The Child 6-9 Months: The Richness of Movement (Part Two)

But the achievements don't stop there: the child also builds and gains functional, varied forms of horizontal movement, such as crawling on the belly or bottom-shuffling while sitting, up to crawling on all fours. These new skills matter a great deal, since they correspond to a greater pleasure, on the child's part, in exploring and learning. In turn, the awareness of being able to master objects and the environment becomes a constant incentive to move and try out new ways of getting around.

Crawling on the belly: this definitely allows for more control than rolling, as well as a greater ability to act on the surrounding world. Among the different forms of horizontal movement, though, it's the most tiring; even so, some children become very good at it.

Pivoting, or clock-like turning: this is the child's ability, lying on their belly, to rotate in either direction, pivoting on one part of the body, usually an arm.

Bottom-shuffling: also known as «scooting on the bottom», this isn't a particularly common way of getting around, but when it does appear, it tends to last, since it has advantages over the others. The child's gaze is already at an ideal height, the hands are free to grasp, explore, and pass objects around; there's no fear of instability or falls, since the child already has full control of the sitting position.

Crawling on all fours: not a mandatory step on the way to walking, but usually very common and highly important for motor coordination. It generally appears at the end of the third trimester, around 8-9 months. A child who starts crawling moves forward using their hands and knees (the legs are flexed), which serve as support. This kind of movement can be either same-side symmetric, if the arm and leg on the same side of the body move together, or cross-lateral asymmetric, if the arm and leg on opposite sides of the body move together, laying the groundwork for the future cross-lateral pattern of walking.

Advice for mothers: what to do

• Set up a «playpen room», or even better, «a room built for the child». It's important to find a space within the home that lets the child move freely, try out the various postural transitions and different ways of getting around, without major risks.
• Use a rug or a blanket to encourage your baby to try out postures and explore space. It's important that the child, at home, during «free time», spends time on the floor to discover movement and play. It's a good idea to place appealing materials on the rug or blanket, suited to hands-on exploration and mouthing, perhaps placing them in different spots, to invite the child to move toward them.

What not to do

At this stage, avoid using a «baby gym» with hanging toys: your child needs space, and the baby gym, suitable for the first months, now proves too limiting, holding the child back and forcing them to stay too still. Discourage the use of tools like playpens, baby walkers, and jumpers.