Please don’t underestimate children’s belly crawling

Can your child roll over? Can your child sit? Can your child crawl on all fours? These are common conversations in parent groups, but parents often ignore belly crawling, which has only existed for a short time. Therefore, many parents do not pay much attention to belly crawling, but pay more attention to their children crawling on all fours and sitting. In fact, belly crawling is of great significance to the baby's later growth and development. It can increase the baby's sensory input, core muscle strength, trunk rotation ability and limb coordination ability.

01 Increase sensory input. Sensations include general sensations (such as deep sensation, shallow sensation, etc.) and special sensations (such as smell, taste, etc.). Deep sensation is also called proprioception, which is the sense of the individual receptor's own spatial position, movement state, and changes. Proprioceptors are located in muscle spindles and tendons. Abdominal crawling can increase the contact area between the skin and the ground, thereby increasing skin sensory stimulation and improving sensory perception. The movement of muscles, bones and joints during crawling increases the role of proprioception. In daily life, proprioception is very important. For example, you don't need to look at the ground when walking, and you don't need to look at the cup when drinking water, which all require the participation of proprioceptors.

02 Improve the strength of the core muscles. The core muscles refer to the deep muscles located in the front and back of the abdomen that surround the trunk and spine and are responsible for protecting the stability of the spine. They are the key for us humans to maintain sitting, standing and other postures and complete various exercises. Through abdominal crawling, babies can promote their strength, exercise core muscles such as the rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus, and erector spinae, improve their strength, and lay a good foundation for four-point crawling and standing. Avoid abnormal postures when standing due to core instability.

Abdominal crawling can also promote the development of deep spinal muscles, laying a good foundation for spinal development. The rotator muscles, semispinalis muscles and multifidus muscles close to the spine are relatively small and located deep in the human body's muscles, so they are difficult to use in daily activities. Over time, their functions will decline and they will not function normally. However, abdominal crawling can activate these muscles and cause them to contract, thereby promoting spinal development and growth. Maintain a good spinal posture.

03 Improve the coordination of hands and feet In the baby's daily activities and games, the coordination of hands and feet is the key to completing complex movements. Belly crawling can promote the development of hand-foot coordination and lay the foundation for the baby to walk correctly. How to swing arms and legs correctly requires the help of good hand-foot coordination. Babies with poor coordination are prone to develop an abnormal gait of lifting one hand and foot at the same time when walking, that is, the same hand and foot.

Belly crawling has many advantages for the baby's normal growth and development, and it is also a very important part of the development process, so parents should pay attention to and encourage their baby's belly crawling.