16 month old - falling behind?

[crayfish]

DS is 16 months old. He wasn't premature. He can't walk yet despite lots of encouragement from us and his nursery and still prefers to crawl. He does pull himself up on the furniture and has done for a few months but has never really progressed. People have started commenting that he is 'behind' and I know my friends children all walked earlier than this. He certainly won't be walking anytime soon either as he is still pretty much where he was three months ago.

In looking into this I also read that you should see your hv if they haven't said their first word/s by this age. Guess what? Nothing there either! He babbles but has never said anything coherent at all, he will say 'mama' but it's not directed at me and I think it's just a sound.

Otherwise he is a bright, happy and content boy. He is making progress with fine motor skills and I know he understands some things when I talk to him.

I guess I'm asking - should I be worried?! Is there something more I could be doing here? I talk to him a lot and me and DH are both very talkative so there is a lot of conversation around him (maybe he can't get a word in?!). The walking I can't force obviously but we do try to help him, he just doesn't want to. He is a very fast and efficient crawler though so I think there is no motivation to walk.

Can anyone offer any advice or reassurance? I feel like I'm failing.

[Witchend]

Don't worry!
I looked after 2 dc who were the same age. (but looked after them separately)
One walked at 8 months.
One crawled at 12 months, walked at 18 months.
One week after the one who walked later, started walking you couldn't have told the difference is what they could do. In fact he learnt to jump before the early walker.

15 months is dead on average for walking. And anyway, they're much easier if they walk late as they've learnt common sense before they walk.

[SaltyMyDear]

I would neither worry nor not worry.

He will walk and talk. Absolutely.

But it might be a sign of various things like dyspraxia which you don't need to worry about or do anything about. But instead keep at the back of your brain and if you have concerns when he's 4 or 5 then think about it.

Or it might be absolutely nothing. You won't know for a few years.

[crayfish]

I've just googled dyspraxia and I don't think he has any other signs of that. Apparently they would be irritability, difficult to get into a routine, sleeping difficulty, sensitive to noise, and often avoid the crawling stage (among other things). None of these apply to DS, in fact he is a very easy-going baby, great sleeper, expert crawler and doesn't fit any of the other 'criteria' seen in babies. It's worth bearing in mind though so thanks for the tip.

I didn't walk til I was 18 months (although I talked very early) and DH had to get speech therapy as a child because he had delayed speech - maybe it's possible that DS has just inherited both of those things?

[LIZS]

Ds had none of those traits but is dyspraxic. Placid, good sleeper, rolled and crawled ... Tbh it is hard to tell at that age. In a couple of months you may wonder what you were so concerned about. They all develop at different rates and in different ways. One day Ds just seemed to decide to walk and from then on ran everywhere!

[Ferguson]

Our DS didn't walk till 18 months; he waited till he knew he could do it without falling over.

[mumhum]

My DC2 is 19 months and has only just got confident enough to walk in the past week. Like PP, wanted to practice and not fall over. Perhaps a perfectionist like Mum 😇 As long as your DS is showing interest in moving and pulling himself up don't worry, he is physically capable and might just be a deep thinker.

[Olympiathequeen]

At this age I wouldn't worry at all. I wouldn't worry either about what may or may not happen when he is 4 or 5 unless there are clear signs of developmental delay.

DS2 was a fast walker (10 months) but at 3 still doesn't speak clearly, but is getting there and he rabbits on constantly has a very wide vocabulary despite the poor clarity.

In a year you'll wonder what you were worrying about