Is it normal/common for a nine month old to show no interest in getting about?

[Fraz]

My daughter Alice is nine months old and has just had her 8 month check up which she passed. However the health visitor put alot of emphasis on the fact she doesn't try to take her weight yet on her legs. She shows no interest in trying to crawl etc and i was wondering if this was a common thing at her age. Most parents i speak to have younger children who are all over the place.

My son is 9 months old and doesn't crawl at all. Admittely he does put the weight on his legs but he is perfectly happy to sit and watch the world go by. Out of all his baby friends he is very "behind" in that they are crawling..standing..and 1 is even trying to walk. I do worry about ds but have been told by loads of people that some babies never crawl and they all end up running around together eventually. I would be interested to hear from others as well about non-moving babies and when they finally got round to it!

My friend's son didn't start crawling until he was 13+ months. He was walking within a month of starting to crawl. I think he just wasn't curious enough to need to crawl places. He was happy playing with the toys around him. It certainly was no reflection of his motor skills or anything else of that sort...he is now as physically able as my son who started crawling early. Consider yourself lucky if your child isn't crawling yet...it's a nightmare babyproofing everything.

Please, please, please don't worry. In my experience it's perfectly normal for children to do everything at different times (and equally normal for parents to worry). Neither of my children were that quick to take their weight on their legs. My daughter was about 10 months - others around were already walking, my son nearer a year. If you tried to stand him up he'd just pull his legs up under him. He's now almost 15 months and scoots everywhere crawling and can walk about six steps. My dd walked at 13 months. Both your babies are still very very small - give them time and enjoy this time of immobility - it's much harder work when they do get moving!

Fraz, I really wouldn't worry yet. My mum tells how I walked at 10 months but my little brother didn't walk until 21 months - she took him to the doctor because she was convinced there was something seriously wrong with him. There was nothing wrong (he went on to play hockey for his county under-18s), he was just one of those babies who was happy to sit back and spectate.

Blimey, you'd think health visitors would know better by now! (Unless she's a new one.) They must see such a vast range of ages at each stage (or vice versa.)

Fraz, my dd2 just sat until she was 12 months (crawled for the first time on her 1st birthday in fact) and didn't walk until she was 19 months.

If I were you I would make the most of the time when she doesn't move, because when she does start you will look back with longing to the time when she wasn't "all over the place"!

Fraz, I agree with everyone else, don't worry. When your children are as small as Alice then it seems dreadfully important that a twelve month old is doing more than a nine month old as if the three months should make such a difference. From my experience each month is not that important and by the time they are 18 to 24 months old all children are as mobile as each other. It is really difficult to stop yourself from comparing what children of different ages are doing from month to month but please don't worry about it.

Haven't read any other replies - sorry - pushed for time, but just to let you know my ds (no. 2) could only just about sit up at 9 months - a little girl we saw every week was walking at that age. He didn't walk till 17 months, but was then really confident very quickly.

I was especially worried as I was always under the impression that 2nd children did things quicker.

Anyway, don't worry, she'll be terrifying the life out of you before you know it.

Altho' DS would take his weight OK he didn't crawl until about 14 months and he'd been walking for 6 weeks by then. The thing that prompted crawling was that he couldn't get himself up off the floor when he fell over so would crawl over to the furniture to pull himself up and set off again! He first pulled himself up on the furniture (well me actually) on his 1st birthday but was several months before he decided he could do it from the floor. This was obviously psychological for some time because he could pull himself up off the doormat but not off the carpet!

But like Monkey says once he got going he has been very steady - ie didn't bother trying until he could do it IYSWIM. At 20 months yesterday he learnt how to climb onto the settee for the first time so he's still not the most agile of children but he is getting there.