17 month old walks like a drunk ....

[Madigan]

That really is the only way to describe it .... DD started walking at 13 months and has always been incredibly wobbly - falls over a lot, and lurches from side to side banging into walls etc. A few people have commented on how insecure she looks when walking. She is now 17 months, and still incredibly wobbly.

I took her to a specialist paediatrician last week, who said to monitor for improvements over the next month - and if there is no improvement, then she needs to have blood tests/brain scans - and that is quite scary.

DD is a very bright girl - no other co-ordination problems. She can feed herself etc, is learning words etc.

Has anyone else encountered this? What was the diagnosis? I am really worried, and it breaks my heart to see her falling over all the time.

will watch this with interest. My DD is exactly the same and my DH and I are just beginning to get worried.
We call her drunk a lot and some days are worse than others. Some days she seems OK and she is getting quicker at walking, but she seems to lurch a lot. So when she gets some speed up she has no control over it and on some days she just keeps stumbling over.

My DD is 21 months and has been walking since 15 months, so 6 months and people ask if she has only just started to walk.

Have her ears been checked? Hearing test and fluid behind the ear drum checks?

17 months is still very young, it's good she is being monitored by the paediatrician but she could improve naturally on her own as she gets older.

I was going to ask about ears too.

Oh and my ds has been walking since 10 months and now at 23 months still trips over his feet fairly regularly. He's been checked by a couple of paeds and he is fine - it's just the way he is - he tries to run faster then he is able to and falls over!

Thanks for replies - the paediatrician looked in her ears (for 1 min) and said they looked fine - no in depth testing. I expect that will come, if there is no improvement over the next month. The reason for the month's deferral is because I told the paediatrician that I had detected an improvement over the last couple of weeks ... but my mother says that she cannot see any improvement ... perhaps it is juts wishful thinking on my part.

I am worrying myself silly looking up things on the internet (the paediatrician mentioned ataxia, brain tumour etc... but said that she thought such a diagnosis v unlikely). She also mentioned that DD has very loose joints (knees and ankles), which will strengthen up as she gets older. I am praying that this will be the explanation.

Hi PRN - I am sorry that you are going through the same thing with your DD. Let's stay in touch.

Madigan stop googling please!

It may be that there is nothing wrong with your dd, or she may just need a bit of physio therapy.

I know I know .... so stupid to keep obsessively looking up things on the internet .... will now stop.

I don't know if this is the same thing at all, but I think I remember my friend's DS (now 6 years old) being like this when he was younger. He is now still very clumsy and not brilliantly coordinated (you can see this as he walks now) but there's nothing wrong with him. I don't imagine he will be brilliantly sporty but his mum is a GP and not remotely worried.

It might just be something like that?

It may well be the loose joints (hypermobility) Madigan. If she has loose hip joints this will cause a lot of movement in her trunk which may mean she looks drunk when she walks. This is the way my DD walks too - she has low muscle tone and hypermobile joints. She looked very drunk at 20 months when she finally started walking but her trunk has strengthened up over the last few years.

Trampolining is really good for strengthening these muscles - DD is much stronger since we got one!

Thank you for all your messages ...

I have been watching D v closely and I reckon it is her right leg/foot which turns inward - and keeps tripping her up .... will take her back to the paediatrician asap - I have noted some improvement, but she still falls over so much it is heartbreaking.

Have found this website very useful www.skillforaction.com - has various exercises to try..

Thought I would just update this thread, in case anyone else had a child with similar walking problem ..........

am very pleased to say that, having seen 2 experts, have been told that DD's walking is perfectly normal. It has got better and better, and now she walks just like any other child (she is now 22 months old). What a huge relief!!! So, there was no need for all that worry ...............

Thank you for all advice and support.

My 13 months old dd start walking when he was 12 month's old but he walks really wobbly and fells a lot my other 2 children got cerbal palsy but they are from my first marriage and this one is from 2nd I might really worried about him when he fells he can rat stand by his own he needs support to get up he is really active child

My 15 month old has been walking for two months and suffered several hard blows to the head. Everyone tries to say it's normal, but he is way more unsteady now then when he first began walking. People want to dismiss it but he doesn't like to walk now and prefers to be carried.

Hi all! Since it’s been some years already, I am curious how are your kids walking now. Because my little girl also has steadiness issues, she started walking at 16 months, is 21 months old now, but she stills walks like a drunk sometimes and doesn’t seem to be very steady. We checked the ears, and we’ve done several investigations, now turning to genetics, but the findings are very scary, I still hope for happy endings, that’s why I thought asking here for your stories. Thanks!

Hi I realise this post is years ago and I'm so happy to hear your little one is walking and all was OK:). My little girl (18 months) got told the same that she has very loose ligaments in her knees and ankles and to get her ankle shows to support her. Now she has started taking steps however she can't take many without falling over and her balance is way off. Her check up is in 2 months where they will do bloods etc. Was it the lose joints that was the issue in the end? So hard not to worry isn't it. Thank you .

Hey how did it turn out for your LO? My 16 month old has been walking for 3 months but has been pretty unsteady on his feet at times