Advice from Health Visitor - thoughts please?

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My DD is now 17 months old and she is still not walking independently. She is walking along furniture and when holding a hand. Our biggest concern is she is unable to get herself to a seated position from lying down and is unable to stand by herself or sit back down when standing. She is also a bum shuffler and has never crawled. Her fine motor skills are excellent and she is on track everywhere else.

She has made such great progress over the past few weeks, however the HV called today to follow up on 1 year review and has told me to never put my DD in a seated position or a standing position always lay her down on her tummy, except for playtime, to get her to crawl. I had always just made peace that she would never crawl, and to me at almost 1.5 yrs old it seems cruel to just leave her lying down all the time to figure it out herself.

Any thoughts or similar experiences would be much appreciated.

Crawling is really important for brain development. It helps the brain co- ordinate both sides of the body. It used to be seen as just away to get around , and babies bum shuffled instead so they were mobile. But it's more than that!

What a shame your HV has gone in all guns blazing and worried you - I can totally see where you are coming from!

I am unable to comment with direct experience but I do know that getting into and out of positions is incredibly hard for little ones. My boy has regular physio for his developmental delay (he has a chromosomal disorder) and, having just mastered sitting, he is now moving onto these skills - and his physio has said that we are looking at a LONG time as these skills are so extremely complex!

Might you be able to request a physio evaluation via the HV? I am not sure on waiting lists but it might be helpful as then you can be told which positions are useful for play to develop these skills (and it will probably be more nuanced then just plonking baby down...!). There are also private paediatric physios available; ours costs £120 for an hour session once a month but is worth her weight in gold with giving advice that we then follow up with daily practice.

And I have just thought: we currently do a lot of four-point work to encourage getting used to a crawling position and building the strength for it. You can prop your little one over a nursing cushion to encourage this position. Or have him/her propped on their knees between your knees, then swoop them forward to put pressure through the upper arms and get into a crawling position. My boy hates this and screams the place down but is building strength! You can also put toys on a stair or a low therapy bench/table to encourage play in this hands and knees position.

Our physio has said some babies just don't crawl, but she is keen for DS to develop this skill to integrate across the midline.

My middle child was a bum shuffler and didn't walk until he was 22months old - both the HV and the GP said it wasn't anything to worry about as he would cruise if required but he just found it quicker to move around on his bum and it meant he could easily carry things in both hands. He had excellent fine motor skills and they both felt (and I did too) that he wanted to play with things at the same time as moving around and bum shuffling enabled him to do so.

They did both however recommend to get him to crawl up the stairs a couple of times a day as the cross lateral movement is important for brain development. You can't force a child to crawl but by putting something at the top of the stairs that he wanted to play with or making it a game with me chasing him, then he would happily crawl up the stairs. At 22mo he pretty much decided overnight that he would walk and was running within a couple of days.

He's now 7 and never sits still at all and hasn't done since he learnt to walk!

Our DC could not sit unsupported until 1 and after he’d learnt to crawl. He was very prem and he subsequently had physio and OT to improve his core strength/stability. He would not do tummy time, he’d get very upset. His problems were prem related and he got over them with help. If you are concerned I’d take advice from GP not HV