My 9 mo old son does a form of “army crawl” He can get up on his hands and knees for a quick moment then he’s back to his belly. He uses his left elbow and right foot to propel himself along. His left leg doesn’t do much but hang out the back. He sometimes uses his right hand to help pull along but this one is mostly reserved for carrying items with him.
How can I encourage a “normal” crawling pattern? Or is this way he has OK?
I don’t have a lot of time to reply right now, but here are a few quick thoughts.
Glenn Doman insists that kids must learn to crawl in a proper cross pattern in order for their brains to develop properly. He even recommends getting older kids to crawl properly if they did not do it as babies.
With K we tried to get her to go up stairs to encourage a cross pattern crawl. We would even get down on the floor with her & help her to crawl properly. We discouraged standing & pulling up, especially before she had a cross pattern crawl. Now that she is crawling we try to encourage her to crawl more.
There is much more to be said on this topic. I’m sure others will comment too.
Have you checked these out?
http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/crawling-is-it-important/
http://www.brillbaby.com/teach-baby/crawling-walking.php
I was so worried that Gabriel wouldn’t crawl. He just kind of pulled himself along with his arms and pivoted around. He could move all over the floor this way, but I wanted the cross-pattern crawl that is believed to be beneficial for brain development. I basically just left him on the floor a whole lot. You can try to put toys just out of reach (or better yet, things that he is not supposed to have, that are safe of course. Gabriel likes dvd cases from the entertainment center). Make sure you spend time on the floor with him too. If you leave him on the floor a whole lot, it will eventually happen. Gabriel started at about 9 months, and I was so happy! The day he crawled a few “steps” the first time, I put things just out of reach to encourage it more. After that first day, he became a seasoned pro.
Yes I read thru those, thanks.
The thing is, my son has no problem getting around. He’s actually pretty quick. And yes, he loves to get into all the naughty stuff, he likes the dvd’s too.
I did try today supporting his belly off the floor so he could get the feel of moving up off the floor. He thought it was great fun! He is a big guy, so I always thought maybe his belly was just to heavy to lift off the floor for his poor arms lol
I think I’ll keep practicing lifting his belly up for him and see how that goes. I would love to see him grasp the cross pattern before he starts walking. He already is trying to pull up on stuff, but he can’t get farther then up on his knees.
Gabriel started pulling up and sitting himself up too before he started crawling. I was worried that he would skip crawling, but he figured it out, as I’m sure your son will too. 
What a great tip!! I would encourage others to try this too. I can see it really encouraging cross-pattern crawling.
Also, as said above, do remember to MAXIMIZE FLOOR TIME!