When to worry about walking

[Supersoaryflappypigeon]

DD is 14 months old and showing few signs of walking any time soon. She's been pulling herself to standing for a couple of months now and cruising the furniture. I'm all too aware of babies a lot younger than she is taking their first steps-at what point would you start to be concerned?

[PetrovaFossil1]

I think they say not to worry as long as they are progressing. So is she getting more confident at cruising, maybe starting to let go for a few seconds etc?

My son is just 14 months and has been cruising since 7 months so it can take ages! In the last week he has suddenly started taking a few steps alone and it just happened out of the blue.

[GoBigOrange]

She sounds like she is doing fine to me and you have a few more months before you can worry - I think it is by 18 months that they should ideally be walking. Certainly I know two of my nieces were 18 months before they walked, but their mom was told they were fine and nothing was wrong as they were crawling and pulling up with no problems.

Some babies just go from cruising to walking much faster than others. My son and one of my nephews (2 days apart in age) took their first independent steps within days of each other, but my nephew had been cruising for months at that point, while my son had only really figured out how to pull up the previous week.

[justkeepswimmingg]

My DS was 16 months old when he was confidently walking unaided. He was premature, so I excepted some delay. However was told by his paediatrician that it's pretty common for some babies to not walk until 18 months old

[Lynnm63]

It used to be 18 months. Ds1 whose now 17 didn't walk he was one week shy of 18 months when he took his first steps in the morning. By the evening he was walking for the full length of the corridor approx 30ft. It was as though he couldn't be bothered then as soon as he could he was off.

[HandbagFan]

DS is 15m old and only started cruising a few weeks ago. I'm not worried - he is progressing and getting quicker, more confident and cheekier daily.

Aside from not walking unaided yet, is there anything you're worried about? Is it just that it hasn't happened, or do you think there's a reason that it hasn't happened?

[Supersoaryflappypigeon]

Thank you all for you replies and reassurance!!

She does seem to be gaining some confidence, yes, so that's promising!

I was born with a hip condition (though was walking by 10 months according to my DM) and, although DD's hips were scanned at 12 weeks I suppose I'm concerned that they missed something and that perhaps she has something wrong with them. It's probably really irrational I know

[tessiebear4]

If it reassures you, one of mine didn't even cruise until nearly 15 months! Walked at about 18 months. Nothing to worry about. 14 months seems really young to me

[tappitytaptap]

I was wondering the same thing OP, same aged child. He has been standing up in the middle of the room with no hands for a couple of months, probably only been cruising a month though, walking with a walker since about 11 months. He can taje one unaided step if prompted then just falls down! Some of my friends think ita odd because their kids can walk but not stand on their own in the middle of the room! He can climb a whole flight of our steep stairs too (victorian house). I am not too bothered about walking but he often wants to get down and crawl in mucky places outside and gets annoyed I won't let him, so would quite like him to walk for that alone 😁

[mistermagpie]

My DS didn't walk until 17 months. He had been pulling up on furniture for a while but could barely even stand unaided. I was really worried about it.

Then one day I picked him up from nursery and his key worker said 'ooh he's been walking all day', I thought she meant holding on to stuff but then he walked across the room and out of the door as if he had been doing it for months! I was gobsmacked.

He is now nearly 2 and you would never know he was a late walker, if anything he is steadier on his feet and can run better than some friends kids who walked earlier.

I know how it feels to worry about it but with some kids it takes a while to click, and when it does they don't look back. I was planning on speaking to the HV at 18 months of he hadn't walked by then and I would suggest the same to you.