Babies who crawl a lot have a better perception of risk and better avoid falls.
- A study points out that babies who crawl would have a better perception of risk and would also be less vulnerable to falls.
- Other works highlight that access to water from a swimming pool, a river, a lake or the sea via a slope is particularly dangerous for babies.
Generally, babies start crawling between seven and ten months. But, just like adults, everyone goes at their own pace: some do it sooner or later, others simply skip this step! However, according to a study published last July in the journal Infantrycrawling would be essential for the infant to have a better perception of risk and better avoid falls.
Crawling influences risk perception and infant behavior
“The main difference between the babies who fell in the water and those who avoided it was the greater or lesser experience they had while crawlingexplains Carolina Burnay, one of the authors of the study. A very interesting result is that the amount of previous experiences babies had while crawling influenced their risk perception and behavior, even when they were already walking. So it seems very useful for babies to crawl and explore their environment.“. To reach this conclusion, the researchers tested the behavior of several babies around a bathtub filled with water.”Caregivers should be aware of the important role crawling plays in infant development, continues Carolina Burnay. By touching the ground and looking closely at it, infants learn to distinguish between safe and dangerous surfaces to move around and begin to avoid falls, in water or not. Overprotecting babies by limiting their ability to move on their own does not protect them, on the contrary, it delays their development of the perception of risky situations”.
Many children stopped before reaching the water
Carolina Burnay also participated in another study, published on August 1 in the journal Developmental Psychobiology. During this work, the researchers wanted to understand how babies interact with a slope leading to a water point. Concretely, they made them move through the water, along a gradual slope that resembles that of a beach to enter the water. “Prior to these studies, we knew statistics about infant drownings, numbers like the number of infants who drown each year, the number of drownings that occur at beaches or swimming pools, and the most represented ages, develops Carolina Burnay. This new approach studies how infants behave in water, when and how they begin to perceive risk and avoid drowning. If we want to develop better strategies to prevent drowning in young children, we need to understand how they interact with bodies of water.”. Scientists have not found a link between the way you go in the water – walking or crawling – and the risk of drowning. But they observed that several children stopped advancing on their own before reaching the water, surely because they sensed the danger.
With the slope, babies can access the water on their own
This study highlights that access to deep water via a slope – whether it is the sea, rivers, lakes or swimming pools – is particularly dangerous for babies because it increases the risk that they will access it alone. Scientists therefore encourage parents and people working with children to watch them carefully when there is a water source nearby. In France, since 2004, all owners of private pools must be equipped with a safety device to prevent the risk of drowning. It can be a protective barrier, an audible alarm system, a safety cover or even a veranda-type shelter that completely covers the pool.
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