"Late" Walkers?

[futurity]

My ds is 15 months and not walking. Crawls for England and crusies alot and will push his walker if persuaded but still seems along way off walking. Apparently me and my dh both walked at 15 months (what a coinicedence!) so I sort of expected that ds would be along those lines but all his baby friends have been walking for months now and I wonder will he ever get there!!

Just wanted to hear from other Mums of later walkers as I only ever hear from people who say "oh my cousins friend walked at 2 years but my child walked at 10 months!" and that really annoys me!!

Futurity - I asked a question along these lines on behalf of a friend. Her ds is 14 months and she was getting a bit worried about him not walking. I had lots of positive feedback and the title of the thread was Comparing Children - does anyone else have this problem. I'm sure you'll get lots of responses to this as well but thought you might like to see that others have walked much later.

Don't worry though. Why walk if you can crawl.

My dd is now coming up for 17 months and is still not walking and to me, seems to be a long long way from doing so. She bottom shuffles and it is murder on her clothes.

futurity - my dd didn't walk until almost 16 months - she was such a good crawler that she didnt have any need. I of course was paranoid New Mum of the Year - visions of her crawling to primary school, but later discovered all my family were late walkers. Ds is now almost 15 months and has no desire to walk - even less than dd did I think as he is not even making any effort, he also is an excellent crawler and can do everything he wants to without crawling - can even push the brick trolley along (you know, the ones they are supposed to walk with) with his head or on 3 limbs while pushing it with one hand.
The only blood relation of their generation, a cousin of mine's wee boy, was exactly the same. Our family just don't walk very early.
Now dd is past 3 and you would never tell - put her beside a peer who walked at 10 months and there is no difference!

Susanmt: DS is also an expert at crawling whilst pushing the brick trolley!

My DS started walking at about 20 months, he started crawling about 18 months, he was just a contented child and decided he would do it in his own time. I was a little concerned, but the HV said he was very good talker and they usually concentrate on one thing.

My Ds is only 5 months so this one awaits me but my sister's dd is also 15 months and does not appear to be the slightest bit interested in walking. She is a very cautious child and takes her time and carefully assesses each situation, but she is very bright and content. My sister can't wait for her to walk and spends her time worrying over it as all her friends children were walking from 11 mnths+. At the end of the day you can get hung up on comparisons.

Walking?!!! Try crawling!!! DD is my fourth child (so should I know better...) and at exactly 12 months is.....sitting. Perfectly still... I do worry, so you never learn, do you!

My dd will be 18 months in a couple of weeks and I despaired of her ever walking but she did 2 or 3 steps a couple of weeks ago, and then took off on Wednesday last week - looks so cute and proud of herself. All her friends have been walking for months but I guess they all catch up in their own time. I have to agree with you futurity - it is really annoying when people ask if baby is walking yet etc...

My ds is 14.5 months & isn't walking either. He's been crusising for ages, & likes walking either holding onto our hands or pushing his truck, but seems to have no desire to do it himself. Apparently he can chase the cat quite fast enough when crawling... I didn't walk 'til 18 months, so I'm not worrying, but it is a bit frustrating, I agree with you, futurity. Guess we'll all just have to be patient. Not my thing at ALL!

My dd1 crawled at 15 months and walked at 20 months. It will happen, just enjoy- and think of the money you are saving on shoes.

I have to agree that babies seem to concentrate on one thing at a time. I had a wee party the other day as my dd is 1 year. She is walking but 3 of her friends aren't. Two of them (also 1 year) sat and worked out puzzles, concentrated on books and happily played with toys. Something my dd could not be bothered to do as she is too busy exploring aimlessly (as my friend so nicely put it!) The other baby who is 15 months has very good language skills. So I do believe they find what they are good at and do that. I expect my dd to be able to sit still and read and do puzzles and talk at some point and I expect these babies will walk! Hope that doesn't come across as patronising - it isn't meant to be.

Just under 17 months and for several months she was really pissed off she couldn't do it (and used to push all the furniture around). Now, 8 weeks or so later, she's a whirlwind. They get it when they get it.

My daughter didn't crawl until after her first bday and she didn't walk until she was 19 months properly. I was a late walker, I think it's genetic! She was more advanced in speech than some other children though, I think they tend to concentrate on different areas.

It isn't judgemental just because people ask if your child is walking yet. I ask because I'm nosy and next time someone says they're worried about their child walking late I can say, hand on heart, "I've met or heard of X many children who walked late and they are all fine."

Babies in my family walk early, those in DH's family talk late. So far, my kids follow both trends.

When my DS wasn't walking at 14 months a friend of mine said that she would rather her son had been late than early (walked at just 9 months) ... She said that although he could walk he didn't have the spatial awareness yet to stop before steps etc so her DS was constantly tripping over things and down the step from the dining room into the kitchen and so was constantly covered in bruises!
When my DS did walk he would stop at a step, get down on his hands and knees, turn backwards and reverse before he got up again ... bless!

My ds started walking at 11 months. I always thought babies started walking at about a year old but a child development book I read listed walking under 15 months and so does the Miriam Stoppard baby and childcare book. Mine doesn't clap his hands or talk very well though. I think they do things when they want to and develop at different ages. We can't be good at everything as adults so we can't expect babies to do everything.

My dd1 didn't crawl until 15months and didn't walk until 18!! She is now a very healthy, normal 13year old! No worries.

My ds took his first unaided steps at 15 months, but was such a good crawler that he preferred crawling until 18 months. He is now 21 months, and a brilliant walker. He is still not talking though, which worries me. However, as people keep telling me, they are all different. I know that his understanding is excellent, and he always manages to get his thoughts and wants across in one way or another.

I suppose that I should be glad to postpone the'Why?' phase for as long as possible!

A little girl I recently minded bottom shuffled til she was 22 months. Aged 2 she was walking fine! Don't worry! (But it is hard on our backs!).

My DS is 11 months and will not crawl. He does walk if he has fingers to hold but he wants this all the time. My back is murder at the moment. My only concern is that he screams blue murder if I put him on his back or tummy. He does not try to roll or even pull himself to a sitting position, he just screams until I pick him up.Does this sound familiar to anyone?

DS2 has just satrted walking this weekend at 15 months. Seems early to me as ds1 was 17 months.

Chinchilla- if he's pointing out things of interest (by which I mean does something like point at a car/cat/whatever and look at you then look back at object- called protodeclarative pointing) then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. It's very obvious if it's missing. DS2 doesn't say anything approaching a word- he doesn't have enough speech sounds yet really- but he points at everything all day long. I have absolutely no worries at all about his speech- if I had even a slight concern I would be banging on the SALTs door by now. DS1 did the opposite - talked between 7 months and 15 months (before stopping). Probably said about 50 words- some very clear indeed- I remember daddy was very clear by 11 months. But he very very rarely pointed, and he's the autistic one. With ds2 I watched him like a hawk as he apporached pointing age, had a paranoid week or two before he started, but have relaxed totally now. Honestly the age of actual talking is pretty irrelevant to language and social development. So try not to worry.

I am so pleased I started this thread as was starting to get quite low about his walking. It has been good to read that ds isn't the only keen crawler!

Three of mine walked at about 14 mths and the fourth, an expert bum-shuffler, was 15mths. My first actually took three steps when he was just over a year, but he promptly fell down, cut open his eye and had to have three stitches!! He didn't bother try again for a number of weeks, just carried on safely cruising.

Both of mine started at about 17 months. I suppose it is a bit late, but not massively, and so what??

Friends I know with early walkers found their kids got into more scrapes as they were less aware of danger. They're more sensible & less dangerous at 17 months.

Plus, I found early walkers are often unsteady for quite a while, whereas both of mine were very steady in just a couple of weeks.

My first only learnt to walk about 3-4 weeks before my 2nd was born, so I was getting pretty nervous!

I am finding the fact that my 17 month old doesn't walk a pain. Aside from the fact that she weighs a tonne, as a bottom shuffler she is destroying vast quantities of trousers and sleepsuits, particularly now that we are spending a lot of time outside. Even inside, floors are often dirty or rough.