Not walking yet

[Samantha1571]

Has anyone got any tips on how I can get my 17 month old to walk? He is very lazy and it’s quite embarrassing that he still can’t walk. He can stand up without holding on to something for a few seconds and he can walk along the sofa etc but he has a meltdown if we try and get him to walk. We will hold him up and try and get him to walk but he will just sit down and cry and shows no interest. So many people are judging us and I’m worried he will reach 18 months old and he will still be the same. I just don’t know what to do. Everything with him has been a battle and he is a very difficult toddler. There are so many other things he doesn’t do.

It’s not your baby’s fault that other people are being unkind .

If he’s having a meltdown then there’s something up. Stop being mad at him.

My ds didn’t walk until he was 22 months. He was tested for MD but was fine and the consultant told me there isn’t a medical word for lazy! They told me to literally take home by the hands and make him walk. I took a week off work to do this and by the end of the week he was walking.

My daughter was the same turn out her muscles were too tight, she saw a physio who solved the problem after 10 sessions.

So it’s mainly my partners friends and family judging us because he still can’t walk, always making comments. His friends have just come to visit from Australia and there faces when they could see that he still can’t walk (his friend has a 14 month old who has been walking for a while now) and she was like ‘he can’t walk yet!? He should be walking by now.’ With a very judgmental face. We also keep getting comments about water. We have tried everything to get him to drink water and he refuses so that has been hard because we are constantly worried that he may be dehydrated

Samantha1571. It very much sounds like the problem is with your DPs family and friends. I’ve worked as a teaching assistant in KS1 and before that in the nursery of the school as well as a private day nursery. If I had a £1 for every 17 month old who wasn’t yet walking, spoke a couple of words and wouldn’t swig down more than a few sips of water, I’d have a nice little pot of money. I know loads of parents who give their toddlers very diluted juice or more milk, because they just won’t drink water. It’s not like you can make them drink it .

How does your partner deal with this criticism? He should be closing this down because it’s not fair and it’s unreasonable. Unless you have real concerns of your own that you feel need checking out, I’d not be worried by what you DS is doing or not doing. Obviously we have never spent any time with him so can only go by what you are describing. These people need to stop with calling your DS lazy and criticising what he is being given to drink. It’s not on.