23 months and no walking

[Kimshady]

My 23mth old son is showing no real signs of walking. He is an expert bum shuffler and all his other signs seem OK. We have seen a consultant at the local hospital and I think the general feeling is that all is well (He's had some blood tests which for reasons I won't bore you with need to be redone), but I'm getting really despondent now. He'll walk holding both my hands and can stand with the aid of the furniture but does it extremely rarely. Any others had similar experiences.

[paow]

Hi there, a friend did, and the consultant suggested going to a proper children's shoe shop and get measured for sturdy shoes with unkle support. The girl is now walking as she feels secure with those shoes.
Have you tried this?

[paow]

sorry meant to say ankle!

[asteamedpoater]

My grandfather didn't walk until he was over 2 years old and I walked late (another bottom shuffler - I think anything up to 2 years old is considered acceptable in the bottom shuffling community...). Nothing wrong with either of us, we were just late walking. My eldest son, however, was late walking because he has low muscle tone (hypotonia) and hypermobility (loose joints). He did need orthopaedic boots (piedro boots) for a while to help support his ankles when he was learning to walk (and also had physiotherapy, as at 15 months he couldn't even roll over, let alone bottom shuffle, crawl, get from lying to sitting or sitting to standing). He is now 4 and can run, jump and even hop. He did need a lot of encouragement, though, as he had to build up a lot of muscle strength to counteract the effects of the hypotonia and hypermobility (still haven't had all the checks to ensure this isn't down to a connective tissue disorder, but he seems otherwise pretty fit and healthy, and well co-ordinated).

So, I know how you feel. Not much advice, though, except to try and get him up and cruising/walking with a cart as much as possible (my ds would spend lots of time ploughing up and down with his cart, which looked a bit odd by the time he was able to do it as they're designed for 12-18 month olds, and he was an extremely tall 20 month old when he first started being able to push it along - and just under 23 months when he started walking independently).

Have they made any comments about your son's muscle tone or that he is or may be hypermobile? These are fairly common causes of late walking, I think. Has he had any physiotherapy? This might help if his late walking is caused by anything other than his temperament and own internal learning-to-walk timetable (as I said, it's fairly unusual, but not necessarily considered abnormal for a bottom shuffler not to walk until they are 2).

[Kimshady]

Hi
Just wanted to say thanks for your info. It was interesting. C is low (if not non existent} on the muscle tone scale but they say this is because he is bum shuffling and therefore not using his legs. I'm trying to walk him to improve tone but this is now getting really hard. Sorry I don't want to moan but I could really do with a breakthrough. Just time I suppose.

[juliet111]

If it is any consulation apparently I was 20 months old before I could walk

[Clary]

kim have you been offered any physio?

23mo is late not to be walking as you are of course aware; but it's true that bum shufflers often walk late.

If there are no medical reasons (a pal had a DD whose hip joint was late to develop properly so she was IIRC 22mo before she walked) then physio might help. Go see GP or HV and push for a referral.

[PollyLogos]

If he has low tone you could try encouraging him with a cart to push along as asteamedpotatoe mentions. If it runs away with him put something heavy in it as this makes him have to push against it and helps raise his muscle tone. I would also agree with shoes with ankle support. HTH

[candyfluff]

my sister was 3 when she started walking!!!!! she bum shuffled everywhere ,my parents were very worried she was sent for tests and the doctor told them she was just lazy!!!!!

[yomellamoHelly]

My son walked 6 weeks before his second birthday having shown to signs that he was about to do it. Was an expert in less than week. You couln't tell the difference between him and his peers who'd been walking for a year.
Looks like ds2 is the same. 17 months not sitting.

[charx]

Apparently I didn't walk until I was gone 2. I was also an excellent bum shuffler. Is he your first? (I was first too, and apparently needed to find my motivation! When I did I was off like a shot). I know this isn't very comforting but he will eventually find the motivation and walk - he's not going to be crawling to school!

[toadette]

DS2 was a bum-shuffler and was almost 22 months when he took his first steps. He wouldn't even weight-bear until he was at least 18 months, just did a weird 'sit-in-the-air' type pose whenever we tried to get him to stand up.

If your ds is walking holding hands then hopefully his first independent steps won't be too far off. It didn't take too long for my ds to get from that stage to walking a couple of steps alone. Perhaps could try to arrange a couple of pieces of furniture or similar close together and try getting him to walk a few steps between them?

[Clary]

It's great that some of you have positive stories about late walkers.

But I do think it's important (in general) to be aware of why milestones are there.

I have a pal whose DS was very late walker ie not walking at 22mo - oh says everybody, he'll get it. well yes, he can walk, and run, sort of, but he has real mobility issues and struggles with stairs etc. He's 8 btw. Maybe physio would have helped him if they had it earlier. Maybe not.

But milestones are there for a reason. I would be a bit worried by a 17mo who did not sit up tbh.

[cory]

Clary does have a point. I have several positive stories about late walkers from the extended family, but when dd was late sitting/walking it turned out that she had a connective tissue disorder, which was undiagnosed and not treated for years- it is likely that she will always be disabled t some extent. Her heart is not affected, but her balance is and she also has incontinence problems and is prone to constipation.

If your ds is hypermobile, then it is likely (though not certain) that this will affect other joints- the traditional way of testing is the Beighton scale (you can google) which measure hypermobility of thumb, elbow, lower back, knee and ankle joints (if I remember rightly). A rheumatologist might be a good person to see.

[hairtwiddler]

DD walked at 21 months. She crawled at 13 months but not for long - 'walked' up on her kneed for months and months. She has been seen by a foot specialist, who came to no conclusions other than that her feet were small for her age/size (she's still only a european size 20) and that she was slightly pronated (leg at odd angle with ankle).
She also walked holding my hand for some time but one day just got up and ran across the room.
She's now (at 28 months) able to walk up and down stairs (holding on to one hand), go up climbing frames, and climb up onto furniture etc. She's still hesitant. I think with her it's more about confidence to do things on her own than ability, although I think that was on the late side too.
I know of a bum shuffler who walked after 2yrs, he has hypermobility - sounds like that's been ruled out in your case.

You have my sympathies. I was soooo happy when DD walked. Now I can see very little difference between her and her peers.

[Kimshady]

Blimey, so happy at the response...(new to this) All useful, some reassuring. As Cory says good to have positive stories, but worth keeping your eyes on the ball. If there is a problem here and physio etc is required then don't be too complacent. If C does not walk in the next month or so then I will be pushing. His repeat blood test request has already gone astray so perhaps not to trust that these things are always in hand...