It's here! Another milestone! Your baby is crawling and they're on their way to independence!
At approximately seven to ten months of age, babies start crawling. Some start earlier and some start later, but on average, this is about the time you're going to want to get REALLY serious about childproofing.
Here's a little more about the crawling stage:
Babies will learn to crawl on their own. Encouragement is always helpful, but rest assured, it's a natural next step in their development. Laying baby on their stomach helps them develop more muscle strength as this way they will need to more fully control their movements. When you do this, stay with them. They may not enjoy it right away and more importantly, they are not fully able to hold themselves up.
Try using toys as motivation to get your baby to start moving on their own. Place them slightly out of reach so they have to work a little bit to get to them. Over time you can move them out a bit more to further encourage crawling.
Your baby will be developing their neck muscles while lying on their stomach. Using slings or wraps will help with this process as they will need to use their developing muscles to look around.
More playtime on a safe surface will help them along with this development as spending time in car seats or bouncy chairs will not provide enough of the exercise they need to strengthen the appropriate muscles.
As times goes on, try to challenge their developing skills by using tunnels or tents to give them a goal to reach and new things to observe.
Should your baby not be as willing to start crawling, don't be discouraged. Each child has their own timeline. Don't get into a habit of comparing their development with others you may know.
Once baby starts zooming around, you'll want to have your childproofing securely in place. Contact SafetyNook to fulfill your baby proofing needs.