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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

9 out of 10 babies are walking by 15 months

106 replies

Wallace · 20/01/2007 21:31

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

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Hulababy · 21/01/2007 11:46

TeeCee - I mean walking on own at own choice. DD was cruising from 5 months, but walked on her own at 10 months. She took one step on her own, look shocked then pleased, clapped and walked across the room. She never looked back. She was never really a crawler and prefered to be on her feet.

TOD · 21/01/2007 11:58

My Ds didnt walk alone until he was 19 months....... I too was a little worried but he is 24 months now and no stopping him!!!!!!!!
He managed to get around very well crawling so walking did'nt bother him too much even if it was worrying me !

specialmagiclady · 21/01/2007 15:33

I didn't walk until 21 months, but could order people around brilliantly, using 3 syllable words etc, so didn't need to walk. Also in those days Mum used to just plonk me in my playpen so no real incentive to go anywhere.

I turned out above average intelligence but quite lazy.

My DS, on the other hand walked at 11 months and can't speak very much over a year later - he may turn out to be a bit thick but very active! Or not... watch this space.

edam · 21/01/2007 15:41

Think Lunarsea has a point about build - ds was a very chunky baby (and is still very big for his age - tall and strong). The ones I knew who walked much earlier were lighter. When I used to pick up girl babies, I'd be braced for ds and nearly drop them they were so light in comparison!

Highlander · 21/01/2007 16:11

15 months.

Orinoco · 21/01/2007 16:17

Message withdrawn

cuppa · 21/01/2007 16:20

all 3 ds's around 17 months. no underlying problems. were cruising at about 10 months.

cuppa · 21/01/2007 16:21

yes, mine were all very easrly talkers, as was I, and I was also a late walker

hunkermunker · 21/01/2007 16:25

Agree about different skills appearing at different times - DS1's always been more "fine motor skills and talking" than some of the earlier walkers I've known. He'll either be a brain surgeon or a pickpocket

frogs · 21/01/2007 16:26

edam, I used to think that too, since my first two were fat little porkers. Then I had dd2 who went down to somewhere below the 9th centile and has resolutely stayed there. She still didn't walk till 19 months, so rather scotched my 'babies walk late cos they're too chunky to get upright' theory.

Genes all the way. Age of walking is highly heritable, according to my GP. And apparently bum-shuffling (which is associated with late walking) has become more widespread since the introduction of the 'back to sleep' campaign. Neither dh nor I were bum-shufflers, but as babies of the late 60s/early 70s, we would have been put on our fronts to sleep. Whereas all mine absolutely hated being on their fronts and would lie there whinging frantically with their noses buried in the carpet and their little limbs flailing uselessly about.

hunkermunker · 21/01/2007 16:29

I heard a theory about bum-shuffling the other day - something about bum-shuffling children were more likely to be clumsier than those who'd crawled - something to do with spatial awareness and using all four limbs with crawling - or something [hazy]

hunkermunker · 21/01/2007 16:30

Quite how you'd quantify clumsy though...!

BrummieOnTheRun · 21/01/2007 16:32

DD was a late walker (19 mos). And if she hadn't been at nursery, where they told us "there hasn't been one yet who hasn't eventually got up and walked!", I'd probably have been worried.

She was/is massively advanced verbally, and would sit engrossed in a toy for ages.

She still lacks confidence in physical activity, but because she overthinks things and is very cautious.

I think she put her effort into intellectual pursuits

frogs · 21/01/2007 16:35

Yeah, I don't find that convincing either, hunker, based on a study of my own little pool of 3. Dd1, who was the youngest walker (a mere 18 months) took forever to cope with even the slightest step. She'd stand at the edge of a one-inch step dithering to and fro like an elderly parkinsons patient. Whereas ds, my latest walker went from first steps to running within a month or two. And dd2 was a demon climber long before she could walk -- she climbs up the most hair-raising things, and never, but never falls off. I'm the mother sitting on the bench at the playground with her nose buried in the newspaper while all the other children's mothers hover nervously round the highest climbing frame where dd2 is some 6 feet off the ground, all the while casting disapproving 'bad mother' vibes at me.

SoupDragon · 21/01/2007 16:40

someone told me that a large proportion of dyslexic people were bum shufflers.

edam · 21/01/2007 16:40

Snap Orinoco - ds somehow taught himself to count to 10 at that age, too. I certainly didn't teach him and no-one could work out where he'd got it from - nursery assistants were surprised. Other parents at nursery stopped me in the corridors to say 'Gosh, I heard him counting to 10!' So I took it that he was too busy talking to bother with walking...

edam · 21/01/2007 16:41

(talking as in I'm sure reciting numbers is a verbal skill at that age - he wasn't actually counting objects AFAIK.)

PeachyClair · 21/01/2007 17:14

Mine walked at:

ds1- HFA- 10 months
ds2- NT- 11 months
ds3 Sn but unsure what- 15 months

so deosn't really add up top anything conclusive my lot

IdrisTheDragon · 21/01/2007 17:17

DS just over 15 months
DD just over 15 months

I think I have children who like to wait until 15 months until they walk.

Tutter · 21/01/2007 17:19

ds was 14mo

IdrisTheDragon · 21/01/2007 17:23

DS was a very fast crawler (from 8.5 months) and cruiser (9 months) but didn't want to walk until 15 months. He was also a slender thing.

DD didn't move at all until she was about 10.5 months and she did a type of bottom shuffle. She first strood unaided at about 14 months and then started walking on Christmas Day (just over 15 months) and has hardly shuffled since. She is a tubby little thing .

happybiggirl · 21/01/2007 17:25

Message withdrawn

weepootleflump · 21/01/2007 17:31

dd was fully walking at 9.5 months

Hulababy · 21/01/2007 17:36

DD walked quite early as said, but she was also an early talker with excellent verbal and conversational skills. So not always the case that they don't do both. She didn't crawl much though and hated all that tummy time stuff. I think she learnt to walk purely to get to people/toys to talk to them, as she hadn't really mastered the idea of crawling/rolling to move.

DD was also a light, slim little thing, so this may have something to do with the walking.

Hulababy · 21/01/2007 17:37

I think that often those who master crawling or bum shiffling, and who are adept at getting around that way have less inclinatiomn to get up and walk. Certainly thinking about other little ones I know, this seems to have been the case.

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