20 month old not pulling up to stand

[ajj85]

My son is 20 months old. He has been walking since 11 months old but he still cannot crawl, lie on his tummy or pull himself up to stand. When he was 6 months he learned to roll from his tummy to his back (always on the left) but he has since forgotten how to do this. Additionally, he cannot sit up from a lying down position.

I'm at a loss as to how to encourage him to pull himself up to stand. He has been bottom shuffling since he was about 13 months old so I guess there is no incentive for him to get up. He walks, and even runs when I put him on his feet so I know he has no issues with bearing weight on his legs. However, he does fall over a lot and I've noticed that his right foot points outwards when he runs and his toes curl under. He also has a habit of not bending his legs when picking up his toys.

He does try and stand up, but he tries to do this from a cross legged position. He'll put his hands on the floor, lift his left leg up so it's firm on the ground, but then the right leg buckles from underneath him and he falls back on his bum. He's been doing this for over a month now and I have not seen any improvement.

I have tried using pillows, small tables, putting toys out of reach to encourage him to pull himself up but try as he might he can't do it. He's even trying to climb stairs now; he can get his left leg onto the first step but then he doesn't seem to understand that he can lift his right leg too. He gets upset and then won't try again until the next day.

As a first time mother who is just naturally worried about everything, I was wondering if this seems normal, or whether there might be a development issue. If he was talking and engaging in pretend play I wouldn't be too concerned, but all he can say is 4 words with no context and he doesn't do pretend play.

He's not due to see the HV until his 2 year review. When she last visited in February she was talking about referring him for a SOGS?? assessment due to his lack of communication and 3 months on, there has been no progress.

Any advice would be appreciated.

You need to contact your HV immediately and chase up a referral.

Or take him to see a GP as soon as possible.

When I say immediately I mean Monday morning. It doesn't sound urgent like he needs medical attention. Just he needs some intervention and the sooner the better.

The poster before me has probably scared you senseless which isn't very fair.

If you can afford it, you could try and find a private paediatric physiotherapist that will be able to assess your child.

The nhs will likely have very long waiting times at the moment and early intervention is always a good idea.

Yes, sorry the first message was a bit dramatic when I read it back!

It's urgent in a 'don't wait around' way. Not a 'call an amublance' way.

I second contacting the hv on monday, they may refer you to gp for a once over or to a physio. Does your child have a weaker side arm or leg? Sound like score strength is a bit off and needs further review.

I agree that he needs to be assessed, and that specialised paediatric physiotherapy input is likely to be a good idea. Please do talk to your GP. Your descriptions of what your son can and can't do, and how he does it, are very clear, which is great - because your GP may be able to arrange referrals even if seeing him directly at present is tricky (which it may or may not be).

I think your instincts are right that there are some physical issues to be explored here. That doesn't mean that there are problems with other areas of development, although I would expect your child to be assessed in more detail when possible.

You mention a referral for communication- how much is he communicating?

@FourPlasticRings my LO has been babbling since he was about 9 months and he can say dada, mama, nana and gaga. Sometimes if I ask him who I am, he will say nana, and he will call my siblings nana too. Other times he will call me mama, and he always calls my OH dada, so I'm confident he recognises him as his dad. He's just started to form other sounds such as 'b' and 'j'.

If I point to the objects in his books and ask him what they are he will find them and just make a noise. He is generally good at understanding instructions from me, for example if I ask him to find his yellow car he will pick up the yellow car and pass it to me. But if I ask him to come to me or want a hug he will run off or do something completely different. I don't think there is anything wrong with his hearing.

The HV noted at the meeting that he was babbling quite a lot and he wasn't following instructions and because he didn't know at least 10 words she was looking at making a referral.

@ajj85 My son is 22 months and sounds very similar to yours. He has also never crawled (went straight to walking at 13 months) and can’t pull to stand. He has just - in the last week or so - learned to go from lying to sitting.

In our case it seems to be a genetic thing. My mother says I was exactly the same. I did catch up eventually. Do you have a history of not crawling in your family?

I think it’s best not to put any pressure on yourself right now. You seem to be doing all you can to help him develop. He seems to have a global development delay but that doesn’t mean it’s a catastrophe. Some kids need more help, he may need physio and some speech therapy- your hv should have been more on top of that. You seem like you’re doing an excellent job, please keep contacting the hv for more support. You’ll get through this!

OP does your DS have quite muscley/big calves?

And agree with above poster you're doing everything you can to help him, you just need GP/HV to be a bit more on their game with following things up!

Put chocolate high up so he has to get up to get it 😂

@123Dancewithme I'm glad it's not just my LO who is in a similar predicament. I didn't crawl apparently, and neither did my siblings. We just pulled ourselves up to stand (my sister started walking at 9 months). No history of bottom shuffling in the family so it's odd that my LO is an expert at it!. My husband crawled at a young age and he said he was doing it up to at least the age of 3, although he was walking confidently at around 12 months old.

@NuffSaidSam he does not have large calves but his thighs are quite chunky. He was a breech baby but the consultants checked his hips for dysplasia when he was 8 weeks old and tests came back normal.

@ajj85 It does seem that not crawling can run in the family. It’s likely he will get there in his own time, but physiotherapy might help speed things up. I spoke to a health visitor just before lockdown started and she said if there was no improvement in a couple of months to contact a GP for a physio referral.

We tried to do tummy time with him when he was a baby but he was having none of it and screamed his head off every time we tried to put him on his front - he still hates being on his front now but we try to do a few minutes each day.

Does your DS get frustrated that he can’t pull up etc? Mine gets quite upset that he can’t play in the same way that my friends’ toddlers can (crawling under things, climbing, jumping onto things)

Aww love a chunky baby thigh!

All babies develop differently, at different times. Hopefully, all is fine and they're just lazy boys, but I would really suggest both of you take your boys to a GP next week. There's nothing to lose and on the small chance there is a problem it will be best to get it picked up on asap.

The lack of crawling or speaking wouldn't massively worry me, but not being able to pull to stand, climb the stairs, sit up or roll over is a problem. Particularly where he could roll over and now can't. The loss of any ability is aways something to get checked.

@123Dancewithme We tried tummy time from when he was about a month old but he would have screaming fits for minutes on end. We persisted but he still hated being on his tummy. We tried boppy pillows, lying on the ground with him, placing a mirror and toys in front of him as a distraction but he would still bawl his eyes out.

We still try tummy time now but he will not pull himself up. In fact he will just lie there on his tummy and not even attempt to use his arms to pull up. He still cries like he's in pain rather than frustration. He had bad reflux and colic as a newborn so I think he still associates being on his tummy with feeling sick.

When he's trying to get up onto his legs whilst cross legged on the floor he doesn't get frustrated when he lands back on his bottom. He only gets upset when he tries to climb the stairs. He had just started at a new childminder's before lockdown and he didn't seem to care that all the other children there were doing far more things than himself.

DD2 was like this - just wouldn’t walk or make any attempt to stand. When she was a smaller baby she wouldn’t push down on her feet and hated the baby bouncer. Bizarrely, she was a very early talker (DD1 didn’t talk till she was three but walked at 10 months) and I used to have conversations with her about why she wouldn’t walk! She finally walked around 22 months (and helpfully potty trained herself at the same time). We had been back and forth to the doctor and HV, referred to Hospital, but no reason found. Please do speak to your HV about it. Ours was fantastic.