Late walker

[lavalamp08]

Hi
My nearly 17 month old is still not walking. She can stand up for ages on her own and cruises with furniture and if she's holding our hands just no sign of walking. At her 12 month review they said they don't look into it until she's 18 month but what can they do if she's not gonna do it?
Is there anyone out there who's had a late walker? What did they do? Get up and walk??

Ds is 2 next month and can walk just chooses not to. He gets around on his knees! He didn't take any steps until around 20 months and now only does it when he thinks no one is watching. I was never worried just knew he was a late one, so no professional advice to offer but just be aware they all develop at their own pace.

Ours was similar, as long as he is getting there gradually it's fine. If he wasn't interested at all it would be more worrying I guess but he will probably get there in next few weeks

I would not worry. FWIW, both of my boys have ASD. One walked at 12 months, one walked at 17 months, but they were both developmentally normal until after that.

My later walker could get around fine without walking and simply couldn’t be bothered.

I have a couple of friends whose little ones weren’t walking by 18 months - they were seen by specialist physiotherapists to assess for any physical issues that might be causing a problem such as low muscle tone.

How’s he doing developmentally otherwise?

Sorry, she - force of habit!

I learned how to walk at 18 months. In my case, as it turned out later, I had softening bones caused by severe vitamin D deficiency. So you might want to get her checked out regardless

My son was a late walker - think he was about 17 months, maybe just before. He was referred to a paediatrician as he was a bum shuffler and dragged one of his legs while shuffling along. He had an X-ray to check for hip problems and then checks for muscle tone. Paediatrician thought there was nothing wrong and he was just a late walker. He was right and no problems at all since!

DS was lateish, started at 16 months, but he was referred to physio before that because he wouldn't use his right leg when crawling/bum shuffling or bear weight on it normally. Physio said he was fine, muscle tone normal, just a bit weird and lazy, and he literally just got up and walked one day - I was out for a couple of hours and he was home with his dad and I came home and he was walking like he'd been doing it for weeks!

My DS took his first step at 20 months and didn’t walk properly until 22 months. He’s now 2.5 and caught up completely. His late walking caused me a world of anxiety! If she’s not walking at 18 months, do push for a referral. Ours has taken 10 months to come, despite being marked as urgent. Luckily he’s caught up but our GP said there is a window in which you need to address walking issues to don’t be afraid to be pushy.