Babies build hip strength for crawling through active, repetitive movement, not passive sitting in gear. The muscles that matter most are the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and inner thigh muscles, and they develop best when your baby spends plenty of time on the floor moving freely. Most babies begin crawling between 7 and 10 months, but the groundwork starts weeks earlier with tummy time, rolling, and pivoting on the belly. Here’s how to support that process.
Why Hip Strength Matters for Crawling
Crawling on all fours requires a baby to hold their hips stable while shifting weight from side to side. Every time they lift one hand to reach forward, the opposite hip has to bear extra load without collapsing. This demands coordinated work from the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and adductors. Research published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research found that decreased loading of the gluteal and quadriceps muscles in early life can actually alter the shape and growth of the hip joint itself. In other words, active movement doesn’t just build muscle. It helps the hip socket develop properly.
Tummy Time as the Foundation
Before a baby can get onto all fours, they need strong shoulders, a stable core, and hips that can extend. Tummy time builds all three. When your baby pushes up on their arms during tummy time, their hip flexors lengthen and their glutes engage to keep the pelvis stable. Start with short sessions (a few minutes at a time) and increase as your baby tolerates it. Placing a small rolled towel under the chest can make early tummy time easier for babies who resist it.
Once your baby can push up on extended arms, you’ll likely see them start pivoting in a circle on their belly or rocking back and forth. This is exactly the kind of active loading that strengthens the hip muscles. Encourage it by placing toys just outside their reach so they have a reason to shift their weight and rotate.
Rocking on All Fours
The rocking phase is a major milestone on the way to crawling. Your baby gets onto hands and knees and shifts their weight forward and backward without actually going anywhere. This repetitive motion loads the hips and core in the exact pattern crawling requires. A home exercise program from Campbelltown Hospital’s pediatric therapy team recommends supporting your child by holding their hips and legs to help bring their bottom up and knees onto the ground, then gently shifting their weight forward and back to facilitate rocking.
If your baby can’t hold the position alone yet, you can help. Kneel behind them and use your hands to support their hips, keeping their knees under their body. Let them feel the weight through their arms and legs while you provide just enough support that they don’t collapse. Over time, reduce your support as they get stronger. Many babies rock for days or even weeks before they figure out the coordinated arm-and-leg pattern of actual crawling.
Weight Shifting and Reaching
Lateral hip strength, the ability to stay stable when weight shifts to one side, is what allows a baby to lift one hand and one knee to move forward. You can encourage this by placing toys slightly to the side while your baby is on all fours. When they reach for the toy, they have to load one hip more than the other, which builds the stabilizing muscles around the pelvis.
Pediatric physical therapists at the NAPA Center describe a progression that works well for older babies and toddlers still developing these skills. In the quadruped position, kicking one leg straight back targets the glutes and core. Lifting a leg out to the side with the knee bent works the outer hip muscles. For babies who are strong enough, reaching one arm forward while the opposite leg extends back (sometimes called a “bird dog”) challenges strength, balance, and coordination all at once. You won’t be coaching your baby through these like a gym exercise, but you can create play situations that naturally draw out these movements, like holding a toy up and to the side so they shift and reach.
Transitioning to Kneeling
High kneeling, where a baby holds onto a couch or low table while upright on both knees, is another powerful hip strengthener. In this position, the glutes and quads have to work hard to keep the body upright without the help of the feet. Encourage your baby to move from sitting on the floor to a low kneeling position (sitting on their heels), and then to pull up to high kneeling at a stable piece of furniture. You can support their hips during this transition while letting them hold onto the furniture with their hands.
Side-sitting, where both legs are tucked to one side, is also a useful transitional position. Moving from side-sitting into kneeling requires the baby to rotate their trunk and engage the hip muscles asymmetrically, which builds the kind of dynamic stability that crawling demands.
How Flooring Affects Crawling
The surface your baby crawls on makes a real difference. A study that tested infants between 8 and 12 months on different flooring types found that hardwood floors produced a significantly slower crawling rate and longer hand-contact time compared to textured surfaces like woven straw mats. Crawling stride length and joint range of motion stayed about the same across surfaces, but slippery floors clearly made it harder for babies to move efficiently.
If your home has hardwood or tile, consider putting down a large play mat, foam tiles, or a low-pile carpet in the area where your baby practices. The extra traction lets them focus on building strength and coordination rather than fighting to keep their hands and knees from slipping out. Bare knees on a textured surface also give better grip than footed pajamas on a slick floor.
What to Limit: Jumpers, Walkers, and Containers
Devices like jumpers, walkers, and exersaucers keep babies upright and entertained, but they don’t build the hip strength needed for crawling. Research in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research highlights that inactive lower extremity muscles may contribute to the development or worsening of hip joint problems in newborns. While short periods in baby gear are fine, extended time in devices that restrict free movement means less time loading the glutes, quads, and hamstrings in the positions that matter.
The concern isn’t that a jumper will injure your baby’s hips directly. It’s that time spent bouncing in a fixed position replaces time spent on the floor working through the natural movement progressions, rolling, pivoting, rocking, reaching, that build real hip stability. Floor time is the single best environment for developing the muscles your baby needs.
Signs That May Need Attention
Most babies develop hip strength at their own pace, and some skip traditional crawling entirely in favor of scooting, army crawling, or cruising along furniture. These are all normal variations. However, certain patterns can signal a hip problem like developmental dysplasia, where the hip socket is too shallow to hold the thigh bone securely.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, signs to watch for include legs that appear to be different lengths, uneven skin folds on the thighs or where the buttocks meet the thigh, and noticeably different range of motion between the two hips. In babies who are moving, asymmetry is the key red flag: consistently dragging one leg, strongly favoring one side, or showing limited motion in only one hip. In children who walk, limping, toe walking, or an exaggerated curve in the lower back can indicate an undiagnosed hip issue. If you notice any of these patterns, a pediatric evaluation can catch problems early when treatment is simplest.