To think babies are learning to walk earlier than a few years ago?

[Earlywalker]

I go to a baby group and out of 6 mums I know (babies age 9-10 months) 5 of them are walking!

DD was the first one walking out of her group 5 years ago and she started at 11.5 months.

Spoke to a mum at soft play today with kids the same age and weirdly she randomly said the same thing, that babies she knows seem to be walking by 10 months - way earlier now than when her oldest was young.

Just curious is this true for mumsnet? Or just a weird coincidence out of my friends. Walking at 9-10 months seemed unheard of when my eldest was born!

Some people do brag as though early walking is a sign of intelligence

Do they? It's just a fact though isn't it? If your baby walked at 8 months, it walked at 8 months. People can't be expected to lie about it! I honestly don't think that many people are really interested - it's only polite interest, isn't it?

Not rtft and no kids (yet), but experienced teacher. I've had someone come in and deliver training on development particularly for writing. She said that children who progress too quickly to walking often miss out one of more important developmental stages which can affect motor skills, especially handwriting, later on. It was fascinating to see her get my class to do different exercises like crawling, look at how they did them and then tell me exactly which children struggled with their handwriting. She was spot on! We had exercises to do with the class altogether to help full in developmental gaps. It was very interesting, but sadly a few years ago so I can't remember most of it.

So just because a child is walking earlier, doesn't mean they have progressed properly through the skills. Obviously there are children who are absolutely fine and walk early, but I find it very interesting as an educator to think of these links.

I walked at nine months, I'm 49. My grandmother told me it was one of the odder things she'd seen as I was quite small for my age, she said it was like watching a little baby pick itself up and walk.

My daughter was 18 months. I took her baby walker off her and she walked a couple of days later, lazy little thing.🤣

I think it's just dependent on thr kid really,

My eldest, 23 now, walked at 9 1/2 months, my DD2 walked at just before a year old. DS, my youngest, walked at 15 months. They all walk perfectly well now, so it doesn't matter when they started.

Is early walking a sign of intelligence?

Is early walking a sign of intelligence?

No, it used to be thought it was, but it's not now.

I'm a member of Mensa, and as said, walked at nine months. My daughter, without doubt, has a higher iq than me, and she was at 18 months, although I suspect she'd have done it earlier had we not given her the baby walker. So anecdotally, no, it's not, but research also shows there is no correlation.

I don’t think so. DD1 walked at 18 months. Went to a superselective, got all A/A* and is studying Vetmed (despite fucking health visitor who said she had severe developmental difficulties).

I’m nearly 65 and I walked at 9 months, so there were early walkers long ago too,

Mine walked at 9 months, 8 months and 11 months. By 'walking' I mean they could take 5-6 steps alone. Probably 12 out of 15 of my friends had babies that walked at 12 months or later and I think that's 'normal'. I don't see anything to say that walking early means brighter.

I think smaller babies walk quicker. My dd5 crawled at 5 months and walked at 8 months but she was tiny was 12lbs at 6 months, my niece who is two weeks older than my dd didn’t walk till later on think she was about 14 months but she was much bigger. I work in a nursery and it’s usually the smaller babies that walk first.

DC1 14 months
Dc3 15 months
DC 3 Can't remember but defo more than 12 months.

20+ years later they are all fully functioning humans as indeed am I who apparently waited until 18 months to become a biped.

Those among my friends with early walkers constantly seemed to be herding cats...

16 mo/ 12 mo / 16 mo
All of them crawled for a full 6 months first.

smaller babies walk earlier

Not true with mine. My middle DC (8lbs15) walked three months before my youngest (7lbs 7).

I haven't read the thread but I can categorically state that this is untrue.

My MIL assures me her four babies walked at four months. Or possibly three. Definitely around the time she weaned them straight from formula onto adult food, though that also happened at 8 weeks, and roundabout when she potty trained them.

Your poor useless babies are nowhere near as advanced as my MIL's babies. You needn't protest. It is just a fact of life, and also probably because you didn't listen to her advice about whiskey on their gums and the importance of overcooked veg in the diet.

LRDtheFeministDragon

smaller babies walk earlier

Not true with mine. My middle DC (8lbs15) walked three months before my youngest (7lbs 7).

I don't think she was talking about birth weight. :o

Most comprehensive data I have is my twin nephews, the slimmer one walked before the other, they were within an ounce the same birth weight - clearly this is a representative sample!

My now nearly 16yr old dd rolled (deliberately) at 6 weeks, crawled at 5 months and walked at 9 months.

At 16 she mainly now eye rolls

My two were late walkers over 15 months, though there was no wobbly stage they took off steady. My Dneice was tiny and started walking at 10months.

Oh DD was really thin, DS was really chubby so can't say weigh made a difference.

Ds 23 walked at 10 months and another baby at nct group was 9 months.
Ds was a huge lump by 10 months but the 9 months baby was a petite little thing.

My daughter crawled at 14 months, stood up for the first time at 20 months and walked at 22 months. She was a very plump baby and was too lazy to move very much, she preferred being carried around 😀 She is now a super-fit and very slim 11 year old elite gymnast so the late walking didn't do her any harm and it definitely made my life easier when she was a baby. Her brother is 17 months older and was crawling at 7 months but didn't walk until 16 months.

DD just started walking at 14 months, the last of our anti-natal group. She was a late sitter too but she was great at crawling, really fast, still crawls if she's on a mission. She always seemed more social that the others and was the first to cut a tooth. Each to their own!

DS1 walked at 11 months. DS2 is 18 months and is just starting to take a few steps now, bless him.

I knew before I'd even opened this thread that there would be so many responses if "I was walking at 3 weeks old and that was in 1925!"

Although I agree with a PP that people seem to encourage walking a lot more like putting babies in those dreadful walker/bouncer things. Haven't they been proven to be bad for hip development?

Crawling is such an important skills for babies to master first, though I know some babies do just completely skip it. So much is learnt at this stage about spatial awareness, hand eye coordination, upper body, hand, neck and core muscle strengthening and so so much more. I always find it odd when parents are proud that their LO 'didn't bother' with crawling.

Im always amased at how young some babies walk at. My dd was 17 months i thought she'd never walk!