Your pediatrician might have told you not to worry if your baby skips crawling—but what if crawling is actually wiring your baby's brain for reading, focus, and coordination? We dive into the 2022 CDC decision to remove crawling from milestone checklists and explore why 92% of pediatric physical therapists disagree.

What You'll Learn:

✅ Why the CDC removed crawling and why therapists disagree
✅ How crawling strengthens the corpus callosum (brain bridge between hemispheres)
✅ Why the cerebellum contains 80% of your brain's neurons
✅ The connection between crawling and future reading, language, and memory
✅ What happens when babies skip crawling
✅ Crawling variations and what they mean
✅ The optimal crawling progression
✅ Sarah's story: How crawling transformed August's development

Key Takeaways:

🧠 Crawling builds brain infrastructure for coordination, reading, and writing
🔬 Research shows crawling impacts motor skills, language, memory, and cognition
👶 Crawling variations (bear crawling, bum scooting) signal retained reflexes
📊 92% of pediatric PTs believe crawling is important (despite CDC removal)

Episode Timestamps:

[3:00] Why the CDC removed crawling
[4:30] What crawling does for the brain
[9:00] How crawling impacts future skills
[12:00] What happens when babies skip crawling
[14:00] Crawling variations explained
[16:30] Sarah's personal story

Resources Mentioned:

📥 FREE Ultimate Baby Motor Milestone Checklist - Birth to walking tracker

🎓 1-Hour Workshop - Coming soon! Help your baby achieve motor milestones

Research References:

• Kretch et al. (2024) - 92% of pediatric PTs believe crawling is important
• Herbert, Gross, & Hayne (2007) - Crawling improves memory retrieval
• McEwan et al. (1991) - Non-crawlers score lower on assessments
• Yamamoto et al. (2025) - Less crawling variation = more delays
• Wang et al. (2014) - Motor skills predict communication at age 3
• Provenzale et al. (2012) - Corpus callosum myelination
• Salman & Tsai (2016) - Cerebellum's role beyond balance

[FULL CITATIONS WITH LINKS IN SHOW NOTES]

Related Episodes:

• Episode 2: Birth to Independent Sitting
• Episode 3: Crawling to Walking
• Episode 4: Tummy Time Tips
• Episode 6: Retained Primitive Reflexes (Next!)

Connect with WeeThrive:

🌐 Website: weethrivepeds.com

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Host: Sarah Cook, MOTR/L - Pediatric OT & mom of 3
Episode Length: ~20 minutes

📚 References

Herbert, J., Gross, J., & Hayne, H. (2007). Crawling is associated with more flexible memory retrieval by 9-month-old infants. Developmental Science, 10(2), 183-189.

Kretch, K. S., Dusing, S. C., Harbourne, R. T., Hsu, L., Sargent, B. A., & Willett, S. L. (2024). Early mobility and crawling: Beliefs and practices of pediatric physical therapists in the United States. Pediatric Physical Therapy, 36(1), 9-17.

McEwan, M. H., Dihoff, R. E., & Brosvic, G. M. (1991). Early infant crawling experience is reflected in later motor skill development. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 72(1), 75-79.

(For a complete list of cited resources visit the blog post on Episode 5<