Baby Knee Pads for Crawling Kids

When your crawling baby first starts to take a few tentative steps on his own, it's the most amazing thing to see - but oops, down he goes!

Nice thick diapers will pad your little toddler's wee bottom, but don't you just cringe when those little knees hit the hard floor? Even crawling around is so hard on that delicate skin, with carpet burns from the floor indoors and all sorts of little twigs and rocks when he's exploring out on the lawn.

Truth be told, I laughed a bit the first time I saw baby knee pads for sale, but the more I see of them, the better I like them. Doubtful? Just try romping around on all fours on that hard floor for a while, yourself, and a little padding seems to make a whole lot of sense!

Photo: Ah Goo Baby Kneekers Knee Shoes for Crawling Babies

Here's a "quick picks" overview of the top 3 choices - in no particular order - and we'll take a closer look at each in a minute. First, let's just give a little thought to what you want to be looking for in a set of knee pads, depending on your lifestyle and your individual child.

Knee Pad Selection Tips:

A Note on Recommended Styles

Look for a well-padded and well-fitting knee pad that won't slip out of place too easily (they'll all slip to some extent, but you don't want to have to be fixing it every two minutes!) and is well made to stand up to all that wear-and-tear of a busy baby who is either in the stage of really fast crawling (apparently without stop!) or a baby who is just figuring out how to stand on his own and move around the room holding onto Mommy's hands or pieces of furniture.

Designs of baby knee pads seem to come onto the market and disappear again, and none of them are a "one size fits all" solution because every baby is so different. Right now there are three styles I'd consider for a crawling infant or a young child just learning to toddle around on his own two tiny feet, and you'll see those below.

Two are essentially a stretchy fabric tube that slips on over the leg, with a padded area that also is slip-resistant to help with the mechanics of crawling on a bare floor. Choose according to the level of activity of your tot, but also by how chubby those little limbs might happen to be. You'll want the tube to fit snugly enough not to slip down too easily, but still be comfortable to wear for at least the length of playtime.

The other style I've chosen to show you is more of a heavy-duty piece of equipment you'll be more likely to go for with an extremely active child - like my 2-year-old nephew; we swear he's going to grow up to be a football player - who is fast and fearless, always on the go at high speed and coming down to earth with an alarming thud! Playground athletes will find the thicker velcro-wrap pads a better match for their needs.

If you've had trouble keeping a pair of knee pads on your active little one in the past, you may find the Ah Goo Baby design works better than some others for the slimmer child. The stretchy tube can sometimes be stretched out a bit before putting them on Junior, if you find the fit to be too snug, the same way your socks and leggings are tighter when you first pull them out of the laundry, but do bear in mind Ah Goo has made these quite slim-fitting on purpose, a "lean leg" fit especially for babies with a slim build.

Bright, lightweight and breathable, Lil' Melon knee pads give crawling babies that little bit of padding and silicone surface for the extra traction they need - without bundling up those little legs in hot weather. Check out the choice of cute designs in kid-friendly colors!

Double layers of stretchy cotton-spandex fabric in the Li'l Melon knee protectors are soft and breathable. You can use them indoors or outdoors, then toss in a machine to wash and wear again. The crawling baby gets great traction with paw-print design non-slip surface, and the little knees of super-active kids are gently protected from cuts and scrapes.

These pads are much more decorative and less like serious equipment than the other products I'm highlighting here, but for many young children - especially those who motor about indoors for the most part - this will be more than adequate.

Heavy duty crawlers need more protection and Snazzy Baby is the only design I've found that meets the needs of a developmentally delayed child, for example, for whom going on all fours down on the floor may be his most comfortable means of moving around. Snazzy Baby knee pads are also a good choice for outdoor yard and playground use.

There's going to be plenty of time for scraped knees and bruises, when Baby gets a wee bit older and suddenly you're chasing after a fearless high-speed toddler, so why not protect those vulnerable growing bones and delicate skin while your tiny toddler is still little more than an infant?