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I have never heard of such a thing....interested to hear what others have to say though.

I'm afraid that's an old wives tale!

No, it's not an old wives tale, it's actual fact. There are certain neural connections that happen when they learn to crawl. Lemme see if I can find an article... I was just listening to a chiropractor who specializes in neurology that was talking about this.

@FarmWifeGina: I've heard the same in a couple documentaries. A Psychologist even that noticed some of his patients having the same issues & them all having skipped crawling... It's been awhile since I've seen it though so I don't really remember.

Ok, so apparently this is a big debate among pediatrician, neurologists, etc. Lol, every article I find says something different. But the theory that certain cross brain connections happen as they learn to cross crawl makes sense to me.

I'd never heard of this until @runningelley posted asking something similar a while back, but then read mention of it in a parenting book recently. I don't know how you'd 'teach' a kid to crawl who skipped it and started walking (like DH and his brother both did) but I thought this was interesting - http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=crawling-may-be-unnecessary

@FarmWifeGina: I'm no neurologist, but maybe crawling is just one way that those connections can be made?

I crawled but VERY briefly. I learned to walk right after that.

My lo has crawled properly once but isn't interested in it..She's almost nine months so she still has time, but I'm not really worried about it. As far as I know, lots of kids skip crawling. There are things you can do to encourage it, but that doesn't mean it will happen.

@Bao: DH was really pumped about LO trying to crawl so he often 'demonstrated' how it worked... much to my amusement. Needless to say, LO is army crawling now, on his own timeline, like every other baby ever haha!

I don't know, I don't care. I saw the brain scans that seemed to prove that the blood flow in a crawler's brain was different than a non-crawler's brain. There were also brain scans of the blood flow in drug user brains and the brains of people who'd had concussions, the crawling thing was just one facet. But I just puked up my lunch and really, really couldn't care less right now.

This article gives a brief overview of the history behind the idea that crawling is necessary, and also points out the cultural bias bias inherent in that idea. It's a quick read.

http://mobile.slate.com/blogs/how_babies_work/2013/04/24/crawling_and_development_parents_obsess_about_it_but_your_baby_will_be_fine.html

I would beware of reading too much into a comparison of brain scans unless it was done in a good study (random selection, good sample size, etc), because one could pick a biased set of scans on either side. Also, the link could be a correlation and differences may not be caused by the lack of crawling.

I know my sister, an OT, was concerned about her son not crawling and not developing those gross motor skills and strengthening his upper back and chest and arms. He basically went from army crawling to walking, but after those first few steps he did actually crawl more (since it was faster than walking at first).

I have never heard this! I have always thought that it was normal for some babies to go straight to cruising/walking? My one brother actually went straight to walking, never crawled and he has never had any developmental delays.

i'm not particularily too concerned about this personally, but i better not be, because LO is 12.5 months old and just mastered army crawling last month! He's pretty good on his feet, but hasn't walked on his own yet. i have a feeling he may skip regular crawling all together.

@rrachael: my LO didn't flip over reliably (as in more than once or twice a day) until he was well over 8-9 months old. i know that's pretty late, but our doctor was not concerned (he's a tall/big baby!) and of course he does it just fine, now

although LO's gross motor skills seem to be developing on the slower side, he's super strong, and has always had extra good and early fine motor skills he's just chill.

of course our doc is keeping an eye on him, too

@rrachael: I think she did it around 7 months but not very consistently at all. She was content with just sitting:)

@tysonja: Your son sounds just like mine. He's 9 months old today and has zero interest in crawling. (Also a big/tall boy.) But has ridiculous fine motor skills - can feed himself with a spoon already. Just curious, you mention he's very "chill." Is he a big babbler? My son is very quiet as well - content to watch and smile. His doctor is not concerned about his not crawling (or his lack of babbling), but of course I drive myself crazy:(

DH never crawled. Well, technically, he crawled to the couch pulled himself up and started walking. Who knows, maybe its an 'over-developmental' thing. Maybe babies who dont crawl dont see the 'need' for it and realize walking is much more efficient.