My twin girls are almost 8 months old. They have started to scoot on their bottoms to get to the things they want. Is PT necessary? My older daughter who is 2.5 yrs old was in PT for one year for low muscle tone. Is a PT eval a good idea?
Hi D.,
I'm an early intervention PT. A few questions. Did they tolerate play on their tummy as infants? Do they play on their tummies now? If they are on their tummy will they pivot in a circle on their tummies? Given your family history of low muscle tone it couldn't hurt to have them evaluated.
heck no. some scoot on their butts, others do the army crawl... they figure out they can move and if its effeciant they don't botter to try something else. my son nver crawled... he dragged himself on his belly... never pulled up... just one day started to walk : ) don't worry till they are like a year or so.
They have probably figured out that, for them, scooting is the most efficient way to get to what they need. At 8 months, a PT eval might be jumping the gun just a bit - what does the pediatrician have to say? For what it is worth, my son never crawled a day in his life...ever! At 10 1/2 months he started cruising and a few days later went straight to walking.
Check with the pediatrician, but at 8 months I'm not sure if you need to worry just yet.
I also have twin girls 1 year now... one of my girls is a bottom scooter and the other is a crawler. I am in PT for the scooter, they said it was due to low muscle tone in her core, she would not even roll over. we have been in PT for about two months now. She is rolling over like a champ but still scooting, and cruising now on furniture. They told me at PT that as soon as she walks we are done.
(you have to get on the floor for these exercises ) You could try to get them in a four point position (on knees and hands) and put your hands on their bellies to secure them and rock them back and fourth, putting toys in front of them to get them to move their arms forward, also when she is side sitting I hold her foot that she likes to lead with (the right one) under her left leg and eventually she goes onto all four by herself and just kind of hangs out there, but at least it adds strength to her arms!!
Good luck, you may want to go for an evaluation soon, the earlier you start the easier it is!
My niece was a bottom scooter.....no PT needed and walks just fine. Some kids crawl, other scoot, other military crawl, others just get up and walk sometimes. If you don;t feel comfortable, get an eval.
