When they go they won't stop
When they start to move, that's it, they never stop and trust me it can be the scariest thing in the world. One day they are laying, babbling and giggling playing with their toys then the next that's it, they start to move.
The first thing you should expect to see is you're baby rolling over. Now when I heard that was the first thing to expect I thought it meant that my son would be able to roll from his back onto his belly and back again... no this isn't the case, they learn one first, normally belly to back, at which point they look like a little stuck turtle, wiggling and wriggling their legs and arms in the air, desperate to get back onto their bellies, then a little while later they learn the back to belly roll, and this frustration goes, but not for long. Then they find it hilarious to start rolling everywhere, so make sure you leave room for them to do so.
My son was about 4 months once he had mastered this for the first time and we didn't know until one day, I got up with him, fed and changed him, like you normally do, then I put him down on his play mat, and had to run off to the toilet... I was gone for literally 2 minutes, my partner was in the bedroom still asleep and the next thing I know I have walked into the front room to find my son the other side of the room... how? What happened? I went in to my partner in the other room and said "haha very funny, moving him to make me think he can crawl or something..." to this I got a weird look proceeded by "what are you on about" I took him in the front room and he said "why did you put him down there?" ... "I didn't I put him on his play mat and went to the toilet..." from then we knew there was going to be trouble. He rolled everywhere and tried following us if we moved, it was adorable and hilarious all at the same time.
Now you should expect your baby to start this rolling around the 5-6 month mark, but it is common for children to start from as early as 3 months or wait until they are ready at about 7 months, all children are different and will do things in their own time, so don't panic.
Next thing to expect is sitting up, now this is funny, my son would sit himself up by using his hand to push himself up, but not how you would expect, he would basically unfold himself from laying down to sitting moving his hand front in front of his head on the floor to just between his legs when sitting but he wouldn't move his hands after this... oh no.. this is they way he balanced and he knew he couldn't fall like this. This happened for us at about 5 months and you should expect to see them starting to around the 5-7 month mark, but again don't panic if it's not exactly then, they will do it when they are ready.
Next is the part where you need to really make sure that your house is 100% baby proof, if it's not you are going to know pretty quickly. This is the crawling and cruising stage, which usually starts around the 6-9 month mark, but can be as late as 12 months or some kids might miss the crawling and go straight to cruising. Crawling can start out like an army crawl on their bellies, like my son, or bum shuffling, this is so cute, they find their way around but this is when your time is no longer time alone, even in the bathroom, you have no choice, they will follow you and then sit there and stare at you, this is soooo off putting trust me, especially if your pee shy. Then from this they normally go into a crawling on hands and knees but don't know how to go forwards and can only navigate backwards at first, bumping into things constantly. Expect your little one to get frustrated at this, they want to go forward they want to get to something but haven't quite worked out how yet. Then they work out the forwards, then they think 'hmm if I put my hands on this and pull up can I be like mummy and daddy?' (Obviously only imagining what they're thinking, it's probably more like 'let's cause more trouble') to which point they start to use furniture, sides and everything they can reach to pull themselves up into a standing position, the then start moving with this too, taking tiny steps to move... now watch their faces when they get to a point where the furniture runs out or there's a gap that's too big for their arms to reach, I sure you can heard the cogs in their little brains working at this point to try and figure it out.
Oh yeah, word of warning at this point, things they can reach once standing become a lot more interesting, make sure there's nothing that means anything to you or can hurt them within this reach, might sound silly, but it's amazing how much baby brain can still be affecting you at this point.
Also this is normally the point where they start climbing too, which if you have a boy, this climbing phase isn't a phase, it never goes away, they climb on everything and anything they can, even things you think are probably too high for them to be able to, oh trust me they will work it out. Little boys especially are little daredevils and seem to have no fear whatsoever, so be careful, but don't panic, if I they fall they will learn...sooner or later.... still waiting for our son to learn haha.
Then from this stage it's the miracle of walking, figuring out how to do it without holding on. We helped our son get to this stage from the cruising by allowing him to hold our fingers to walk, so he felt like he was still cruising, then once he was confident enough, and we were confident enough we would only use one hand and then we took that away, getting him to walk small distances between us, which built his confidence and allowed him to start walking properly just after his first birthday.
There's a huge variation in the ages that the walking stage starts for children, so don't worry. The average age is 12-13 months but it's common for children to not start walking until 16-18 months. If you have concerns, talk to your health visitor, they will look at your child's progression and tell you if they're concerned, but normally there isn't anything to worry about as every child is different and will learn things when they are good and ready. They like to keep mummy's and daddy's waiting.
I hope this has helped people and I hope that you've enjoyed the read.
My next post will be what to expect during the age of 1- speech, eating and all sorts.
Any questions leave me a comment I'm happy to help and give advice where needed.
Thank you for reading
The first thing you should expect to see is you're baby rolling over. Now when I heard that was the first thing to expect I thought it meant that my son would be able to roll from his back onto his belly and back again... no this isn't the case, they learn one first, normally belly to back, at which point they look like a little stuck turtle, wiggling and wriggling their legs and arms in the air, desperate to get back onto their bellies, then a little while later they learn the back to belly roll, and this frustration goes, but not for long. Then they find it hilarious to start rolling everywhere, so make sure you leave room for them to do so.
My son was about 4 months once he had mastered this for the first time and we didn't know until one day, I got up with him, fed and changed him, like you normally do, then I put him down on his play mat, and had to run off to the toilet... I was gone for literally 2 minutes, my partner was in the bedroom still asleep and the next thing I know I have walked into the front room to find my son the other side of the room... how? What happened? I went in to my partner in the other room and said "haha very funny, moving him to make me think he can crawl or something..." to this I got a weird look proceeded by "what are you on about" I took him in the front room and he said "why did you put him down there?" ... "I didn't I put him on his play mat and went to the toilet..." from then we knew there was going to be trouble. He rolled everywhere and tried following us if we moved, it was adorable and hilarious all at the same time.
Now you should expect your baby to start this rolling around the 5-6 month mark, but it is common for children to start from as early as 3 months or wait until they are ready at about 7 months, all children are different and will do things in their own time, so don't panic.
Next thing to expect is sitting up, now this is funny, my son would sit himself up by using his hand to push himself up, but not how you would expect, he would basically unfold himself from laying down to sitting moving his hand front in front of his head on the floor to just between his legs when sitting but he wouldn't move his hands after this... oh no.. this is they way he balanced and he knew he couldn't fall like this. This happened for us at about 5 months and you should expect to see them starting to around the 5-7 month mark, but again don't panic if it's not exactly then, they will do it when they are ready.
Next is the part where you need to really make sure that your house is 100% baby proof, if it's not you are going to know pretty quickly. This is the crawling and cruising stage, which usually starts around the 6-9 month mark, but can be as late as 12 months or some kids might miss the crawling and go straight to cruising. Crawling can start out like an army crawl on their bellies, like my son, or bum shuffling, this is so cute, they find their way around but this is when your time is no longer time alone, even in the bathroom, you have no choice, they will follow you and then sit there and stare at you, this is soooo off putting trust me, especially if your pee shy. Then from this they normally go into a crawling on hands and knees but don't know how to go forwards and can only navigate backwards at first, bumping into things constantly. Expect your little one to get frustrated at this, they want to go forward they want to get to something but haven't quite worked out how yet. Then they work out the forwards, then they think 'hmm if I put my hands on this and pull up can I be like mummy and daddy?' (Obviously only imagining what they're thinking, it's probably more like 'let's cause more trouble') to which point they start to use furniture, sides and everything they can reach to pull themselves up into a standing position, the then start moving with this too, taking tiny steps to move... now watch their faces when they get to a point where the furniture runs out or there's a gap that's too big for their arms to reach, I sure you can heard the cogs in their little brains working at this point to try and figure it out.
Oh yeah, word of warning at this point, things they can reach once standing become a lot more interesting, make sure there's nothing that means anything to you or can hurt them within this reach, might sound silly, but it's amazing how much baby brain can still be affecting you at this point.
Also this is normally the point where they start climbing too, which if you have a boy, this climbing phase isn't a phase, it never goes away, they climb on everything and anything they can, even things you think are probably too high for them to be able to, oh trust me they will work it out. Little boys especially are little daredevils and seem to have no fear whatsoever, so be careful, but don't panic, if I they fall they will learn...sooner or later.... still waiting for our son to learn haha.
Then from this stage it's the miracle of walking, figuring out how to do it without holding on. We helped our son get to this stage from the cruising by allowing him to hold our fingers to walk, so he felt like he was still cruising, then once he was confident enough, and we were confident enough we would only use one hand and then we took that away, getting him to walk small distances between us, which built his confidence and allowed him to start walking properly just after his first birthday.
There's a huge variation in the ages that the walking stage starts for children, so don't worry. The average age is 12-13 months but it's common for children to not start walking until 16-18 months. If you have concerns, talk to your health visitor, they will look at your child's progression and tell you if they're concerned, but normally there isn't anything to worry about as every child is different and will learn things when they are good and ready. They like to keep mummy's and daddy's waiting.
I hope this has helped people and I hope that you've enjoyed the read.
My next post will be what to expect during the age of 1- speech, eating and all sorts.
Any questions leave me a comment I'm happy to help and give advice where needed.
Thank you for reading
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