Should I be worried about my 18months old child not walking?

[Bilin]

My DD is 18months and has not started walking independently yet. She walks holding onto objects and uses the walker to move around and cannot stand on her own for longer than five seconds. The HV has referred us to a specialist.
She started to bottle shuffle at age 12months and crawling at 14months. it seems that her physical development is delayed. Should I be worried about her not walking independently and is there something that I can do to encourage her to walk?

My DS walked on his knees until he was 18-19 months old - he would only walk about 4 -5 steps across the living room - now aged 2.7 he can run, walk and if he could climb every tree he passes.
It just happened at 19 months and there was no looking back. He was the last of all of his friends but I wouldn't worry. My DS is very tall/heavy for age so that might be a factor too - their muscles need to develop enough for them to carry their own weight!

Has the HV given you any clues as to the delay? Often, bottom shufflers walk late but it is good news that she is crawling. How is her crawling? Does she get around fast that way?

My DD walked at 20 months but had more serious issues with her balance and muscle tone. We walked holding her hands for months and months to help her develop strength and balance. She could walk before she could stand unaided iyswim!

I'm sure your DD will be walking before too long but a specialist check is always worthwhile just in case physio would be useful. Hypermobility seems to be a common reason for slight delay in gross motor skills if you have noticed that her joints seem particularly flexible?

My DD (now nearly 2) was 19 months before she walked independently. There was nothing physically wrong with her - she just took her time. She was a bottom shuffler and only learned to crawl after she had learned to walk independently! I was worried too, but it took her until 12 months to begin moving at all so I guessed she was going to be late walking. Obviously it's good to get it checked put if you are worried, but although it seems that all the babies you know are walking by 12 months there is actually wide variation. Most health professionals seem to think that any time up to the age of 2 is within normal range (unless it's clear there are physical problems, e.g. inability to bear weight).

Probably not, bottom shufflers do walk later on average (it's a refined form of locomotion- if you can get about with food in each hand and no risk of falling why get up on those little shaky legs?).

As you feels she has an over all delay in development then getting an appointment "in the pipeline" for review at this stage is a good idea.

My "normal" babies all walked on the late side of average- I think they were too busy talking!
DD1 bottom shuffled and walked at 15 months
DS crawled and walked at 15 month (LOL)
DD2 crawled and then walked on her knees from 18-20 months. I think she only bothered to get up on her feet as we saw the physio, who put her in piedro boots to keep her ankles at 90 degrees (they were worried her achilles tendons would get tight with her feet always being "pointed" as they triled behind). THe boots made knee running difficult so she walked LOL

The HV carried out physical examination and could not find anything wrong. she suggested that we should see a hospital doc for a check up. DD crawls very well and she can crawl very fast.

My oldest DD was given a play-tube (to crawl through) for her first birthday. It was a whole YEAR before she could crawl through it. My 3, without any problems have been late walkers (15mths, 17mths,17mths). Although it's concerning that the HV has referred you, if you don't have any other suspicions about muscle tone/coordination, it should be okay within a few months.

My DS walked just before 18 months, but before this he was completely immobile - he didn't crawl or bottom shuffle and couldn't pull himself up to standing. He refused to weight bear at all until around 14 months - which is also when he learnt to roll!

We saw a physio and they said he was double jointed (hypermobile). We now go to physio every few months just for them to keep an eye on him. At 23 months he has finally learnt to crouch (!) which was the one thing we were missing, so I am assuming we will be discharged at the next appt.

The phsyios did say that they would not be majorly concerned unless he was still not walking by age 2 - anything before that is classified as normal. They also said that as long as children are sitting unaided by age 2, they will be walking by age 4.

I was worried because the NHS booklet for birth to five suggests that babies should be walking from 10months to 18months. It is good to hear that she is within the age range (2) for walking.

OP I had a similar thread a few weeks ago, if you search my name you might find it and see some reassuring comments, we see a physio for dd she has very low muscle tone in her legs and that combined with her laid back attitude means she is 18 months old (early 19 ) and still not walking!

The fact that she can walk holding hands and crawl really fast are all good signs.

Spottyteacakes, have searched your name and could not find it. Which type of thread was it under?

It could be worth having her checked out. When dd did not walk until 19 months it was due to low muscle tone and hypermobility which have caused her a lot of trouble in later life: it would have been better to have had that picked up earlier.

DD didn't walk until 20 months; we had her checked out by paediatrician, no problems there She wasn't even cruising in the way you describe- however, she was a bottom shuffler who never crawled.

One day, she just stood up and walked a few paces- this increased rapidly until now, aged 3.2yo she is belting past me at the speed of sound screaming that she won't get her pyjamas on and I can't make her (I can).

here :)

Thanks SpottyTeacakes, have read the thread. It is good to know that there were other babies that walked very late. It is worrying for me seeing other yonger babies at the children centre walking and mine just crawls. Hopefully she will not have low muscle tone or hypermobility.

Crawling is a good sign but always best to get it checked if only to put your mind at ease. Low muscle tone is really common you can tell with dd because her legs are like sticks