anna to get stronger arms. Even though I do not think that she will crawl, her physiotherapist says that it is a really good skill to have. Also I want to help her as much as I can to achieve anything that will be beneficial for her.
The 2 baby arm exercises that we are focusing on
There are 2 main exercises that we do, one of them she likes a lot more than the other.
Kneeling in an incline position for stronger arms
As happened with tummy time, putting her in an incline position makes the semi-crawling position easier to maintain. What I mean is to be kneeling on the floor and with the arms extended on a wedge. Her hands need to be free for this, which is a bit of an issue because she likes to always hold a toy and to chew it!
This is the type of soft play wedge that I have.
What I try to do is to put a toy at the top of the wedge so when she tries to reach it, she naturally gets into the position. Curently I help her get into kneeling and to get her to stay like it for longer, I put her legs between mine. As she has hypermobility, she tends to want to sit in W position. That is the position that she will naturally end up in if I don’t put her legs between mine.
She’s not always keen on the soft play wedge, and she prefers the cubed soft play. I learnt today that I can use it to achieve a similar thing to the one above but I need to hold her from around the tummy and try to pull her body away from the cube. The further away she is from the cube, the more work she will be doing with her arms to reach it and rest them on it.
The image below is a position that Anna prefers but this way she is not really working on the arms. The reason is that she is pretty much upright so she is not holding any weight in the arms.
Pulling herself up to stand
The other exercise to help strengthen her arms, and the one that she likes, is to go from sitting to standing pulling herself up with some furniture or toy in front of her. She only started to be able to do that so the distance between her bum and the furniture/toy can’t be much (for now).
What I do is to help her is to sit her on my legs in front of the toy, and then she grabs it and is able to pull herself up. Sometimes I anchor her feet to the floor or position her legs to look straight (instead of to the sides, which she tends to do because of her hypermobility). Like the video shows from minute 1 and 30 seconds.
It’s supposed to be a great exercise to get stronger feet and ankles.
Any sofa or kids chair work to practice. We have a cool standing tower with a bear and music at the top so she can play once she is standing.
I tried to find a link to it, but couldn’t. This is the best I could find. Also from Vtech.
There are walkers that are supposed to be good to learn to stand too. I would not recommened them for this stage because having wheels makes them are not very stable!
I hope that all the positions to help baby crawl are clear. If they are not or you have any questions, please leave a comment or drop me a message in the email in the About page 😊
