All parents melt when you feel that little tug on your pants, look down, and see your baby using your legs to help them stand up. But that also means your little one is entering the cruising phase. Once your child discovers they can use objects, furniture, and yes, their parent’s limbs to stand up and move around, it’s on.
When you notice your child starting to leave crawling in the past, you are about to have a cruising baby in your house. Before things move along too fast, here’s what that means for your little one and the rest of your family.
The first few steps toward cruising
Before your child gets to cruising, they have to start at the beginning. We all crawled before we walked, and even before we walked, we all cruised.
Scooting to crawling
When you see your baby get up on all fours, you know scooting is around the corner. Once a baby gets the hang of balance and movement, rocking back and forth in the crawling position, they should start to scoot. It won’t take long for a baby to learn that crawling is way more fun than scooting and that they can move faster. Once they master crawling, it’s only a matter of time before they test out their upper body strength.
Crawling to standing up
When babies understand how crawling works, they want to see things on a whole new level. They get a little sick of having to look up at everything and everyone. They realize everyone else is walking around on two legs and want to know how to do that. The next step for your baby is learning how to get up off the ground.
Your baby’s next adventure is to learn how to stand up. They will pull themselves up on anything, and this is when parents need to take a look around the house. Anything that could be tipped over or pulled down needs to be moved or put away, because your baby will tug on it to stand up, and you don’t want it falling on them.
What is a cruising baby?
After your baby learns how to pull themselves up and can hold onto furniture and other items, they will use them as support to walk along the perimeter of it. A cruising baby is in that in-between phase where they can’t walk independently yet but can get around while holding onto things.
When a baby starts cruising
There isn’t a set age when your baby will figure out how to cruise. And not all babies go from scooting to crawling to cruising. But most babies are strong enough to pull themselves up after they learn how to sit up by themselves without support, which is around 6 months old.
You could see your baby starting to cruise along the coffee table as early as 6 to 8 months old. If it is later, there’s nothing to worry about. The jump from cruising to those first steps of walking happens faster than you want. At first, it might only be your baby can cruise for a second or two before they fall back on their bottom. Just like going from scooting to crawling, your baby needs practice and to build up their stamina.
Help your baby gain confidence
When your baby starts to cruise, walking isn’t far behind, and you can encourage your little one and help them build up their confidence with cruising. Hold them up by their hands and let them build their leg muscles, but make sure there are plenty of sturdy and safe items for them to pull themselves up on, and cheer them on every time you see them start to cruise.
When baby starts cruising
When you first notice your child use their strong arms to pull themself up on the couch, it’s time to do another round of baby proofing, starting with moving all wobbly items to rooms the baby won’t be in. But what you have to really watch out for now is your drinks and food. Leaving anything on the table at baby level will now be a fair game for your child to get to. If you don’t want your coffee spilled everywhere (especially hot coffee on your baby) or food on the floor, mind where you set things down.
Prepare the pets
Don’t forget about your pets. If you have any animals that are the same height or taller than your baby, they might be used as practice. Stay close to your pet as your child tests out if they can use their fur as leverage. You want to make sure your pet only gets annoyed and not angry about being tugged on by your baby.
Once your baby learns they can move a lot faster by holding onto the couch, it’s time to watch the magic happen. Having a cruising baby in the home is an adorable and fun way to watch your child explore the world on a new level. Let your baby take their sights to new heights and cheer them on when they learn they can move around in a different way when they start cruising around the house.
