If you follow me on Instagram (and if you don’t, you should – @sicklymama), you will have seen that Little Man has started crawling. There’s just one problem… My baby is crawling backwards. And he doesn’t mean to. He’s trying to go forwards.
So he gets very angry as he tries to reach a toy or something in front of him, and instead finds it getting further and further away.
Another novel approach that he has taken to attempting to crawl is the “skydiving pose“, where he lies on the floor and lifts all his hands and legs off the ground at the same time. Not sure how he thinks that this is going to result in locomotion, but he does get very frustrated when it does not.
Now, I posted about this on Instagram and other mums commented that their babies had also crawled backwards before going forwards, which was reassuring as I had been concerned that my baby was quite literally backwards. So, of course, I did some Googling. I always love learning about child and baby development!
Why is my baby crawling backwards?
The internet suggests that babies tend to crawl backwards first when they feel stronger on their arms than their legs. It’s interesting because I’m sure this is not the case for Little Man. His legs are super strong and he’s able to support his own weight standing with just a little help from mum or dad to steady his balance. About two months ago, we thought the main thing standing in his way was his lack of upper body strength, ironically.
But he hasn’t worked out yet how to put power down through his legs when trying to crawl. They just sort of flail wildly behind him, usually in the air. He sort of reminds me of a penguin, the way they scoot along on their bellies.
Is it normal for my baby to crawl backwards instead of forwards?
All the baby sites say not to worry about backwards crawling, or even if baby skips crawling altogether. So if your baby crawls backwards but not forwards, don’t worry! It’s totally normal and, let’s be honest, slightly hilarious.
We’ll just wait and see if Little Man works out how to go forwards, or if he just decides to make the most of going backwards…
How long will my baby crawl backwards for?
Update! I’ve come back to this post a few months down the line. I’m writing this in early September – Little Man is now crawling forwards and has already started pulling himself up and trying to walk. But in case anyone reading this is wondering how long baby will crawl backwards for, I thought I’d share an update. Little Man ended up crawling backwards for around 6 – 8 weeks (between the age of 5 month sand 7 months) before he cracked it and finally started going forwards. That’s not too say that it would be the same for your baby, but just to give you an idea!
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