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| |    Creeping and Crawling by Dr. Benjamin Spock reviewed by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. Creeping--that is, when your baby begins to drag himself across the floor with his arms--can begin any time between five months and one year. Crawling, when your baby gets up on her hands and knees and moves about, usually starts a few months after creeping. Occasionally, some perfectly normal babies never creep or crawl at all; they just sit around until they learn to stand up. There are a dozen different ways of creeping and crawling, and babies may change their style as they become more expert. One first learns to creep backward, another somewhat sideways, like a crab. One wants to crawl on her hands and toes with her legs straight, another on her hands and knees, still another on one knee and one foot. The baby who learns to be a speedy creeper may be late in walking, and the one who is a clumsy creeper, or who never learns to creep at all, has a good reason for learning to walk early. Because normal, healthy babies begin creeping and crawling at such widely different ages, it doesn't make sense to talk about delayed crawling. It also doesn't make sense to try to make your baby crawl earlier - in the long run, it simply makes no difference to her later motor development. Interestingly, babies who are put to sleep on their stomachs may crawl somewhat earlier than those put to sleep on their backs. But there is a big increase in the risk of crib death (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS) that comes with sleeping face down. Balancing a slight advancement in crawling (meaningless) against a significant risk of death, there is really no question: Babies should sleep face up!
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