Still not walking

[catfan]

Hi,

I've posted before on this subject and found comments very helpful. My ds is 18 months and still not walking. He is an incredibly quick crawler, climbs up and down stairs and onto furniture, crusies a lot and will walk holding on to hands or pushing something. He talks a lot - has lots of words - and is very good at jigsaws, building,etc and is very engaged. I just can't help obsessing about the walking. His nursery say don't worry he will do it when he is ready and the doctor said give it another 6 months and then she will refer him. All the shocked comments from other parents get me down. One of my friends 'helpfully' suggested cerebal palsey and my inlaws are doing my head in keeping on telling me about much younger babies walking... Any comments/advice very gratefuly received.

I went through all this with dd who took her first unaided steps at 27mnths and walked confidently at 30mnths!

GP sent us to a paediatrician at 2yrs who spent about an hr with her and couldn't find any problems, she reviewed her every 2 mnths until she was walking. Some kids are just slow starters.

DD is now (nearly)6 and can walk quite a long way but is a slow runner (can't keep up with friends in the playground) and has poor balance (can barely ride a scooter never mind a bike). None of this bothers her at all .

I agree though, that the comments and 'advice' are unhelpful. There is nothing you can really do about it except be patient.

This was DS a few months ago, except he wouldn't walk holding anyone's hand. He started walking independently at 20-21 months and now (23 months) is running, walking backwards, tiptoeing and jumping. He just needed to get the confidence I think.

I'd listen to what the nursery says as they have experience with so many children. DS's key worker predicted back in September that DS would start walking around Christmas time, which was spot on!

My DH didn't start walking until after 18months.....now runs marathons. My DS walked at 14 months which I found late as everyone in my family walked at 9-10 months. All kids are different and I really wouldn't worry about. If he is getting around really well without walking then he is probably just not bothered right now.

The most annoying thing is OTHER PEOPLE'S COMMENTS.

Grrrrrrrr....... he sounds like he's doing fine. If he's not walking in another couple of months then maybe get him checked out by HV/doctor, but really at the moment absolutely no problem at all.

My DD walked at just over 18 mths, first steps, but not confidently until 20 months.

Just tell your relatives/annoying people that it's normal, anything up to 20 mths is very normal and can be normal outside this time as pp have said, just late.

My DD was excellent at talking and puzzles etc and I think her brain was doing all this stuff rather than walking which came later.

Try to chill out about it if you can, at least for a couple of months.

DD is 23 months and not walking. In fact she sounds very similar to your DS - loves talking, building, puzzles, books, etc. She cruises, crawls, climbs and pushes things. She sees a physio as she was born extremely premature (at 27 weeks) and she has very, very flexible hips and ankles.

However, a HV came to do a development check on her at a paed's request a couple of weeks ago. She was behind her chronological age for locomotion, but above her CA for 'manipulation', 'speech and language' and 'visual', and where she should be in 3 other areas.

The HV told me that her delay in locomotion was not far enough behind 'normal' to be flagged as a concern. I.e. she would not be being referred yet if she wasn't already seeing the physio. It would only be raised as a concern if she were still at the same stage after her 2nd birthday.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll probably find that no HCP will be too concerned until he's 2, so don't worry - he'll probably do it soon. And, as I keep telling myself, when DD is Prime Minister or Governor of the Bank of England no-one will care when she learned to walk!

My MW's child never crawled and walked at 20 months. She is a great source of advice of the whatever-you-do-they-have-their-own-ideas type.

My daughter who has ds started walking while holding my hand when she was 33 months and was walking herself by her 3rd birthday. Makes it all the more special when they start to walk, be patient, it'll happen :)

Hi there, if you are concerned about slowness to walk or other gross motor delays and aren't satisfied with what your GP or paediatrician is saying, you might want to call Dr Mihilaidis at Reflex Health on 07827 454192. He has worked on babies and children (including both of mine!)to great effect.

Yup 20 months for my DD too - ignore stupid comments, I think your nursery are right.

Hi catfan - DD wasn't walking at 18mths, but was getting into the swing of it by 20mths.

Some kids are just slower at it - so try not to worry about it! (Although I did in exactly the same way)

Hi, I've heard that if your baby is cruising and walking holding hands you don't have anything to worry about. My DD walked just before 19 months. She's doing fine now (age 4), but not as 'sporty' as, and a bit more physically timid than, her peers. Like yours she was a great talker. Does late walking run in your family?

My youngest was late with all mobility stages (sitting, crawling and walking) and has just been diagnosed with hypermobility. She could do everything, even walk holding one hand (comfort not to hold herself up) and the week before her second birthday decided to just walk.

We could see things weren't right with her though, she's tiny, she cuddles her feet flat on her cheeks and pulls some other moves that are just scary! Now she's walking she falls a lot and waddles more than walks.

The best advice I ever got was if you didn't know about this would you be worried?

Hi catfan . Sorry you're still worrying about this. As you know my DD walked at 19m and I was very anxious about it and fed-up of all the comments.....I'm sure your DS will surprise you one day very soon. Have some very un-Mumsnetty hugs x