Nearly 19mo and still not walking...

[minko]

I'm not sure when to get concerned about DS. He comes from a family of late walkers (his sister 17mo, me 18mo, my sister 19mo). But whilst he makes slow progress - cruising about etc. he's still nowhere near walking. He's very big and heavy which can't help!

Whilst he's still making slow progress I'm not too worried but is there anything I should be doing..?

Hi sometimes you can support the sort of stepping reflexes babies need to walk by lightly tickling the soles of the feet: on his back when his legs are straight he should "withdraw" i.e bend his knee and pull his foot away from you; and then when his legs are bent he should "extend" i.e straighten his knee and push his foot towards you.

Hi Minko, my dd is also nearly 19 months and not walking yet. Its frustrating isn't it for them and you! I am certainly getting a very muscly arm from carrying her around all the time. I walked at 17 months and so did her dad, but our first daughter walked at 14 months.

I'm not really concerned about her as she was late sitting up (11mths) and late crawling (14mths) so I think its just her. But I do look at her and think she is getting a bit big to just crawl! My DH is making it his mission to get her to walk this week. She understands "stand up" so she stands unaided at arms length in front of him and then falls forward but takes a couple of steps as she's doing so. She thinks its a great game and I think its helping her with her balance. She's quite tall with small feet so I don't think that helps. She is frustrated when we are out though and she sees her sister running about all over the place, so for her sake I hope she manages it soon.

Just one thing that can help, or so a physion told me, is ride on toys where their feet can touch the ground. It helps them get the idea of moving their feet alternately and move forward. My dd loves hers and it means she can keep up with her sister at home. Other than that its patience I think. I do understand your frustration though. I think if my dd isn't walking by 20 months I might pop into the HV just to talk to someone if nothing else!!

My little boy did not walk until he was nearly 20 months. He had physio for 18 months because his tendons were too tight and wehn he learnt to walk he could only walk on tiptoe.

Unless there is an underlying problem I am not sure there is a lot you can do. They walk when they are ready. Its a matter of brain development.

Our physio gave us stretching exercises for my son's tendons and he had orthoric inserts.
With my son I think it was a matter of temperment rather than anything else. He hates taking any kind of risk.

Now at the age of six his physical development is in line with that of his peers.

My dd1 was nearly 21 months when she finally walked - way behind all of her local peers. She was a bum-shuffler until then - never crawled. Once she did start walking though, there was no stopping her and she quickly became a champion walker - going long distances and completely rejecting the buggy.

DD2 was slighly more advanced and walked at 16 months, having crawled first.

Just them all being different, I guess.