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From:
"Glass, Marsha" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 30 Apr 2001 15:29:36 -0500
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I read an article in the Sunday paper yesterday that left me shaking my head
in perplexion (yet again!).  It was about the new phenomenon peds are seeing
of babies who don't crawl.  Apparently it is a rising phenomenon and many
parents are concerned.  It has long been known that babies crawl first, then
walk-usually, hence the idiom, "you have to crawl before you can walk".
Well, it seems an increasing number of babies are bypassing the crawling
stage altogether and parents are worried that this means something is wrong
with them.  Of course, you can see this coming just as I did when I read it.
The explanation is that, thanks to the back-to-sleep campaign, babies are
always put on their backs and don't develop muscle strength in the same way.
Another explanation, which I found incredible, to say the least, was that
babies roll from stomach to back in order to see the world.  Since they are
routinely put down on their backs, there is no reason for them to roll
over!!!  What?!( Read that again if you are as incredulous as I was! )  So,
they are never on their stomachs and don't have the opportunity to crawl.

I kept waiting for the article to say what parents could do to offset these
'troubling' events, but the article ended with the conclusion that this is
the new age we live in.  Babies will have flat heads (they did mention this)
and they won't crawl and that's alright, don't worry about it. It's the
price we must pay for SIDS avoidance.   Now, I know that Kathy D. has talked
about the cultures that do not put children down and so they never crawl,
but there is a reason for that in their culture.  In ours, is it truly just
because of back-to-sleep (and why can't they be put on tummies in daytime,
with mom in the room?) or does it have as much to do with those baby buckets
they get carried around in, which not only misshape their heads (at least to
our cultural eye) but also do not require them to use neck muscles to hold
their heads up?  How often are babies carried in arms in our culture these
days, and how often are they hauled in those buckets or propped in swings or
whatever?  Are we really supposed to accept this lack of crawling as the new
status quo?  I'm afraid my babies -who are now old enough to have their own
babies, so it would have to be my grandbabies;-)- would still have to have
tummy time and, of course, I never liked those buckets anyway.  Seems to me
there must be some disadvantage to be transported at knee level all the
time!

Marsha, who wonders if those apes Kathy D. mentioned would scratch their
heads trying to figure out how to carry their babies this way!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC
Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations
as all other earthly causes combined.
C. Abbot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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