Late walkers

[deste]

What age before you become concerned your child is not walking. 17 month old, huge vocabulary so is developing in every way but but not walking. Can stand holding on but sits down when we try to encourage walking. We thought she would be walking for Christmas but now we have changed that to Easter. We are not concerned at the moment but she is the only one in her nursery room not walking.

Have you consulted the hv/gp?

18 months I think is the back end of what is typical. If she's talking lots then I wouldn't be massively worried as she's probably just been giving that her all. Does she stand unsupported yet? I taught my LO to do this by standing her up in the middle of a room and 'tricking' her into clapping. Once she realised she could do that the walking followed fairly soon after. Try not to let her know you want her to walk too badly though or she'll do everything in her power NOT to if she's anything like my dd I suspect she's just not walking coz she's got nowhere to go yet from what you said but contact your HV or see your GP if she's still not in a few weeks x

She will stand near something, ie sofa but not in the middle of the room. Not seen HV for a while so if she is still not walking in a couple of weeks we should maybe give her a call.

It is quite late, to be honest. Most are quite steady at eighteen months but others catch up generally. I think you need to bypass the health visitor and make a GP appointment with referral to a paediatrician as your goal. That’s not to suggest it’s a real problem but to ensure the conditions that are a real problem are ruled out. There are many causes apart from global delay. An ability to talk doesn’t mean their isn’t a gross motor issue. Could be a missed hip problem or similar.
Sooner you seek advice the sooner you can be reassured.

My DS walked at 18 months. Hes now 5 years old and is not a huge fan of running or physical stuff in general. Looking back I think he just couldnt be bothered to walk and was content to crawl. Hes always been a very unboisterous child and is more into Lego and that sort of thing than physical activity. Although he loves swimming and cycling but has definitely been slower to pick these up than his peers.

DD2 was 16 months. At 15 months she’d walk holding my hand but drop to the floor without it. She was a bum shuffler so never crawled. She’s 16 now.

My husband didn't walk until 18 months. My 15 month old seens to be following suit as he didn't even bear weight until he was a year old! They're both hypermobile which typically causes delays.

Literally just yesterday though our son started taking steps to get between us. It happened very suddenly. So you might get an unexpected surprise any day now!

My BIL was 2! He’s a very normal gym-going,marathon running guy now.

Yes it's not necessarliy indicative of anything particularly if it's within the typical timelines. One of my nieces didn't walk til 15MO. Pretty good physically and very strong at gymnastics for.a while. The other took off at 10MO.... ditsiest kid ever. Would trip over her own shadow and still can't ride a bike at age 9! It doesn't really mean much providing there isn't an underlying cause

Mine were both 18/19 months so I suspect it will be imminent. First one was seeing a physio because some stiffness was picked up when he was ill in hospital at a young age. Now fully signed off but with a suspected mild hypermobility.

They both have very bendy legs and are quite weak for age. Nothing which stops them from normal activities but I don’t envisage either of them winning any gold medals on sports day!

She has an appointment for next Friday at the GP and this AM the health visitor phoned saying there had been a mix up in her appointments and the baby should have had an assessment in December. My DD pointed out that she still wasn’t walking yet so she said if she got to 18 months and still not walking they would investigate but they will check her out.

My boy is 21months and he’s still not walking ☹️
Going to see the paediatrician tomorrow, anyone have any idea what to expect at the appointment?

My DD was a late walker but she has hypermobility in many joints. She walked at just over 16 months.

@Q0118 I have no advice in afraid but would you mind posting back to let us know how it goes? Thanks and good luck!

surreygirl1987 Hi, just thought I’d let you know how I got on at the app, the paediatrician has decided to give it another two months and hopefully my DS will start walking by then, meanwhile he took bloods to check for any deficiencies, still awaiting the results as it could take a week or so, if results show any deficiencies then doc said he would prescribe DS with some medication which may hopefully help. Will be seeing the paediatrician again in two months time so they can decide further what to do next if DS still isn’t walking. Fingers crossed he’s walking by then.

Well done for posting back.It helps others searching in the future. Hopefully your little one will take off very soon. I remember getting DD1 to walk because she was desperate for my purse, so I stood a few feet away and offered it to her. She shuffled a couple of steps before falling but that was the start. Good luck.

@q0118 thanks so much for posting back and best of luck!