Walking but not pulling up

[BertieBobbles]

I was wondering if anyone had any tips for encouraging my 1 yo to pull himself up. It's not that I'm worried about him not doing it and development stages (blahblah!), it's just that he's walking now and it's getting to be quite a handful when he sits on the floor and screams at me because he wants to be up on his feet. I've tried to explain to him the merits of learning to pull up himself, but he didn't seem to understand.

Hi. My DS is 2 and is under the physiotherapist as he is not walking yet (he had major heart surgery when he was a baby meaning he is a bit delayed with his gross motor skills). Anyway, I digress. To encurage him to pull himself up the physio told us to stand in the middle of the room holding a toy/biscuit/whatever just out of his reach. Lo and behold he tries to climb up my legs to reach said toy/biscuit/whatever. Could be worth a try. That said, your son will do it in his own time, he will discover that he can pull himself up on the couch before you know it!

Do you mean he can't get himself to a standing position at all (ie literally not pulling up against chairs, tables, other surfaces), or that he can't stand up from sitting down in the middle of the floor? If he can't pull up but can walk, that's a little bit unusual - if he can pull up but just can't yet get to standing entirely independently, then it's probably just a confidence issue.

Is he stiff legged when he walks, at all? Just wondering whether he's still a little bit weak in some leg muscles for pulling up from bent knees to straight? My ds1, who has low muscle tone and hypermobility, could stand long before he could pull up, but to gain the stability to do this he did lock his knees back the wrong way, and even once he was walking, did have a rather stiff legged walk for a while for the same reasons, before he gained enough strength to look a little bit more normal! Have you tried getting your ds to crouch down for something while he's on his feet and then try to stand up with it again? Does he just collapse onto his bottom if he bends his knees, or can he squat down before he loses his balance?

Thanks for the advice itstheyearzero, I'll definitely try that.

rabbitstew, I don't think it's a muscle tone issue, he's very strong and when i'm holding his hand he is happy to squat to pick something up and stand up again. He's also quite comfortable pulling himself up on my hands if I'm sat in front of him. It seems like he just doesn't want to use surrounding objects to help him which I thought was quite strange! Anyway, like I said, I'm sure it's not an issue and he's always been a bit controversial with the order of his milestones!! You're right it might be a confidence issue, and I'm sure it will come very soon and I'll be wishing for the old days as he finds new ways to have me running after him like a loon

Hi Bertie. My DS (now 6) was walking at 13 months but couldn't pull himself to standing (using sofas etc) until he was 18 months. We never walked into his bedroom and found him standing up in his cot etc. He also found climbing (ie stairs) difficult. Anyway we took him to see a Physiotherapist at 3 and found out he had low muscle tone and hypermobility (double jointedness incase you hadn't heard of the term - I hadn't!). This is all very common apparently, especially with boys! DS could also crouch and then stand holding my hand and pull himself up if I held on to his hands but if he wanted to pick something up in the middle of the floor, he would bend from the waist and keep his knees straight! If you don't notice any change(as you say, it could well be stubborn-ness!)it might be worth taking him for a Physio Assessment. DS has had Physio, plus lots of sport, swimming etc. and has improved no end. Whilst he will always have slightly lower muscle tone and hypermobility, he is so much stronger - it's great to see!!

Just worth noting that muscle tone and muscle strength are not actually the same thing. Low muscle tone (hypotonia) means the muscles are slow to respond to a stimulus, not that they are weak, although obviously with marked hypotonia, the result without special intervention is muscle weakness simply because the muscles are not exercised efficiently or sufficiently, so muscle strength does not build up. Exercises can improve the muscle strength of hypotonic muscles, which reduces the symptoms of hypotonia, but the hypotonia is likely to remain. Hypermobility is often connected with hypotonia - this can be simply because the muscles don't control the joints very effectively, so that they can be stretched too far the wrong way before the muscles provide any resistance to stop it happening; and/or because the connective tissue (ligaments, tendons, etc) holding the joints in place is unusually stretchy. It is possible (and quite common) to be hypermobile (ie very flexible) without being hypotonic. It is also possible to have isolated joints or parts of the body which are hypermobile, or which are slightly low tone, when there doesn't appear to be an issue elsewhere.

To pull to stand from kneeling, a child needs to be able to transfer its weight and centre of gravity quite effectively from both legs to one, temporarily, which is harder to work out how to do and harder work on the muscles than pulling up from squatting whilst holding a mother's hands, so might well take longer to achieve if the child has not yet learnt how to do the shifting its weight and balance over trick, or does not yet quite have the strength or stability in all muscles and joints to put so much weight on one side of the body.

ie it's not so very simple to work out whether or not there is a problem! But if it is only a mild issue, time generally does fix it in the end.

Ok, now I'm wondering if I should worry. Best to go to the physio just in case I think. Thanks so much for all the information!

My nephew did this. Drove my SIL insane as like your DS he cried all the time to be pulled up. He was walking perfectly from about 11 months, but couldn't seem to pull himself up, so if she helped him up he would run around until he fell over then want helping up again. It was a couple of months before he got it. He's now nearly two and totally sturdy physically capable little boy. Just letting you know that it isn't necessarily a problem. His sister never crawled, not at all. She sat totally immobile until about 15 months, but would walk if put on her feet and both hands were held, then around 15 months she started to pull herself up and to walk unaided.