Colorful toys and playthings are great for encouraging baby to crawl

But there is one technique that I found to work very well, is safe to try and can be done by all parents.

I call it...

The 5P Baby Crawling System

It's a logical 5 Step System to help baby crawl in no time. Let's look at the 5P steps individually…

• P - Put on the carpet. The very first thing any baby must master before there's any hope of learning to crawl… is being comfortable in the tummy lying position. You'll get great results doing this if you talk to and play with your baby when she's on the carpet.

• P - Put together a roller. Roll an ordinary bathroom towel into a "sausage". Of course, you can also buy any other type of roller. They're soft cylindrical shaped toys... preferably solid. You do get inflatable ones, but solid ones normally last much longer and can also be used to get teach your child to sit and walk.

• P - Position the elbows. This step requires you to do something. Gently hold your baby by the elbows and draw them towards her body. It will almost seem as if your child wants to lie on her elbows. Continue to provide support.

  One of the very popular toys for encouraging crawling is this crawl mirror

• P - Position on roller. Gently position the "sausage" under your baby's upper body… arms hanging over the front of the "sausage". The towel "sausage" supports the upper body - NOT her stomach - with her elbows just touching the carpet. It should slightly raise her upper body thereby allowing her to discover the surroundings. Make sure her elbows touch the carpet - they must not be hanging in the air.

• P - Perform in front. This is the most important step. Get down on the floor directly in front of your child and face her. Now, let your baby look at your face while you talk to, amuse and encourage her. Many parents also found this crawl mirror a great help.

The idea is to encourage your child to endure longer sessions on her tummy. Your baby must focus on you and will then spontaneously develop a sense of using both elbows and legs for support. If it's done right, you'll soon see her supporting herself on both knees and straight arms... ready to crawl.

The power of this 5P System lies in raising your baby's upper body to look at her surroundings... all while lying down.

It also only takes a few minutes daily to start seeing results. Obviously, if you can fit in more than one session per day, results come faster.

Isn't There An Easier Way?

OK, now I have already had a few parents tell me that this 5P technique takes time and effort. It's not easy and they don't always have enough time to try the technique. "Isn't there anything else I can do?", is quite often the question.

Of course there is!

In my opinion the easiest way of teaching baby to crawl is by playfully introducing the basics by using the gym or the tummy flyer.

Toys For Teaching Baby To Crawl

Lamaze Spin & Explore Garden Gym		The First Years Happy Flyer Tummy Time
Lamaze puts a unique approach on tummy time play. This activity mat allows babies (up to about 6 months) to spin round on their tummies, thus stretching and building upper bodies. There are lots of squeaky, crinkly, tangible things to discover. The spinner can be removed once babies sit up. The colorful play mat comes with varying texture and layers for stimulating your baby visually and physically.		Babies can play and explore the features on the colorful activity mat. This unique platform allows your baby to play and explore features on the colorful mat in tummy position. It is ideal to stimulate tummy time, and eventually crawling. The base rotates 360 degrees and helps to explore the learning features on the mat while developing upper and lower body muscles.

Of course, another option which many parents found very helpful is the Learn to Crawl Tunnel.

Teaching Baby To Crawl With The "Stretching" Exercise

Ok, let's say this 5P technique still doesn't work. What else can I try?

Some babies just don't like to spend time on their tummies. One of the techniques that takes a bit of time, but gets results, is shown in the following photo:

Teaching baby to crawl - Stretching exercise Look how this baby stretches for the brush while supporting his body with the other hand. He is almost bearing full weight on his left knee. Chances are that this boy reached full crawling position before returning to sitting... a perfect start to crawling WITHOUT him even realizing it! One of our readers had this wonderful description of getting her 9.5 month old son to crawl using this technique.

 Put your baby in a sitting position. Place any colorful toy or plaything on the floor, slightly in front and to either his left or right.

Let's say you're standing behind your child, looking in the same direction as him. And let's say the 12 o'clock position is straight ahead. Then you need to place the toy roughly in either the 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock position (look at the photo for some idea).

If you place the toy outside your baby's reach, he will have to stretch and support his upper body with the other hand.

You will notice that the little boy in the photo almost gets into a crawling position. And his full attention is on the brush. He doesn't even know he is using his elbow and left leg (half crawling position) to get to the brush!

Keep on repeating this activity and in a little while your child will be crawling.

A Practical Guide To Baby Milestones describes 7 more ways for teaching baby to crawl

"When Do Babies Start Crawling?"