crawling track, what age?

[Skylark]

Just a question to those who read Doman's book on physical excelence about crawling track. What ages does he refer to? My daughter is 4 months, and is very active, she wants to crawl, but not succeding yet, would it be beneficial for us to use a crawling track for her? What other exercises does he recommends?

[Joha]

We are supposed to place the baby in the crawling track since birth. The crawling track is supposed to go around your bed and have the baby sleep in it because babies crawl while they sleep. However, you can use it during the day also which is what I'm going to be doing since my baby aleady sleeps in the crib.

Now, I'm actually picking up my crawling track today and my baby is 6 months old. The reason why I'm deciding to do it even though she is old for it is because my daughter was in a harness for the first three months so we think she may be a little bit behind in her physical development. Also, the idea of having it built now will serve the purpose or helping my daughter and also we will use it with our next baby.    We didn't get one built to go aroung the bed. We just built one that will look a little bit like the one in the book "How smart is you baby", but the one we got bult folds in the middle.

Honestly, I regret I didn't get one built when I found out about it whaen my daughter was your baby's age.    Can't do anything now.  I think it would not hurt your baby and you can also use it to have her exercise one she starts crawling becuase you can change the inclination.

Hope this information helps you make a decision! 

[Skylark]

Joha, thank you for that answer a while back!    Now, my daughter almost the age your daugter was when you wrote it  . It just did not work out for us to get it then, so she is now 5 months and 3 weeks, and we just got the crawling track.

She does not crawl yet, so we thought it would not hurt to have it ( since I dont feel comfortable putting her straight on the floor ( I can keep it nicer and cleaner in the track)), plus we can use it for her exercise later, etc., like you mentioned.

Now that you have a couple of months behind you with using it, and you have started at the same age we are starting, can you share any tips? How did you start? How soon did she started to crawl in it, did she make any progress in the first few days? How many times a day do you do it, anything else?

I would really appreciate hearing from you!

Anyone else, who started it with older babies, around 5.5-6 months? Any tips or experiences will be appreciated!

[Chris1]

I would recommend that you consider buying the book “How To Teach Your Baby To Be Physically Superb”.  It is perhaps their best book and the activities are enjoyable for both parent and child.
 
Chris.

[Joha]

Skylark,

When we got it and we were putting her in the track about twice a day and it depended on how she was doing if we had her do it once or twice. We inclined it a bit to help her. We put a wooden egg in front of her that she needs to catch and that is her motivation to move. We like the egg becuase when she tries to catch it it rolls so she needs o keep going ( ). Now, I have to report she is not crawling yet , which I have to admit (with shame  ) is probably our fault because we have not been putting her in it for a while. She started kind of climbing the track and rolling on the sides so she could be on her back. Even though the crawl track has walls, she quickly figured our she just had to push herlself a bit and will be on her back. I really regret not getting it earlier and we will definetly have our next baby on it since the beggining. Now, the other thing is that my daughter wants to stand up all the time, she doesn't pull herself yet, but she loves us to put her on her feet and she is grabbing the border of her playpen so she ca stand up. My mom said I didn't crawl, so I'm a fraid she may be the same 

I have to say that with time she got better and better about being on it for longer periods of time.

I'm not sure if this helps. Good luck with it! You may be more consistent than me and get better results.

[Skylark]

Thank you, Joha, just now was able to read your reply! Appreciate hearing about your progress. I guess we are starting now and will see how it goes. We did a couple of times so far, and she really seem to "get the idea". I am sure it will be a slow progress, but I am glad to see her trying to move forward and working on it... And we had fun with her toys 

[Mary_Cal]

Some infants crawl, some don't.  Don't sweat it.  Our crawled around 7 months.

[momtomany]

Is there no way to get your babe safely down on the floor a lot more?  If your floor is really unacceptable (your house is being renovated for example?) then maybe you could get a large piece of low-pile carpet or something to lay down temporarily.  In many countries it is totally unacceptable to wear outdoor shoes indoors.... they have house shoes to ensure cleanliness in the home.  In our house food is only eaten in the kitchen where the floor is cleaned everyday.... this keeps the rest of the floors much cleaner.  Also we only have a little carpet in a couple of the bedrooms (things 'live' in the carpet... ugh!) and the rest of the floors are hardwood, tile, or vinyl.  Perhaps a small towel could be placed on a smooth floor underneath the baby's hands and chest, leaving their bare legs and feet to push against the flooring... if you're really concerned about germs from the floor.  But really, the floor is not nearly as 'dirty' as many other things... toilets, dishcloth after a couple days, toothbrush.  I read a study once about food dropped on the floor and then picking it up and eating it and it's not nearly the 'danger' that many people think it is.  I think getting the baby lots of floor time as early as possible is a key factor in how early they learn to crawl.... that, and putting them in their beds on their tummy (a controversial practice I know, but I believe in it).  Getting a crawling track was never something I considered because of the expense.... the floor is readily available and doesn't cost me any extra.

[Joha]

We had a couple of issues. One, our baby was in a harness her first three months of life, so there was not way to put her on her tummy safely. Then, we we started putting her on her tumy on the floor (because our floors are clean enough to do it) and she would just go in circles (which she still does). That is why we decided to get the crawling track, which I regretted not getting it earlier because at the point we got it, she could only use it properly for a few weeks before she figured out how to get on her back. The expense...the track at Doman's site is very expensive, but we had it built and even though it was much cheaper, I know some people here have been able to build much cheaper. Anyways, all of us do what we think is best for our babies and the crawling track sounded like a great idea.

[momtomany]

Yes, I agree that not all babies follow the same progression of development and there are many factors that can affect this too.  One of our children had open heart surgery when he was 13 days old, 2.5 months old, and then just a little over 2 years old.  He never crawled but learned a very efficient 'bum shuffle' when he was a little older (8-10 months or so?).  I didn't want to put him on his tummy on the floor when his surgery incision was healing, but little kids are determined to get moving... you can't hold a healthy child back from this, and they will figure out a way that works for them.  I don't know if it's a coincidence though, but my one child that learned to crawl hands and knees on her 5 months birthday also mastered reading much quicker, earlier, and with less effort than the others... everything to do with learning is easier for her... I suspect there really is something to this early crawling thing.  You can give them the opportunities to influence their development, but you can't control it... it will still happen in a unique way to each child, eh?  We never got a crawling track, but I don't mean to say I think it isn't helpful... I think it's a really good idea to try to influence earlier crawling.  But for an older baby who isn't yet crawling, maybe they already have some of the strength to do it... they just need more opportunity on the floor.  For a newborn I can really see the benefit of the crawling track, because they don't have the strength yet and the incline would really help them so much then.  I know that putting the toys and interesting 'motivators' just a little bit out of their reach encourages them to get moving, and also when they are really little I will put my hand under their foot when they're on their tummy and then they can push against my hand and maybe it helps them get the idea of moving somewhere.

[KL]

Before your baby can crawl, you can incline it downwards so she has the help of gravity to get her to move forward/downwards.

Then flatten it, then as she becomes good at it, incline it UPWARDS to make it more challenging.

I would start with crawling tracks even from birth, and it can be used all the way till your baby can walk.

[eiremk]

Hi,
My daughter is 6 months old and has been on a crawling track (for sleep) and an inclined crawling track (during waking hours) since birth.  She crawled the day we brought her home from the hospital and continued to do so up until about 5 weeks old.  She then stopped crawling due to lack of opportunity.  I could give you a list of excuses as to what was happening in my family at the time, but the bottom line is that she was not given enough opportunity to move.  She has no problem being on her belly -- she'll stay on her belly throughout the day.  Getting her to "move" on her belly is another story.  We've used an inclined track (at varying degrees), flat track, toys, and putting hands behind her feet to get her to move.  It all helps somewhat.  In the past several weeks, we have focused on patterning her using the homolateral method outlined in Glenn Doman's "What To Do About Your Brain Injured Child" book and as further explained by an organization called Brain Highways in Encinitas, California.  http://www.brainhighways.com/  The patterning along with increased focus on getting her to move is working.  This morning she crawled on her belly approximately 25 feet with some assistance (i.e. some of the time I put my hands behind her feet and other times I tempted her with moving toys/books along the way). 

My 3 year old son who also slept on a crawling track and spent significant time on an inclined crawling track (waking) during his first 7 months of life (but ultimately did not crawl/creep enough) is currently enrolled in Brain Highways and is crawling on his belly for 30 minutes per day.  He is also doing homolateral patterning on his belly and back daily.  He also has a vestibular and sensory integration program.  The impact on his motor (speech, fine motor skills, large motor skills) and sensory skills (comprehension, visual focus, eye tracking/convergence) is amazing.  By the way, my primary goal for enrolling him was to increase his speech output and I did not expect the other benefits. 

For those who say that crawling or creeping is not significant/important, I respectfully and completely disagree.  Crawling on the belly and creeping on all fours is absolutely critical to integrating the primitive reflexes of the lower parts of the brain.  The lower parts of the brain (i.e. pons and midbrain) are organized in the first year of life through crawling on the belly and creeping on all fours.  If the brain is not organized through these activities, some of the behavioral symptoms include anxiety, fight or flight, freeze, dislike of reading or math, spacial disorganization, any oral habit like over or under eating, chewing on nails, smoking, addictions, too passive, too aggressive, exaggerating, inability to "let it go," helplessness, thoughts of suicide and more.  Although these symptoms may not manifest in early childhood, many ultimately manifest after the age of seven and especially during the teenage years when the increase in hormones overwhelm the brain's compensating functions.  So, you may have a baby who did not creep or crawl and be thrilled that he/she can read and do math early on and then are surprised when the child starts to struggle as a seven year old or teenager.  Such struggles may be mostly in school, social or home.   It is never too later to go back and work on your primitive reflexes.... I myself am working crawling and patterning to integrate mine. 

If you want to research this very important topic further, I encourage you to look at the Brain Highways website.  Also, as someone else noted, the How To Make Your Child Physically Superb book by Glenn Doman is very helpful as is the "How Smart Is Your Baby" book.  I know that parents on this forum care sincerely about their children, however, I also believe there is tremendous misinformation out there that downplays the importance of creeping and crawling. 

Here are some excerpted quotes from the Brain Highways website which illustrate the importance of this topic: 

There is a direct relationship between movement and learning. We now know that there is a pathway from the cerebellum (known for its role in posture, coordination, balance and movement) to parts of the brain involved in memory, attention, and spatial perception (Strick, 1995).

Sensory integration focuses primarily on the remediation of brainstem functions as a way to improve functional skills (Ayres, 1972).

The child is born with tissues of biological intelligence and the brain structure, but these only become useful when the child moves and explores the environment, manipulates objects, observes and describes what is seen, and makes use of the information in her world. Such actions are the foundations and building blocks for learning. This relationship between movement and learning continues throughout life (Capon, 1993).

The nervous system learns by doing (Gilfoyle, Grady & Moore, 1972).

Each developmental stage assimilates part of the previous one; full function depends on the functional level of the stage below. A child’s learning and behavior may be affected when natural development stages are “missed.” (Sasse, 1980).

Proper neural pathways are laid when children acquire sensory motor skills through play and specific movements (Miller and Melamed, 1989).

Movement and physical activity help to integrate both brain hemispheres. If hemispheric specialization has not occurred by age seven, a child will have learning difficulties and not perform to their full potential (Taylor, 1997).

Children who do not crawl adequately are more likely to be hyperactive and suffer learning disabilities since they may not have mastered eye-hand controller binocularity (Walsh, 1980).

Vestibular input is necessary for static and dynamic balance development, eye-movement control, and motor planning.
Children with poor vestibular processing are delayed in gross motor patterns that require coordination of both sides of the body and may have difficulty with eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills (Pyfer, 1981).

The sensory input from the eyes, ears, muscles, and joints must be matched to the vestibular input before such information can be processed efficiently (Pyfer, J. & Johnson, R., 1981).

The term sensory defensiveness describes a disorganized response to sensory input due to an imbalance between inhibition and excitation within the central nervous system. Children who are sensory defensive are characterized as hyperactive, hyperverbal, distractable, and disorganized (Knickerbocker, 1980).
Retention of primitive reflexes can affect gross motor skills, fine motor skills, sensory perception, and cognition (Goddard, 1996).


Sincerely,

Marie.

[mtb999]

My daughter doesn't mind being on her tummy and has had lots of tummy time since she was 2 weeks old.  We haven't got the resources to get/make a crawling track.  Can the babies who crawl in their crawling tracks crawl on carpet too?  Our baby (3.5 months) makes kicking leg movements when she is doing tummy time but doesn't move.  Is that because there is too much friction on a rug/carpet?

[KL]

Marie, that's a great post, thanks for that, and karma to you!

mtb999, yes, there is a lot of friction with carpet.  The point of the crawling track is to make it easier to start crawling, hence the smooth surface and the ability to incline it.  However, you can still try to make do with using a smooth surface and letting her push off with her legs against your hands.

[Kimba15]

For those of us who are in Australia, I believe you can by decline mats mats through them. it is no crawling track but you can certainly use it too help them creep, crawl. I think (don't quote me on it) that you can by ladders and and other things which help towards making your child physically superb.

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