Does anyone else have a non-walking 21 month old?

[showtunesgirl]

Because I don't know any other in RL!

DD is fit and healthy, eats like a horse, sleeps like a dream but just does not walk.

She was born with her right leg bent back the wrong way due to her position in the womb but this self-rectified within two weeks and she has had ultrasounds and x-rays which confirm that everything is fine.

She only started crawling at about 11 months and that was commando crawling for quite a while. At about 14 months, she started to do proper crawling and that's what she's been doing ever since and she does it very, very fast.

DD likes to cruise and will occasionally go for a walk with the baby walker. She pulls to stand and likes to walk only if we are holding her hands. If I try to trick her into walking holding onto just one hand, she will do it for a bit and then will deliberately lose her balance when she sees that she's only holding one hand, or will just drop down to sitting.

At the moment, she is starting to do squatting to pick things up and then will pull herself to standing again but she has never just stood up by herself.

Verbally she is getting on great and has about 100 words and her childminder has said that she just seems to be prioritising speaking over walking right now. She is also starting to learn letters which was prompted by her looking at an Alphabet book and correctly identifying the letter O and S and sounding them out.

I've mentioned it to the GP and they just said come back when she's 2 but I am getting worried that we are fast approaching 2 and she's still not there yet.

I'm finding the idea of there being something wrong with her a bit upsetting and a lot of people are now asking if there IS something wrong.

Does anyone else have any similar experiences and what happened in the end? Thanks!

Way to go! Please do keep posting updates, as I'd be interested to know how quickly it progresses from here. DS does the short little bursts of rushing towards something, but only if we set him in position (and it's really more of a stumbling forward than a walk). Nevertheless I hope this means that he's on his way too. I suspect it's a different way of learning to walk than those who learned earlier?

More progress today. She's definitely gaining confidence and wants to walk from place to place.

She's still finding she has to pull herself up to standing via the wall etc before she's off though. But she will now hold a book and then give it to me or DH.

I was comparing her gait with that of a much younger baby learning to walk and DD makes less mistakes and is more sure-footed. There's less stopping and then falling on her bum.

My now 8 year old dd didn't walk until she was 22 months old. She bum shuffled everywhere. I didn't worry about it as I always just felt that she would do it when she was ready and she did. Once she started, that was it, no wobbling/ falling etc she just walked everywhere.

Jellyandjam My two, now 8 and 5, were just the same, they both bum-shuffled for a while and then progressed to walking on their knees. Once they stood up they stayed up, none of that falling over every three steps for them! But neither of them walked until after their 2nd birthday.

I still think it was because they were both big kids with small feet for their weight - NB I have no actual scientific evidence for this, just a hunch! One of DD's feet was turned out for a while, which we had checked out with a paediatric physio, but that seems to have righted itself with time and had no bearing on her late walking anyway.

They do say that bum shufflers tend to walk later. They have their hands free when shuffling so have no need to walk in the same way a crawler does because they can hold things and pick things up etc.
My dd was really small lol!

My DS did not walk until around that age. Seemed very cautious. Then I took him to a soft play area and he walked the whole time and I was gobsmacked. He must have felt safe! Give it a try.

Well we're stuck in a traffic jam on the way back from Ikea. DD had a great time walking everywhere and when she got tired, just chose a sofa or a bed to have a bit or chill out.

She's definitely gaining in confidence and now doesn't want to hold our hand anymore.

My baby is 20 month old . He can not able to stand independently but he can stand only within his knee's. Now we are so much worried What we should do now

He can crawl but no fast

this post and replies have made me feel so much less alone. Until I read this I was certain our daughters had some rare syndrome or something, but now, I’m hoping that maybe it’s just her personality telling me to slow down and relax. . My daughter is 21 months old, just started walking and was delayed in almost all her milestones so far too. How is your little girl doing now? I worry so much for our little girl, im asking our GP to send us for genetic testing so i can stop worrying so much.

Hello! I was just wondering, since this was 10-11 years ago, how your children who had delayed development got on since this post? I have a 21 month old who cannot walk and is undergoing tests. Did you have any difficulties? Did they overcome obstacles related to their movement? Thanks so much, from a very worried mum!

My little boy is nearly 21 months and cannot stand or walk. It’s really scary and isolating. I’m happy for you to reach out to be a sort of understanding shoulder to lean on!

Hello, hope you and the little one are alright. I am worried about the same thing now, and just wanted to check how is the little one doing now ?

My 21 month old isn’t walking, he can count to 10, but that’s pretty much all the talking he does, he also pulls himself up and cruises constantly. He will walk while holding one of my hands yet when I try to get him to walk unassisted he goes all shaky and goes down to the floor, I really think it’s a confidence thing but I just don’t know how to get him to move past that, I’ve just been trying every day so much to get him to feel more confident to do it but nothing seems to be changing, he is so fast when crawling or cruising so I’m not sure if he just would rather do that because he is faster that way, I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this? And what they did to help

This is exactly the same as my 21 month old except he does talk quite a lot. He refuses to stand or walk unsupported. Everything is identical to my son otherwise. He is going to have an MRI to check for anything going on. He has had a private physio appointment too but unfortunately no improvement yet. Happy to be a mum to chat to as I know it’s isolating and scary! Xx

yes it is really quite scary, I’m having a doctors appointment soon to see wha they think as when my health visitor came when he was 19 months she said the fact he was putting weight on his feet and cruising made her not as concerned, and as my family have a history of late walkers but none of us have been this late, I appreciate that and im happy to be the same for you!xx