Crawling Is Not Optional: Why New Yorker’s Believe That Removing This Milestone Is a Dangerous Mistake

You’ve probably been told to watch for when your baby rolls over, sits up, stands, and eventually walks. But what about crawling?

In 2022, the CDC quietly removed crawling from its official list of developmental milestones—and honestly, we’re concerned.

 Their reasoning? Crawling is not considered a “universal” behavior. But here’s the truth: just because something isn’t universal doesn’t mean it isn’t vital.

At Flower of Life Chiropractic, we care deeply about every stage of your child’s development, especially the ones that help build a strong, healthy, and adaptable nervous system. Crawling is one of those golden stages. We work with hundreds of families and follow guidance from neurologically-focused pediatric experts and leading developmental researchers. Across the board, the consensus is clear: crawling plays a foundational role in neurological development, and eliminating it from official milestones is both misleading and dangerous.

📢 The Alarming Consequence of Removing Crawling

When the CDC removed crawling from their milestone checklist, they sent an implicit message to parents and pediatricians alike: this stage doesn’t really matter. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Milestones aren’t just boxes to check—they’re signals from your child’s nervous system about how they’re adapting to the world. Crawling is one of the most valuable movements for wiring the brain and body, and removing it from the chart sends the wrong message to parents and caregivers.

As Dr. Tony Ebel of Pediatric Experience states:

“Crawling is the body's first and most critical form of cross-crawl patterning, linking the brain’s hemispheres. It builds the neural foundation for everything from emotional regulation to executive function.”

Ignoring this stage doesn’t just risk developmental delays—it increases the likelihood of long-term neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ADHD, sensory processing challenges, and learning difficulties.

🧠 Crawling: Your Baby’s First Brain Workout

What’s really happening when your baby crawls across the living room floor?

So much more than meets the eye.

Crawling activates the brain in ways no other movement pattern can. It’s a cross-lateral movement, meaning opposite sides of the body must work together in coordination. This bilateral integration is what helps build the corpus callosum, the part of the brain that allows communication between the left and right hemispheres.

 It’s a coordinated dance between the left and right sides of the brain—a cross-lateral movement that actually builds the neural highways your baby will use for skills like:

• Reading comprehension

• Writing fluency

• Balance and coordination

• Focus and Problem-Solving

• Emotional regulation

• Speech and language development

• Attention span and impulse control
  

As outlined in studies published in Frontiers in Psychology and Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, cross-lateral patterns like crawling directly impact cognitive development, memory, and learning capacity. When your baby crawls, their brain lights up in amazing ways. This stage builds foundations for learning, movement, and resilience—and it’s truly too important to ignore.

 Babies Who Skip Crawling Are More Likely to Struggle Later

In our rush to see babies take their first steps, it’s easy to miss the beauty and brilliance of crawling. But here’s what we know from years of caring for families:

Babies who spend time crawling tend to develop stronger bodies and more adaptable nervous systems. Crawling helps:

• Strengthen the core, shoulders, hips, and hands

• Support healthy spinal curves and posture

• Improve visual tracking and coordination

• Encourage full-body integration and movement confidence
  

Skipping or rushing through this stage can impact physical and neurological development in ways that often show up later—as sensory challenges, trouble with balance, or even learning difficulties.

We see this play out all the time in practice. Children who skip crawling—or who crawl for only a short time—often experience:

• Poor core and postural control

• Retained primitive reflexes

• Increased clumsiness or frequent falls

• Emotional dysregulation or sensory overwhelm

• Learning and behavioral difficulties
  

In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics has noted that gross motor delays in infancy are often correlated with later delays in speech, fine motor coordination, and cognitive skills. Crawling is not a stage to breeze past—it’s a critical phase of neurological integration.

🧍‍♀️ Why Crawling Isn’t Just for Babies

This might sound wild, but hear us out: crawling isn’t just good for babies. Adults benefit too!

If you’re a new parent feeling stressed, tired, or disconnected from your body—try crawling. It’s an incredible way to:

• Reduced anxiety and overwhelm

• Stimulate the vagus nerve for calm and regulation

• Reconnect the brain and body

• Better sleep and emotional resilience

• Improved posture, strength, mobility and coordination

• Increased focus and energy
  

This isn’t just feel-good theory—it’s supported by research from Harvard Medical School, which confirms that movement-based brain training (especially cross-lateral) enhances neuroplasticity and executive functioning. We often share crawling exercises with the parents we care for. Why? Because it’s one of the best, most primal ways to regulate the nervous system and build whole-body wellness—no gym required.

 What Chiropractic Has to Do with Crawling

At Flower of Life Chiropractic, we specialize in nervous system-centered care for infants, children, and adults. We assess how well your child’s brain is communicating with their body, and whether there’s interference (like subluxations) in that communication.

When a baby isn’t crawling—or is crawling asymmetrically—it can signal a nervous system imbalance or delayed integration of primitive reflexes. Through neurologically-focused chiropractic adjustments, we help restore proper brain-body communication and support your child in reaching their full developmental potential.

“The nervous system controls and coordinates every stage of development. If it’s stuck in stress mode, milestones don’t show up or they show up late. Our job is to help the nervous system regulate so development can flourish.” - As Dr. Christina Stitcher 

 Let’s Stop Rushing to Walk and Start Celebrating the Crawl

Crawling is not a minor footnote in your baby’s development. It’s a cornerstone.

Removing it from the CDC milestone chart was a step in the wrong direction—one that downplays how profoundly early movement shapes lifelong function.

If your baby hasn’t started crawling, is crawling unevenly, or skipped it altogether, we can assess their nervous system and offer gentle, specific care to support their development.

We also work with adults who want to reconnect to their bodies, reduce stress, and feel grounded in their nervous system again. Crawling, movement, and spinal health go hand-in-hand.

Let us help you assess where your child is at—and how we can support healthy development at every stage.