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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

did you encourage walking or just let it happen naturally?

15 replies

booyhoo · 09/07/2010 14:19

ds is almost 14 months and has been 'cruising'(hate that term, dont know why) for the last 5 months. he has occasionally stood for a very few seconds without support but so far is happy walking round the furniture and crawling. i haven't been encouraging him to walk by holding his hands up and letting him move forwards. but i am just wondering if i should be doing it. i did do it with ds1 and he walked at 13 months. should i try it or just let him try in his own time? neither of them had walkers.

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ILikeToMoveItMoveIt · 09/07/2010 14:23

I didn't encourage walking and ds done it all by himself.

He crawled at 10 months and walked a week after his first birthday. He had a brick trolley but wasn't worried by it and he never showed any interest in walking whilst being supported by me.

Chil1234 · 09/07/2010 14:25

I have a video clip at home of me 'bribing' my son to walk by holding a digestive biscuit just out of reach!! He's so intent on getting the biscuit that he lets go of the furniture and totters towards it I think a bit of encouragement can be a lot of fun and part of normal play.

thisisyesterday · 09/07/2010 14:27

i never encouraged any of mine and they walked at 8.5months, 9.5 months and 10.5 motnhs!

Original poster

booyhoo · 09/07/2010 14:28

see if i held out a biscuit ds would just drop and crawl. fastest route to the treasure!!

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mrsjuan · 09/07/2010 14:30

Interested to see the replies to this. DD is coming up for 14 months and not really showing much inclination to walk any time soon! She can push her vtech walker thing along fine and does a bit of cruising but as soon as I try to hold he hands and help her she just collapses in a heap.

My theory is that she wants to do it by herself and doesn't want any help so she'll wait until she can do it perfectly.

I'd really like her to be walking soon as I'm sure she'd enjoy life a lot more!

mrsjuan · 09/07/2010 14:31

booy - DD would do exactly the same

CMOTdibbler · 09/07/2010 14:34

Someone on here recommended a toy pushchair - they have the comfort of holding something, but it doesn't actually support them.

Seemed to help DS who was cruising for months and months

Bobbalina · 09/07/2010 14:37

I think that most folk encourage their kids then wonder why they did it once they are walking as they can get into a whole lot more trouble...

Walking can be a competitive milestone, but frankly walking later means they have a bit more sense by the time that are walking which I think is a good thing!

loves2walk · 09/07/2010 14:38

I can't see the point in doing anything other than playing type encouragement. They all have their own timescale for walking and it's best not to fret about it.

My DS1 walked at 12 months, DS2 at 18 months!

DS2 is now at 5 yrs old, by far the most co-ordinated, sporty little chap you could see, runs really well, loves physical activity. At 16/17 months I was really worried about him not walking but fortunately I didn't see GP or ask for a referral or anything as I think that would have raised the concern of the whole family - he just did it when he was ready. 18 months of carrying him though was a bit hard on my back!

Original poster

booyhoo · 09/07/2010 14:41

he has a brick trolley but doesn't try and push it round he just lifts the bricks in and out.

i think i will just leave him to it, he will do it when he is ready. he knows his own legs and balance better than i do.

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UnseenAcademicalMum · 09/07/2010 14:42

A brick trolley helped my two. You've got nothing to worry about if your ds is not walking at 14 months though. DS1 didn't start walking till 16 months, ds2 started at a year. Some just don't "get it" till later. DS1 (now aged 5) is very cautious in his approach to lots of things and won't try until he is certain he will do it perfectly straight away. He just had the same attitude to walking and that's fine!

PirateJelly · 09/07/2010 14:47

I second what CMOT just said about a toy pushchair, ds has been cruising since 7/8 months (now 14m) and although he would stand and take the odd step he didn't seem bothered about walking.

Bought him a toy pushchair (just because he is obsessed with them) last week and it was like bingo! and he just started walking, because he would push the pushchair about and it offered no support at all so he gained his balance and confidence and now he's walking about 60% of the time. Oh and for what it's worth i tried encouraging him in other ways but he would just crawl to me and normal baby walkers didn't help at all. HTH

mrsjuan · 09/07/2010 15:16

Ooh - am resisting the temptation to go and buy a toy pushchair straight away!

I will give it a go at toddlers next week

PirateJelly · 09/07/2010 15:58

Go get one Mrsjuan, ds loves his and treats his teddy like a baby, giving him kisses and a drink, it's so sweet. It's also funny to see what's in the pushchair basket at the end of the day, yesterday there was a hairbrush,a pebble,a stick, two pegs and half a biscuit in ds's, so cute to see what he's been collecting all day

mrsjuan · 15/07/2010 12:05

Oh my goodness - she did at least 13 laps of the toddler hall this morning with a toy pushchair - I only had to hold it a tiny bit to stop it tipping. I am definitely going to get her one!
Her confidence must have soared after all that walking - I don't think she's ever been upright so long!

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