21mths and still not walking!

[KLouise]

My son is now 21 months and he still doesnt walk! He has been seen by the community paediatrician and there is no physical/medical reason for this, except he has a large head, small feet and very flexible joints (apparently!) He sat at 6mths, bottom shuffled at 10mths, crawled at 12.5mths, started to pull hinmself up at 15mths and started cruising round the furniure at 16mths! he has taken a few 'proper' steps but doesn't seem to want to do any more.Any ideas on how to encourage him without pressuring him? He has push along toys and ride ons which he loves, and he has just learned how to get up on the sofa and back down again! I'm so fed up with other people staring at him and muttering to each other (and no i'm not just paranoid!). Any ideas hugely appreciated!!

Hi guys,

Thank you all so much for your very kind support! DS is finally starting to take steps, he has walked a total of 15 'proper' steps, but he still seems to prefer crawling (I guess he can get around quicker that way!) I know he can do it!!! His attitude seems to have changed a lot in the last couple of weeks and he actually seems to want to walk now! He will be 2 on 23rd December so am keeping everything crossed that he is walking confidently by then! We have just recieved an appointment through for his next visit to the peadiatrician, which is for 15th December, It'd just be so wonderful if we could arrive and he just walked into her room!! Well, I guess anything is possible!!

I really need him to walk more than ever now though as just found out we're expecting Baby number 2 (very early days yet though!) in July and so carrying him takes on another issue!! Have been trying very hard to make him walk and he's been doing so well, he walks everywhere when we're out just holding one finger!!

Anyway I will certainly keep you all posted, and thank you again for all your kind support it's such a relief to know he's not the only one!!

Love Karren xx

Hi again,

Just wanted to add to last message that, no his speech is not very good. In fact he was referred to a speech and language therapist a few months ago, who concluded that he was 4-5 mths behind in that as well!! Poor chap isn't doing very well really, I dont hink he's silly, far from it, he's very clued up...maybe thats the problem!!

Karren x

karren, that's great news about ds starting to walk. Congrats on the pregnancy too

This sounds so like my DS2, now nearly 5, running about happily and talking non stop. But he didn't walk til his was 20 months old, and even then was very slow to be a confident walker. He was also very slow to start talking. I was really realy concerned at the time, had paediatricians' referrals, physio, speech therapy etc, but in the end (or maybe in part thanks to the intervention, who knows) he sorted himself out. I guess they do things in their own time, but I really do understand how worrying it all is.

The other thing was that up to the age of 18 or 19 months he wasn't moving at all - he never crawled, only bum shuffled a bit towards the end, so I was worried that his mind wasn't getting stimulated by all the exploration you can do once you're mobile. Plus I was fed up of carting him about everywhere, from room to room within the house even.

Now I wish he'd sit still for five minutes, and shut up!!!