Has anyone been in a similar situation and it been all OK?

[RebeccaTee]

Hi all!
I am really worried about my baby. She is 16 months and shows, literally no interest in walking. Everytime we stand her up, she sits down. She occasionally will stand with her bottom out, if we physically put her in that position. It took her about 11 months to sit up unaided (she's completely fine with that now). She gets around by commando crawling. She engages with us, knows her name very well and is very expressive etc. It's just so upsetting/deflating to see babies that are younger than her doing more. We've got our first physio appointment coming up so we are receiving support, it's just I have just not seen another baby with a similar ability to her so am just wondering if anyone can relate and give me some positivity/tips of how we can support her with this? I'm thinking she may have low muscle tone but some stories you see online can be scary. It's also the fact that she grows quite slowly. She has only just started wearing 12-18 month clothes and I'm rolling them up. I just want her to be OK. Any stories/advice much appreciated!

I've not been in that situation no but thought I'd give you a hopeful bump.

Have you been referred to a Paediatrician yet OP?

Hi CandyEastman

No we haven't but we were referred to a child care nurse who did a few sessions with us and she wasn't concerned. She said she's just doing things in her own time. We've been waiting on physio for a while now.

It's good you're on the list for physio.

For the growth, is she following her line (roughly), or dropping? How tall are you and her father (and what were you like as babies, there can be family patterns beyond just adult height)?

I'd also say that toddler clothing sizes are a bit weird. 12-18 months is 80-86 cm in height. A girl has to be on the 98th centile to actually be 80 cm at 12 months (or 86 cm at 18). The average toddler girl is 80 cm at 17-18 months. A lot of babies and toddlers obviously have a bit of baby fat, so outgrow stuff a bit sooner, but if you have a slimmer toddler, they almost always are 'behind' in clothing sizes, unless they are really, really tall for their age. It evens out by about 4, where the average height child actually outgrows 3-4 clothes around their 4th birthday.

i can only offer advice in terms of walking but even though it seems late, many babies will just do it at their own pace, each child is different but I totally understand it can be upsetting seeing other babies reaching these milestones. If you haven’t already I’d recommend getting some prewalker shoes from Clark’s as due to the soft bendy but grippy soles these can encourage walking especially when worn around the house as if gives baby a little more stability

I know it must be stressful and scary for you but sending hugs and I hope you get an answer soon and all is okay x

DD only sat up at around ten months (independently from lying down to sitting) and crawled around 11 months. She pulled to stand for the first time at heart 13 months, and then cruised a bit and walked at around 16/17 months. I think nursery also put a lot of effort in to it.
Now she is four, super active running and jumping and hopping. No issues walking. She is still a little unsure going down stairs but not to the point that it is a concern. I suspect she may be a bit hyper mobile but as she was within her milestone targets no one tested her / I had no traction.
She had a really high weight centile (98th I think) before she walked (she has come down a lot to the 75th ish now that she is older) and I've always wondered if that played a part.

Oh to add to that, her height centile was under 50 and her legs were shorter too (I think she was in size 2-3 tops but joggers were 12-18 for ages (I had to buy boys as they were more generous cut but had the right length).
She's in age related sizes now mostly, although grows out of tops before legs.
She looks completely in proportion though.

Mine walked in his 18's month- and then walked for 2min straight. I was like you- very very worried and people just said that he will do things in his own time. They were right.. I got him one of those little wagons that they can push- a montessori thingy? After a while he got the hang of it and loved running with it. Just didn't walk by himself. Until one day he let go and just walked. I hope it will happen for you soon as well! Oh, BTW he then proceeded to not walk anywhere else but at home or at creche for a month or so