9 out of 10 babies are walking by 15 months

[Wallace]

Is this true? I read it somewhere (my sister's Dictionary of Symptoms I think) and thought it didn't sound quite right. It also went on to suggest that if a baby isn't walking by this age there is quite likely an underlying problem

Quick poll, when did yours walk?

ds - 12.5 months
dd - 15 months

All this sort of stuff passed me by with DD1, and thank god. now with dd2 everything she does, in comparison seems advanced so i'm happy whatever (cue a worried about speech thread!)

My son is enjoying life as a five year old inspite of the fact he was about two and half years old before he could walk across the other side of a room.

Honestly lots of children dont walk until 18 months or even two years old. If there is something wrong with a child there are usually other symptoms.

I think Wallace's sister's book should be thrown in the dustbin. Its enough to make anyone freak out.

Tc, bottom-shuffling is such a fantastically efficient way of getting around, you can see why an efficient bottom-shuffler simply wouldn't see the need for pratting around walking, with all the hassle of sorting out your balance and the risk of going splat on your face.

Watching a skilled bottom-shuffler is so fab, and all mine had slightly different styles. Ds was the speed champion, and used to use his little arms as well to give him extra impetus. DD2 had a slightly balletic style involving alternating legs. My mum has them all on video, which is always good when you need a laugh. People do stop and gawp, though. By the third bum-shuffler I'd developed the hide of a rhino.

DD1 - 22 months. She walked on her knees from about 18 months.

DD2 - is a 13-month-old bum shuffler.

Ds - 11.5 months

Dd - 11 months

oh frogs, I used to LOVE it when DD1 bottom shuffled across a restaurant, like Pizza Express for example. Made me laugh like a mad woman inside to see people nudging each other etc.

And don't get me started on when she would be sat down, crossed legged, go into side splits, legs would then go all the way round to the back and she'd end up on her tummy.

She'd then really make eyes water by going from that position to side splits again and then bringing them round to the front. !!!!

I confess that I actually find children who walk at 'normal' ages slightly disconcerting, since it's so clearly not what my children do. And walking 10-month olds, frankly: eeuw. The huge advantage of late walkers is that by the time they can reach anything, they're just about getting to the age where they understand basic instructions. At 14 months, when other people's toddlers were dismantling the house, I could plonk mine in the middle of the sitting room floor with a basket of toys, go off to make a cup of tea and know they'd still be there when I got back. What's not to like?

Ds was 17 months before he started walking. He crawled and bottom shuffled. I was trying very hard not to get worried about it. Then one morning he just woke up and walked and that was it - he was off. Think if they leave it late, they really have figured out how to do it properly and there's no fannying about falling over.

all 3 of mine at 14 or 15 months. !

9 months for walking

She rolled over "later than average" so I was surprised by the get up and go she had at this age!

i was so annoyed with HV when she was worried about ds3 not crawling at 8 months. pah, what did she know!!!

That plonk and leave thing was great with DD1. DD2 has been such a different child (but just as fab, just challenging in a different way!)

Ds1 was 22.5 months. Mastered it in less than a week. His peers (who all walked a year earlier) took ages to become solid on their feet. No issues - just a very nippy crawler, so no incentive I suppose.

my freinds dd was 2... and they weren't worried...

My son had no problems getting into everything inspite of being really late walking. He was an excellent climber and fast crawler at that age. To be honest I didnt notice much difference in child proofing the house when he learnt to walk.

Still I used to have conversations with a crawling two year old on why he had to a bath before going to bed.

DS 9 months (and to answer supplementary question, he went from "first few steps" to "refusing to crawl unless absolutely necessary" within a few days)

Hmm... if 9 out of 10 are walking by 15 months then 1 out of 10 isn't -- it seems unlikely that they all have underlying problems that need to be worried about.

I have to agree with frogs on early walkers, personally.

Thank you all.

Will have to work out the statistics in the morning

ds walked independently at 10 months - but he'd been walking holding hands/cruising/pushing a trolly round for months before that. A friends ds didn't even attempt it until 20 months - but now they're both 5 there's not an instantly noticeable difference.

I suspect that a bit comes down to build/physique - ds is naturally very lean and whippet shaped (unlike me) and probably as a result hit all the gross motor movement milestones early, my friends ds was a much chubbier baby, so would have needed more strength in his legs to be able to support himself. And of course that's exacerbated by how active they are - so the athletic early crawler develops that muscular strength earlier than the child who isn't yet mobile.

DS started walking at 8 months - absolute nightmare as he had no spatial awareness at all (he did however have speed!. DD1 walked well at 9 months and seemed a lot safer than her brother had. However, neither of them ever made any attempt to crawl. Infact upto about 18 months old I remember DS1 still struggling to crawl through tunnels at tumble tots. Both hated being on their tummy from day one and now we have DD2(8 weeks old)who loves it so will be interesting to see if we have our first crawler.

ds1 14mths
ds2 17 mths

DD 13 months old

My friend's DS twins, one walked at 13 months and the other is still not walking(but climb everywhere) and they are now 17 months.. But the second one is clever because he can gets carried around by everybody more often than his walking twin

DD was 10 months

ds - 14.5 months.