13 mth old not bearing weight on legs, or crawling - or moving at all!!? Advice?

[mummybto3]

My DC4 is 13 months and as far as we know is healthy.. However, she doesn't crawl, bottom shuffle, stand or put any weight on her legs at all. If you try to stand her up she lifts her legs up away from the floor. All she does is sit. My other children all crawled and walked late (around 11 months to crawl and 18 months to walk) so I haven't been too worried. However I went to see a friend today who told me I should get her checked out and now I'm worried!
She also suffers terribly with constipation and I wonder if this is linked in any way. (I imagine if she was more mobile it might get things moving down below too IYSWIM!)

Does anyone else have any experience / knowledge on this?
Any advice appreciated...

Yup my DD1 was still sitting on her 1st b\day no crawling till about 15 months and walked at 18 months. They're all different she was talking though (a bit) and at 18 months you could have a proper conversation with her IMO and E it goes by which part of the brain develops first.

Have her checked out anyway if you're worried; the const. could be caused by wheat.

I don't know if this helps:
My nephew only started bottom-shuffling recently at 14mo. I know he's been referred to some kind of specialist as he wasn't sitting at his 8mo check up (which he did 2 weeks later). As far as his family are concerned they're not particularly worried because his dexterity is excellent - he's just more interested in learning dexterity than agility.

At my DD's 8 month check (which actually happened at 11 months!) the HV noted that she wasn't weight bearing on her legs, but not to worry. Said I should come to baby clinic around her first birthday to see if there'd been any progress.

Well, within a week of her first birthday she was pulling herself up to standing, and a week after that was starting to cruise.

Incidentally she's also chronically constipated and I'd also hoped that getting mobile would help things. Sadly not.

DD's nursery called us in March when DD was 9 months old as they were concerned about her not sitting up or rolling and wanted our consent to refer her to a paediatrician. We said yes and finally got an appointment to see the paediatrician in June by which point she was both sitting up and rolling. Her weight bearing though was exactly as you describe with your DC. The paediatrician referred us to a physio and also said DD would go for an mri, eye and hearing test. We saw the physio in August and since the beginning of September have been going to a weekly session (like a baby group) where a physio, OT, health visitor and nursery nurse observe her, this runs for six weeks. Her eye test appointment and mri are scheduled for the end of October and the hearing at the beginning of November. The crawling started around August (14 months old). Her weight bearing has improved a little but I put that down to all the exercises the physio showed us to improve her leg and core strength. Until the mri we will not know if anything is 'wrong' with her. It could be that your DC is just a late mover but i have posted here so that you are aware of how long it can take for appointments to come through. If I were you I would get the ball rolling by seeing your GP/HV and getting a referral to a paediatrician which you can always cancel when it comes through (probably after Christmas now) if your DC starts moving in the interim.

My ds2 had just started walking at 11 months, within a day he stopped.

We took him to hospital and they were worried that he had been harmed in some way. They xrayed him and It turned out to be a kind of infantile arthritus, I can't remember exactly what.

He started walking again at 14 months with no problems.

Now he's seven, When he runs It looks odd because he kind of runs from the knees.

Thanks to all who replied to this: LadyKooKoo - I appreciate your advice on getting appointments in place. Wow, sounds like you've been through a lot with her! Good that you;ve had that support though. I know from my recent experience with her chronic constipation (as I'm sure you do hiviolet) how long it takes to get a referral.. It's good to know that others have had similar timelines when it comes to weight bearing / cruising etc - I won't panic yet :-)

my nephew never rolled, hated tummy time, and sat up on his own late. He is now 14 mnths old and has just started 'crawling' - although its more of a bottom shuffle! My brother and SIL were never really worried as my brother walked late (18months at least I think) and further, my nephew is the size of a small bull (he's in the 50 %ile for a 3 year old...) so no wonder he had to develop a lot more strength before he shifted that weight around! I think a HV once suggested they get his hips checked out but I don't know if they ever did.

Unless there is an underlying reason why babies can't learn to crawl/walk, then they all do learn eventually.

I wouldn't panic or worry, but I would make an appointment with GP or take her to see your HV. If she's fine, then no harm done by checking. If she does need to be referred or there is something amiss then better to catch it earlier rather than later.