It starts cute or quirky; your baby crawls while dragging their head on the floor. But then as a parent, you can’t help but worry about your little one, so you begin wondering if that’s normal behavior or a sign of something wrong.
When a baby crawls with head on floor, it’s usually not a concern.
They may be doing it to receive sensory stimulation, explore their surroundings, soothe themselves, rest their neck muscles, seek attention, express frustration, relieve teething discomfort, signal their sleepiness, or simply play around.
In today’s guide, we’re discussing why babies crawl with their heads on the ground, what to do about it, the typical timeline of crawling during baby development, different crawling styles, and much more.
Content:
- Unveiling the Causes Behind a Baby’s Crawling with Head on the Floor
- The Crawling Milestone: When Do Babies Begin to Explore on All Fours?
- Exploring Baby Crawling Styles
- Worried About Your Child’s Head-Dropping Behavior? Here’s When It’s Time to Consult a Medical Professional.
- Elevating the Crawling Experience: Effective Strategies to Encourage Your Baby to Lift Their Head while on the Move.
Reasons a Baby Crawls With Head on Floor
The journey of development for a baby is filled with adorable, unique, and -sometimes- downright weird behaviors.
While it’s natural for parents to feel confused or curious when witnessing such behaviors, understanding why they happen can save you from unnecessary worry and stress as many of these behaviors are more normal than most people think.
This closely applies to when a baby crawls and drags their head on the ground as they move. It sure looks strange, but chances are you have nothing to fear.
Here are the most common reasons and triggers behind babies crawling with their heads on the floor:
1. Looking For Sensory Stimulation
As part of their proper developmental and cognitive growth, babies need to receive adequate sensory stimulation.
One of the most important sensory pathways that require input in babies is touch. Stimulating your baby’s sense of touch is crucial for normal development.
This is known as tactile stimulation, and the lack of it can lead to underdeveloped responses to environmental and social cues.
The tactile sensory system is the first sense to reach maturity in babies. As such, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a baby trying their best to receive sensory stimulation by touching elements in their environment.
One of those elements is the floor, which is probably covered with carpet or a rug that offers an intriguing texture to your little one. As a result, your baby wants to touch the floor while crawling to feed their sensory needs.
2. Exploring Their Surroundings
Almost all babies rely on their mouths to explore their environment. You’ve probably noticed this before, from shoes to toys to your phone to even their own feet, anything a baby can garb has an express ticket to their mouth.
It’s not just that they’re practically always up for a snack, but also because baby-mouthing helps them get a quick feel of what an item is, its texture, how it responds to them, and so on.
When it comes to the floor, your baby can grab it and move it to their mouth, so they resolve the issue by bringing their mouth to the floor! The result is a baby crawling while dragging their face across the ground.
3. Resting Their Neck Muscles
Most babies start holding their heads up at around 3 months; that’s when their neck muscles begin gaining enough strength for such movement.
That said, babies don’t achieve full control of their neck muscles and head until they’re about 6 months old.
If your baby is dropping their head while crawling, their neck muscles could be tired from all the support work and just resting.
With time, your baby’s neck will develop more strength and endurance to keep their heads up for a longer period.
4. Seeking Attention
Babies can be quite resourceful when it comes to ways to catch your attention. Let’s be real; babies love attention most of the time, and can easily feel like they’re not getting enough from you.
If they notice you giving them a concerned reaction whenever they place their heads on the ground while crawling, they’ll quickly tie this behavior to successful attention attraction.
Consequently, your baby will resort to doing it if they feel neglected. This may be a sign of a lack of engagement with your child.
5. Expressing Frustration
Between the ages of 2 and 6 months, babies can express a wide range of emotions.
Happiness, interest, disgust, distress, sadness, surprise, fear, and anger are all examples of such feelings that babies can communicate through facial expressions and body posture.
Crying, whimpering, and fussing are just a few techniques babies use to express their frustration.
They may also demonstrate upset behaviors throwing toys, banging their heads, or dragging their heads while crawling.
6. Using It as a Self-Soothing Mechanism
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, babies can learn calming techniques to them develop healthy coping skills and grow into well-adjusted individuals.
Rocking their bodies, placing a pacifier in their mouths, and singing (making noises) are all examples of strategies your baby can use to self-soothe.
Following the same idea, your baby may have found a comforting sensation in the act of rubbing their face against the floor while crawling. This can be the case if your baby does it mostly when they’re upset or tired.
7. Relieving Teething Pain
There’s no set age for when a baby starts teething, but it mostly happens during their first 12 months.
Although the majority of babies begin teething at about 6 months, some babies are born with their first teeth already out while others show teeth before hitting the 4-month mark.
Teething is accompanied by various symptoms, including discomfort, pain, fever, and rashes.
You’re probably familiar with babies chewing on objects to relieve the irritation of teeth, but did you know they may also rub their faces on surfaces to get a similar sense of relief?
If your baby is teething, which can easily coincide with crawling age, they could be dragging their head on the ground to alleviate the pain.
8. Signaling Their Tiredness
A tired or sleepy baby can be pretty stubborn despite being in desperate need of some rest. They can repeatedly fall in and out of sleep at a particular spot as they refuse to let go and snooze off.
If your baby is dragging their head on the floor while crawling, they could simply be tired and trying to “rest” their head on the ground.
9. Imitating or Playing
Last but not least, your baby may very well be crawling with their head on the floor as part of a game they’ve made up. Infants are known to find entertainment in the strangest of movements, so why not this one?
Not to mention, your baby may be mimicking a gesture they saw another kid or adult do.
When Do Babies Start Crawling?
Now that you’re familiar with common reasons why a baby crawls with head on floor, you may be interested in knowing the typical age range during which babies start to crawl.
Most babies begin crawling between the ages of 7 and 10 months. However, not all babies will crawl as some transition straight from sitting to standing.
How Does Crawling Relate to Baby Development?
Crawling is the first step in a baby’s journey toward independent mobility. It’s the initial action that builds their ability to move using their hands, arms, knees, and legs until they can stand and walk.
Different Baby Crawling Styles
Crawling while their head is on the floor is just one of the various crawling styles that a baby might develop. Here are a few of the most common ones:
- The belly crawl: the baby uses their hands or feet to pull or prop their body along on the belly.
- The bear crawl: the baby uses all fours but in an unbent position.
- The asymmetrical crawl: the baby uses one knee and one knee only.
- The bunny hop crawl: the baby uses both legs or knees at the same time to “hop” forward.
- The frog crawl: the baby crawls with their knees wide apart.
- The scooting crawl: the baby uses their legs or hands to move while sitting on their bottom.
- The typical crawl: the baby moves on all fours (hands and knees)
When Should You Seek Medical Advice for Your Child’s Head-Dropping Behavior?
Although it’s nothing to worry about in most cases, sometimes medical attention is required for babies crawling while dragging their heads as follows:
- Your baby developed a rug burn
- Your baby’s head is misshapen
- Your baby only crawls with a dropped head
- Your baby’s head is growing rapidly
- Your baby sustained a head injury while crawling
Strategies to Support and Encourage Lifting the Head While Crawling
Your baby may need some help developing better head control so they can keep their head up while crawling.
Here are a few tips and exercises you can incorporate into your and your little one’s daily routine to encourage muscle-building and enhanced posture:
- Have your baby spend time sitting upright on your name.
- Place your baby in a high chair for short periods while making sure they’re strapped in at a 90-degree angle.
- Lay your baby on their back on an activity may with an arch to encourage them to reach up.
Wrapping Up
As you can tell by now, there can be several explanations for why a baby crawls with head on floor.
Most of the time, it’s nothing to worry about as babies may do so to receive sensory stimulation, explore their surroundings, calm down, or rest their neck muscles.
Your baby may also be seeking attention, expressing frustration, alleviating teething pain, signaling sleepiness, or simply playing around.