Lazy DD or lazy mummy? Should I be forcing issue?

[Blundermum]

Hi, my DD is 18 months now and showing no signs of pulling herself up or walking.
She bottom shuffles and if I put her in a walker she will move around a bit but thats it.
I'm unsure of what to do because if I hold her up she may stand for a few seconds but will soon grumble and if I persevere she will cry.
Some people have told me its normal but personally I don't know any other LO's of this age not walking.
Please tell me; is it my fault for not practising with her enough or will it come in time?
She is a lovely happy baby and appears to be quite bright even though speech isn't that advanced yet either.

Oh no, I don't think I 'practised' with either of mine, they just did it. As to whether it's normal or not I wouldn't know (mine with both walking with different degrees of success at about 12 months) but I'm sure it is absolutely fine. The usual applies I think about all children getting to the same point eventually but if you are worried HV/GP I suppose?

you can't force it

can she weight bear?

does she crawl?

my DS didn't walk until 17 months and i know of plenty of others who were nearer to 2 years old when they walked

milestones are avergae - some will hit them bang on, some later and some earlier

if you have any concerns you should speak to your HV or GP

She does not crawl, she can weight bear but obviously doesnt want to! {grin]
I have spoken to HV and she suggested that I should be practising more, hence my concerns about whether its my fault.

OOps

how are you meant to practise?

if it is any consolation, my DS basically got up and walked one day - i nearly fainted when i went to pick him up from nursery and he toddled towards me

weight bearing is a good sign

I think it is very common for bottom shufflers to be later to walk as they can see as much as if they were walking, crawlers try to walk because they get sick of looking at the floor, I wouldnt push it. Both dds walked by 14 months but ds was a bottom shuffler and was much later.

Good Lord go out and buy some leg calipers now and force that child to walk

If they shuffle toward something why would they need to walk??? My ds2 almost missed the crawling stage and walked at 10 months, not so great when they have no idea of danger.

The only suggestion I have is to put stuff on the sofa so that she stands up but can hold onto something. She may plop back down but I have no idea how you force a baby to walk.

Ds1 learnt to walk, fell over too many times for himself and went back to crawling for a while!

Ds2 learnt to stand up at the sofa as his big brother used to put all his toys on the sofa out of the way as he didn't want to share!

I know 5 children who bottom-shuffled and walked late and never crawled. One was taken to a specialist at about 18 mo but she is absolutely fine. It just seems to be how some kids prefer to do it.

Had to reply to you Blundermum, as 3 yrs ago was in exactly same situation.

DD1 was a bottom shuffler and didn't walk till she was about 22 months (I think - I know when we went to France at about 21 months she wasn't walking - just weight bearing occasionally, but by 2nd birthday was walking confidently)

I worried about it so much and it feels like every other child in the world is walking - tried everything but in the end she just did it when she was ready.

Have treated DD2 just the same - but she crawled and has just started walking at 15 months. Don't mean to stress you with that - just to point out that even with same treatment, encouragement etc they do it when they're ready.

Enjoy it while you can - DD1 was alot easier to contain and control - understood boundaries more by the time she walked. This one is a nightmare!

Rubyslippers I think 'practise' is just a less harsh way of saying force the issue and do it regardless of whether or not she cries!
Bloody hitler HV's!

Thank you all for your advice, I'm on my way out to buy some calipers...do they sell them in Mothercare?!

actually, it may be worth just asking someone to have a look at her joints- just in case she does need support

I was very laidback about dd not walking until 19 months, but in actual fact it was due to joint trouble and she is now disabled

her life until the age of 7 would have been a lot easier if she had been diagnosed in time, and she would have been spared a lot of pain

so with hindsight, I wish I hadn't just dismissed it

(also wish I had kept an eye on ds' joints and the things he wasn't able to do: found out after several years that he thought it was normal for people to be in pain when they held things like pens and cutlery so he'd never thought to mention it)

My friend's daughter was a bottom shuffler too and didnt walk at all till 2.1.Friend is a nurse and her dh a doctor they say it was because bottom shufflers,unlike crawlers.are upright and can see in front when they get about so they dont have same incentive to walk.They did have her checked at 18months though.

I agree with cory.
some children have loose joints which makes it very frightening to move about, as if they're walking on ice. a couple of friends of mine have had this problem with their DC. better to have it checked out, ask your doc to refeer you to a physiotherapist, HV's generaly don't pick up on it.

I also think you should probably mention it to the doctor and get her checked out - not so much for the walking as the reluctance to weight-bear. at HV for suggesting it's your fault - practising???