9mo starting to walk?

[Newfamily2014]

Hello, I have a 9mo who has never/is not interested in crawling. All she wants to do is stand and prefers this to sitting most of the time. When held she is now walking short distances if someone holds something he wants in front of her. Is she starting to walk? Or is it a reflex or something for when her feet are on the floor?!

Can be reflex, or could be starting to walk - DS1 was walking solo at this age (let go of a table leg and toddled across the room at 8.5 months!), DS2 was a couple of months later - some kids just want to walk!

I don't think there's anything you can do to discourage or encourage it though - they walk when they're ready.

Walking at 9 months is within the normal range - my DC1 did, and the occasional child walks at 8 months... There are also children who skip crawling. So it's perfectly likely. Guess you can only wait and see :o

How exciting! I couldn't believe it when I saw it and thought babies 'usually' start walking after 12 months... Wow, I'm impressed! :-)

my dc1 walked at just gone 9 months, my current dc2 at 11 months shows no signs of walking yet. far too happy crawling very, very, quickly.

Dd took her first steps at 9 months and started walking properly at just turned 10 months. She'd been cruising since. 7 months and never wanted to sit down when she could be upright. She now hates going in the buggy tough at nearly. 12 months.

Yep 9 months is early but within normal.

But you're saying she is walking "when held" - there can be quite a long way from this to walking solo, so she may yet take a couple of months?

I didn't think DD was going to crawl as she was much more into pulling up, standing and cruising - but she did then suddenly start to crawl and did that for a couple of months before walking. So don't rule it out just yet!

Definitely possible, but how is her stability? I only ask because my son was just like your daughter - he wanted to stand all the time from 3 months and was pulling up on furniture at 6 months. From about 4 months he wanted to be held and walked, hated tummy time, etc etc. His core strength was excellent (sat independently and stably before 5 months). BUT... one day he started crawling and he actually didn't take his first step until past 12 months! My daughter is 8 months and not in the slightest bit interested in walking, but I actually think she will be earlier than him because she can stand alone momentarily and is very, very stable when standing against furniture.

My son walked independently at 9 months and my mum says that I did too. He was just desperate to move on his own. He crawled at 5 months and was happiest when standing on my lap holding himself up by holding my fingers right from a few weeks old. Some babies are just early movers/walkers and stronger than others. It was all very interesting, but he was a total pain in the arse and I wished that he was more chilled out like other babies.

my DS1 was walking confidently by 9 months (and his cousin at 8m..we have video proof!) but DS2 didn't take a single step til he was 23 months!

You can't tell who was the early or late walker now :)

My eldest dd was walking at 9 months and completely independently mobile at 11 months, I mean I was walking around the supermarket with her and she was off up and down the aisle looking at stuff. I remember an older lady stopping and staring and saying I don't believe I've ever seen a person so small walking. She also potty trained early with no input from me, in fact I felt like I must've been lazy because she put on some knickers and was done. I was terrified she was constantly going to have accidents, it never happened. I had no idea she was ready as I was the definition of a clueless first mum.

My other kids were totally different and my eldest is a normal kid and not spectacularly gifted, other than she is very organized and self-motivated. So bottom line - when they are ready they will do all these things in their own sweet time.

ds was walking round furniture at this age, then walked holding 2 hands very confidently and for a long way, but hadn't quite got the balance to walk unaided. He took his first steps at 11 months.

dd was very much slower and very different.

Both my boys were walking round furniture, pushing a trolley from 7 months - walking unaided at 9 months, on their 1st birthdays they were running around.

My niece was about a year old iirc, but her lazy wee brother sat fat & happy until about 18 months before he got off his bottom (because he had willing siblings & cousins staff at his beck and call!

You cannot tell who the quick walkers will be, and by 3 they have all caught up with each other anyway - 9 months is on the young end though so always looks really funny and not quite right to me!
Be prepared to be everywhere at once now, and watch out for the Christmas tree

I have 4 DC, all cruised confidently at around 7 months (walking round while holding on to furniture, or while holding an adults hand), but each walked properly/independently at very different ages, 9months to 14 months. The DC who walked independently at 14 months has/had very hypermobile joints in his legs, and the earliest walker only crawled for 3 days (so late crawler but early walker!). There is a huge variation, even in DC who are showing a lot of interest in wanting to walk (and lots of DC don't seem to be that interested until much later, especially if they are good crawlers).

You can help your "cruising" child to gain confidence and practice walking by using non slip socks (they have little rubber dots on the sole), if you have wood/tile floors, and maybe rearrange furniture a little so that they can reach from one bit to the next iykwim.

Yep. Crawling isn't a formal developmental stage (so I hear) and is sometimes missed. My DD walked at 9 mo too.