[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfZohyH-XiA[/youtube]
THE MANY PATTERNS OF BABY CRAWLING
The motor milestone of crawling may be achieved through a few patterns of movement. Some babies learn belly crawling with their stomach on the floor, others learn hands and knees crawling, and a few learn hands and feet crawling which is known as “bear crawling.” Some babies learn to crawl with a homolateral coordination where the arm and leg on the same side go forward at about the same time. Many babies learn to crawl with the contralateral coordination where the opposite arm and leg move forward at about the same time. For baby, the most important accomplishment achieved with the milestone of crawling is that she get to stuff much faster!
WHAT IS BEAR CRAWLING?
Baby sometimes learns to locomote across the floor by moving on her hands and feet only, without letting her knees touch the floor. This is commonly referred to as “bear crawling.” Some babies learn to crawl in this pattern and use it as their primary means of locomotion. Others learn to crawl in a different pattern such as on the hands and knees and occasionally use the bear crawl pattern. This appears to be the case of the baby in the above video from poarg1021’s youtube channel. While playing outside, the baby crawls in the pattern of the bear. After awhile he stands up and takes a few steps. When he approaches the door to go inside the house he switches back to the hands and knees crawling pattern. In this video you can clearly see the difference between the crawling patterns of the hands and feet (like a bear) and the hands and knees.
WHY DOES BABY CRAWL LIKE A BEAR?
Parents ask, “Why does my baby crawl like a bear?” There are a few possible reasons. Baby crawls like a bear to protect the knees because he is wearing clothing such as a shorts and the knees are exposed, or because he has learned to walk and it is a crawling pattern that is closer to walking (it is not as far down to the ground as the hands and knees pattern), or he was put on his feet a lot as a baby and his brain learned to put the feet down on the floor rather than the knees. Or, maybe this pattern is just funny and interesting to him. What is more important to ask is what else can baby do when he moves? Can he also crawl on his hands and knees like the baby in the video above? Or, is this his only pattern of movement? The baby in the above video moves with skill since he transitions easily from bear crawling to walking to hands and knees crawling.