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Her muscles may just like the feeling of standing more than crawling. I don't know if there's anything you can do about promoting crawling over walking. I would definitely put bumpers on the sides of tables, though if she's falling a lot! That's awesome that she's starting to stand up already!! Go A!!

When I was a baby I never crawled, straight to walking. I turned out okay! I feel like LO might go the same route, she wants to GO! She's only 5.5 mo though so we'll see...

I think some babies are just wild things and learn by falling. Alice is very careful but I can't keep Blake from banging into things and falling down to save my life. He's rarely bothered by it, so I think it's just his personality. If she gets frustrated by not being able to get places quickly, I do think she will figure out there are options (crawling) or become more efficient at walking. An early walker is a blessing and a curse but it's also soooo darn cute.

My son never crawled, and nothing I did encouraged him. Looks like mobility is her thing!

So first of all, both you and her are going to get a LOT more used to her falling down. I'm pretty sure I had a post a month or two ago about Fiona falling down all the time and now it's like... no big deal. DH and I were talking about how some day we should try to count how many times she falls down in a day then we immediately dismissed that idea because it would be too hard. I'm talking like... probably a hundred or more lol. She is totally unphased 99% of the time.

As for walking before crawling... I think it is fine if she does but she also might surprise you! Fiona has had sort of an unusual progression through milestones I think. She was late to rolling (5 months) then learned to get on all 4s and rock at 7 months. Didn't learn to get into sitting position independently until 7.5 months and then 1 week later she figured out how to stand up from the floor all by herself without pulling up! She didn't learn how to pull up on something to stand until 8 months but even then she far preferred to stand independently from the floor. But that was really hard to learn/balance so she fell A LOT figuring that out. Once she was standing just before 8 months we thought she'd walk first because she was seeming to try to shuffle. But then she did randomly learn to crawl the week she turned 8 months old. We sort of encouraged it because she was on all 4s and really wanted a dvd I was looking at so I sort of coaxed her a little forward a little forward reaching for it... then once she realized she could do it she was off to the races immediately. Now at not quite 10 months she is trying to master walking (she will take steps but isn't confident yet, her record is 10 steps before falling down) but she has never yet figured out she can "cruise" along furniture. So basically she's a huge weirdo.

So my two take-aways are 1) let babies do their own thing, even if they don't follow the normal progression. The world needs weirdos. 2) falling down (a LOT) is normal. she'll get used to it and so will you!

@littleredhairedgrl: We have a "baby jail" gate off area that is baby-safe so that I can leave the room to pee or make a bottle without her mortally injuring herself... its awesome Although right now LO often screams bloody murder if you leave her alone for 30 seconds. So there is that... haha. But seriously they get better at falling. I try to keep fiona away from sharp edges/corners but otherwise just let her go. She does still hurt herself sometimes. This morning she tripped over her own feet and head-butted the wood floor in our kitchen and that was sad. But I picked her up and cuddled her and she was okay 1 minute later. That was probably the most drama we'll see about falling today (knock on wood... hah)

DS didn't "crawl" till he was 11 months, and was walking the following month. He never showed any interest in crawling other than pushing backwards here and there. He was definitely more interested in pulling himself up and bouncing up and down. There have been plenty of falls and bruises, sadly, but he continues any how. I read somewhere that crawling isn't really considered a milestone.

My LO started walking at 10 months, after standing/cruising around 8-9 months. It was about 2 weeks before she perfected it enough that I could let her roam a bit without my constant help. Hang in there mama!

My LO went from rolling super fast - like crazy fast to get across the room in a split second, to walking at 9 months just like @wrkbrk: !

My LO was cruising very easily, and showed no interest in crawling. One day he just crawled across the room (at 9 months). He did not even like being on all fours, except to lunge for stuff.

Go A!!! E loves to crawl although he does know how to walk. E has been pulling up and cruising for a while now. Hopefully the bruises will be minimal.

I totally thought DS wasn't going to crawl at all. From the time he was teeny tiny he wanted to stand. I thought for sure he was going to go right to walking. But he surprised me and did end up crawling for a few months before he walked. You just never know what they're going to do :).

We had the same fears about E - she was 10 months when she finally learned to crawl but all she ever really used crawling for was getting to something she could pull up on!! She walked 2 months later!

I was also terrified of her falling.... We had a few short weeks respite from that fear once she was steady on her feet but then she discovered climbing and the fear returned! You can't turn your back on E for one minute without her diving off of something!