Delayed gross motor skills

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My DC is 18 months old and not walking. I'm really worried about it as he is now delayed. I'm trying to do everything I can to get him walking, as is his nursery. He will walk holding someone's hands or if someone is supporting him under the arms. He is becoming very 'opinionated' in that if he doesn't want to do something, he won't. If he's walking holding hands, he will plonk himself down as soon as he wants to. Sometimes, he won't walk (supported) at all and will arch his back and shout if you try to set him on his feet.
I'm really struggling with how to approach this now, as he's clearly capable of it but won't. The HV made me feel like a terrible parent and wants to see him again soon to check up on it.
Any ideas please? I'm trying my hardest.

P.s. his gross motor skills are coming along, just not very fast. He has recently started pulling himself up in the last 2 months and climbing in the last month.
He was also tummy crawling for a long time and has only recently started proper crawling

My DS didn't take his first independent steps until 17 months and didn't start walking fully until 18 (nearly 19 months). At 18 months you should be referred to a physio as they routinely test all boys who haven't taken steps by 18 months for muscular dystrophy.

I was told by the physio though that it's totally "normal" for some babies, especially boys, to be this late! I get your frustration though as my DS was similar to yours and was opinionated in not wanting to do it. He will get there, although it doesn't feel like it now!

My husband didn't walk until 18 months. He had hypermobility, as does our 10 month old. Has this been ruled out?

My Ds didn't walk until 19 months. No one was concerned; as I understood it they don't consider it delayed unless they are 2 or older?

@surrygirl1987 - no, no-one has even suggested it.

@kateTTC123 - I had thought it was 18 months. If it's 2 years then that's good.

Somewhat reassuring to hear he's not the only one.

My DS had gross motor delay and for the longest time scored zero in each ages and stages questionnaire. In brief he did the following at these ages:
Rolling 8.5 months
Sitting unaided 8.5 months
Commando crawling 9 months
Crawling on all 4s 14 months
Pull to stand 14 months
Stand unaided 20/21 months
Walking 21/22 months (and he took a long time to really walk full time).
He is now 2.5 and has caught up completely and is in the white zone in the ages and stages for the first time ever.

However, I would strongly advise you to see your doctor and health visitor. Our doctor told us that with walking there is a narrow window of opportunity when you want to implement intervention if it’s needed. We were given an urgent referral after my son turned to to see a paediatrician. The appointment is 10 months after the initial referral was made! Luckily, he has caught up so I don’t think we have anything to worry about, but if there was, a timescale of 10 months could’ve had a really negative impact. Don’t be afraid to push for further investigation.

Good luck.

I would get him checked out for hypermobility

My daughter didn’t walk until nearly 2, she was super delayed with sitting, crawling, etc too. Interestingly her fine motor skills were excellent, she spent all her time playing with stuff close up. I went back and to to the doctors and they talked about scary things but in the end it turned out she was blind as a bat the poor thing!! Her eyesight was so poor she didn’t develop proper spatial/depth awareness therefore it must have been confusing for her to try and walk unaided!

She got glasses at about 18 months old and it completely changed her life, she walked at 22/23 months and had caught up to all her peers by about 2 and a half. There was no way of telling there was anything wrong with her eyes she always seemed to look at me/watch tv/ recognise people, etc but I suppose she didn’t know any different!

It’s a long shot but might be worth getting his eyes checked? Xx

Ps my son didn’t walk until about 18 months either but there was nothing wrong with him he was just lazy!!! Typical boy! Xx