Refusing to walk

[EverydayFeelsLikeAMonday]

DS has just turned 16 months, he's been able to walk between things and to people since December. The problem is he just refuses to walk all of the time because he gets around quicker crawling. We try and encourage him to walk as much as possible, he has push along toys that offer no support, push walkers and we've just got him shoes in the hope he'd walk.
Is there anything else we can do to encourage him? Should I be concerned or just leave him to it? He's getting too heavy

He is at the outer end of the age range for walking unaided. I wouldn’t panic as some wait until 17 months and he sounds like his nearly there but reduce carrying him indoors.
Have you spoken to your health visitor or GP just to,check there isn’t an underlying problem? I think it would be worth doing so. Health visitors tend to be better at child development than GPs but GP can check his hips, neurological function etc. I’d probably speak with both.

If he’s able to walk and just choosing not to I doubt there’s an underlying problem. He’s just (sensibly) choosing the quickest way to get around, which is crawling at this point. It sounds like you’re doing all the right things to encourage him, just carry on and he’ll get the hang of it soon.

Don't worry! I posted a similar message a few weeks ago after my son turned 16 months and wasn't walking yet.

And lo and behold... the weekend after my post he took one step. A week later he did five steps or so in a row. Another weekend later he was running.... in the wrong direction, constantly! He is unstoppable now. Once they get it, they get it! And the older they are, the quicker they will get it properly! My first DS started walking at 1 year, but it took him two months to walk with confidence.

My dd was a similar age when she finally walked consistently. It just seemed like it was around the corner for so long that although I felt rationally that her development was fine, I found it hard not to worry when most others were walking around us. But she got there fine. And if any consolation, I think she used the time to focus more on language and speaks much more at 2 than a lot of her peers. They can't learn everything at the same time.