Talk to me about your late walkers please

[UnderTheDesk]

DD is 17 months and still not walking. She crawls and cruises, and will toddle if I hold her hands, but still hasn't mastered putting one foot in front of the other independently.

I'm starting to get a bit concerned. She's very tall and consequently heavier than most other kids her age, but I'm not worried about her weight - she's been on more or less the same curve since she was born.

Mine got there eventually.

BUT if you are concerned then go and talk to your GP/HV and get her checked out.

Thanks Beka. Can I ask how old yours was he/she walked?

We have a paed check-up in mid-Sept anyway so I'll speak to her then if we don't see any progress before then.

I think one was 18 months, the other was probably 20 months. They both bottom shuffled.

Yes, she bottom shuffled too. ThanksBeka, that's quite reassuring.

My youngest was 27 months before you could say she properly walked. We ended up bringing her to physio to help her along. She is still at 5 not the best at climbing up and down stairs but is a happy adjusted girl in other ways. Her sister started about about 21 months and her brother about 19 months so we had a house of late walkers.

Mine was exactly like yours at 17 months, then dead on 18 months he toddled off down the path and that was it, he could walk perfectly. I swear he's been practising in secret!!

Mine have always been late walkers, DS1 17 months, DD1 19 months, DD2 and DS2 both 16 months.

Once they got going they didn't stop. We did get a referral for DD1 as the HV thought she might have a tight achilles heel but before we got to the appointment she started walking fine.

My daughter is currently got me worried too, she's almost 22 months and will cruise, pull up and walk with her dolls pram and with one finger but she will just not take the plunge to independent walking, we've had some years including MRI as her birth was traumatic! Blood tests and also a check for CP! Which were all clear, the only thing the physio says is some low muscle tone and hypermobility in ankles and knees! She is also very pigeon toed! Is there anyone who has any has had any experience with hypermobility and were your toddlers late tot walk etc!? Thanks in advance

DS cruised at 14m, crawled at 15m and took first steps at 15m. He went from very first step to walking round the house within six weeks. It will happen, and when it does it will happen quickly.

Try not to worry but get advice from a doctor if you feel you need to know everything is ok.

Anyone got a late walker who was earlyish on other gross motor skills?

DS2 is 15.5 months. He sat at four months, crawled properly at seven months. He was pulling to stand pretty quickly and could cruise but didn't. He does cruise now, and climb (including the ladder up to DS1's bunk bed ) but is uninterested in walking holding hands or pushing things along. He occasionally stands unaided for a couple of seconds.

I know 15.5 months isn't 'late' but the huge gap between learning to crawl and learning to walk/the very slow pace of development in this area is beginning to concern me a bit.

One of my twins walked at 16 months and it didn't take her long to catch up. By 18 months she was walking up a 6 foot slide (the actual slidey bit) and she could swim unaided by 2.8. She will get there :)

UnderTheDesk is she advanced in other ways?
My DD2 is 14.5mo (so not an outlier but at the older end of 'usual'), and not walking. She crawled at 7m, was cruising by 9m, and has managed to stand unaided from around 12m. She's a fantastic climber unfortunately. She pushes DD1's light-weight easy-to-topple doll's pushchair around without bother, and will stand dancing (wobbling side to side) in the middle of the room so she clearly has the strength and coordination but just will not walk. She's not fussed and seems to be concentrating her efforts on speaking: she's been saying the odd two word sentences like "get down", "what dat", "dat mine" and longer words like "blackberries" for around 6 weeks, which is far in advance of her sister at the same age. A friend's DD didn't walk until she was 18m but was/is very advanced with speech so I'm thinking a similar thing is happening with DD2?

My DS didn't take his first steps until 17 months and was almost 19 months by the time he was walking to get places instead of crawling. It is a worry, but it seems to not be unusual at all. He was crawling at 11 months and pulling to stand at 13 months, cruising at 14 months so he was on the late side with those gross motor skills. He has excellent fine motor skills though, from early on, and at 20 months I'd say he has at least 70 words if not more!

My tips would be to actively encourage your dd, I think DS would've been even later if we hadn't started encouraging him to walk everywhere holding our hand instead of crawling, and standing him up on his own to teach him balance.

skankingpiglet is she advanced in other ways?

Um, not so you'd notice, no. She's got about 10-15 words, but she is being raised bilingually so I'm not expecting her to be advanced in communication at this stage.
Her fine motor skills seem to be ok - she can use a spoon to feed herself, for example, but I wouldn't say she's particularly advanced in that area either.

She has lots of teeth, though. Maybe she's been too busy teething to think about walking?

Thank you for the reassurance, ladies. I will keep encouraging her and see where that gets us, and talk to the Doc when we see her.