What did you do to encourage your child to walk, or didn't you?

[Queeze]

I will not be made to feel guilty, so can you reassure me that your toddler was going to walk, whether or not you did anything to help. And if they didn't what did you do to encourage them.
DS, at 17 months is not walking. He began to crawl at 14 mths. Prior to that he hadn't cruised, but now he will cruise and enjoys it. We had a referral to specialist and an xray of hips and all was fine. She also said his joints were a little more flexible than normal and he would take longer to build strength, and he does walk by swinging his legs out to the side more than bending his knees, indicating he's not got that strength yet. They also said our wooden floors might have affected his development too, even though we have those rubber floor tiles, a massive rug and our upstairs is all carpet.

My FIL/BIL and my own mother seem to think I have simply just not encouraged him enough and when they visit waste no time hoisting him up for a walk/drag about the house. They don't seem to believe me when I tell them that a baby will walk when they're ready and when they are ready you can't stop them.

The thing is, I am devastated that I might be to blame. We practiced rolling a lot (I even had made up a song so it became fun as he hated it). We've tried bouncers/jumpy thing which he just sat in. He goes bare feet inside. We have the house set up so he can cruise the length of it if he wants to and so far the floors have not fazed him. I make sure I spend most of the day inside so we can play enough. We walk daily but he's not confident if his death-grip on my fingers is anything to go by.
What else could/should I do? I don't think there is anything else I can do, but it's impossible to not worry when beaky know-it-alls tell you your son has delayed development!!
Sorry this is long. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Once DD had taken her first cpl of steps (with encouragement to let go on the kitchen cupboard door) each night we spent a while encouraging her to walk between us (she enjoyed it!). DD walked independently within 3 weeks however I firmly believe that is because she is the kind of kid who will not do something till she has almost perfected it and then do it quickly!

I was never one for dragging her about on my hands before I knew she could pretty much walk!

One of my dds didn't walk until 17.5 months - at 17 months she would walk a lot with a walker/doll's pushchair, but not unaided.
At 17 months I started trying to encourage her by having 10 minutes a day where I would stand away from her so that she have to walk a few steps to get to me. Could you do that on a carpeted area?

I didn't do anything before that to actively encourage so I don't think you've done anything wrong.

He will get there, don't worry. DD only walked at 18 months. She has never been particularly well coordinated and we took her to physio when she was 4.

You're not to blame! Not read all the replies so sorry if this is repeating what others have said, but it sounds from what you say about the flexible joints that he has hypermobility. My eldest walked at 19 months, he has mild hypermobility and it took a long time to get the confidence up to let go when he was cruising. My middle son is nearly 2.5 years and has severe hypermobility, he doesn't walk yet but is cruising. My son's physio has said to get him to cruise as much as possible, then move to cruising holding just one hand (if he's not keen try getting him to hold something in the other hand). Also walk with him towards sofa / towards your partner then let go and see if he'll make the last few steps alone. He also wears boots with strong ankle supports most of the time to keep his ankles steady. Can't think of anything else. Don't worry though, they do all get it eventually, at least this is what I have to keep reminding myself!

We did nothing, apart from positive verbal encouragement when he tried stuff. He was bought a walker as a present but figured it out with no help from us. A friend of mine would hover over her kid, putting a cushion behind him to stop him banging his head & IMHO that did more harm than good. Ds was allowed to fall over so he didn't do it again! She would also hold his hands a lot, so it meant he never learnt to pull himself up. I really think they're best learning it all themselves so it's a natural process where everything us joined up & within their ability. You don't see monkeys helping their offspring along!

My dd wAlked just before 18 months. We had also had a referral to a paed. Dd never crawled and bum-shuffled til she was 18 months. I had walkers etc but she wouldn't even put her feet on the ground! She only stood up on her own for the first time about 3 weeks before she walked! No amount of encouraging encouraged her!

Ds had zero encouragement whatsoever and he walked at 9 months!

I was becoming concerned about dd too and so I understand how you feel but if the paed has had a look, I'm sure everything is fine and your little one is just a late starter like my dd who is now 4.5 and running around like a mad thing

We didn't really do anything to encourage our twins to walk except hold them up to the walker when they were confident at standing and cruising. They loved their walker and this helped them learn to take steps. One took first steps at 13 months and walked well by 14 months, the other took first steps at 15 months and only walked well by 17 months. I know a couple of children who didn't walk until 2.

He will walk when he is ready. Even though it is hard, try not to worry about it

Hi, I am a children's physio and I just wanted to reassure you and agree with many of the comments so far, not walking by 17 months is still within normal variation for age. In my experience children who are more flexible in their joints can take a little bit longer to stand and walk as they need to build up their strength a bit more to feel stable on their feet.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things, here are a few simple things you can try if you haven't already:-

Move toys of interest up off the floor so he has to pull to stand to play with them
Encourage play when standing at a surface- reaching for toys and squatting down to retrieve a toy from the floor and back to standing all help to strengthen and improve dynamic balance development.
When cruising with supervision, create small gaps between items of furniture so he has to bridge the gap to cruise between them.
When standing at a surface or with support, playing with bubbles is often a good way to encourage children to reach out of their base of support and develop their balance.
'Push along' toys can be helpful at encouraging first steps – initially you may need to control the speed for children until they become more confident. Taking steps between 2 supporting adults as described by others is another really nice way to develop stepping confidence.

I hope this helps - It sounds like he's nearly there.

Oh my goodness what is it with grandparents sticking their opinions where they aren't wanted? You are doing absolutely nothing wrong. It is impossible to get toddlers to work on any stage of development that they don't want to. Fwiw my DS spent 4 months cruising before he felt brave enough to try walking on his own.