10 things that will happen when your baby starts to crawl
Crawling is one of the cutest milestones in your baby’s first year of life, but also one of the most stressful. Because once bub starts to crawl, nothing is off limits.
Here’s a few things that all mums know to be true when their little ones enter the crawling stage.
1. Your floor will suddenly become a lot cleaner
Because once that baby is on the move, anything on the floor is fair game – crumbs, toys, bits of rubbish. Most mums will up their vacuuming game once their little one is crawling, just in case. Probably best to put away the cute white clothing for a while.
2. You will return to the land of no sleep
Crawling is awesome, especially for a baby. But once bub starts to crawl, they often go through a sleep regression where they would rather practise this new skill than rest!
If your little one was sleeping through the night, they might return to waking up a few times again. If they are yet to sleep through the night, then you’re probably used to not sleeping anyway.
3. Your pots and pans will come out of hiding a lot more often
As will the food in the pantry and anything stored in low-lying drawers and cupboards. In fact, you’ll be surprised just what your baby can get to, including dog food and dirty underwear left on the floor. Nothing is sacred.
4. You will spend a small fortune on baby proofing supplies
Even the “easy to install” ones aren’t, really. You’ll spend at least half a day trying to install the various gadgets in every nook and cranny and rearranging your drawers to ensure only plastic cups and towels are in low-lying areas.
5. Standing up is just around the corner
Once your crawler is on the move, nothing will stop them. The next logical step for little ones is to stand up, where they can discover (and pull down) a whole new level of items around the house.
6. Items will start to mysteriously disappear
The only way to find them is to get down on your hands and knees, look at the world from your crawler’s perspective and retrace the crawling path of your little one.
7. Your little crawler will disappear constantly
It takes a skilled crawler a total of 10 seconds to get from one room to the other. And if there is something he wants on the floor, like a pair of your shoes, then he may even beat this record. This can be a bit of a shock when you’re used to him being exactly where you left him!
8. Your child will discover a new love for the dog (the feeling’s not mutual)
To a crawling infant, nothing is more fun than chasing around a dog and attempting to grab his tail, or climb on him. Cats are pretty fun too. (And by the way, that earlier comment about dog food also applies to kitty litter.)
9. You pretty much won’t stop moving… ever again
Gone are the days when you could lay bub down on the floor on his play mat and watch him play while you folded laundry, cooked dinner or even (imagine!) read a book. But having a curious crawler to ‘help’ with these tasks certainly keeps life interesting.
10. You may well ditch the change table for good
See you later, change table. A crawling baby is a wiggly, squirmy, constantly moving baby. Once my little ones started to crawl, I quickly moved the change mat to the floor where it was much easier. Your crawling baby only wants to be crawling. All. The. Time. Good luck – to you and your knees!