Struggling with non waking toddler

[autumneveningsunlight]

DD is fourteen months and not walking yet. It’s difficult as the things I remember doing with my first child at this age are restricted - going to the park for instance, she can only really go on the swings and quickly gets fed up. She doesn’t really enjoy being in the pushchair and fights to get out of it (sometimes successfully.) Backpacks and slings aren’t really an option because she just wants to be on the move all the time. It’s exhausting! We can do soft play etc just seems a bit of a shame to waste the weather!

Take her to a park with grass and let her crawl around.

Will she walk if you hold her hands?

No - she isn’t quite there yet She can pull herself up to stand and cruise furniture but still needs support.

She gets a bit fed up crawling on the ground (she also has a penchant for eating stones.)

Hopefully it won’t be a problem for long. Mornings are OK as groups are on and she enjoys crawling and scooting around a village hall, it’s afternoons where I find we’re a bit stuck! I like getting out of the house but with a pushchair refuser it’s hard going!

This has been my life for a long time as mine is now 26 months and still not walking for reasons yet unknown. The duck pond and sand pit at a local park have been popular recently and she likes going swimming. She has just recently started walking with us holding her hands which has made the playground a bit more interesting again. Before that she was bum shuffler and wouldn’t bum shuffle on grass so very limited options for entertaining her outdoors. I can relate to the frustration!

DD is a bum shuffler - I keep reading that they are late walkers. I wonder if that is true. That must be really frustrating for you @wishIwasonholiday10 , I have to admit I’m longing for her to walk just so we can do a bit more!

I’ve also heard that bum shufflers are often late walkers at least in part because they can already hold things in their hands when moving around. The physio also thinks the way she bends her legs when bum shuffling is not helpful for walking. Mine is getting very late even for a bum shuffler but we are still not sure if there is anything wrong.

I found last winter when she was 16-20 months really hard as all the other toddlers were having fun splashing in puddles etc while mine was miserable in the pram a lot of the time (only likes it for short periods at the best of times but really hates the rain cover). Even soft play is out for us as the ones around here don’t have much for non-walkers.

It feels like I have been waiting for DD to walk for so long but at least she is making hopeful progress at the moment if still a way off walking independently.

Yeah, bum shufflers tend to walk later. My theory on why is partly because they can move around with hands free, so less incentive to walk, and partly that a lot of bum shufflers are hypermobile which makes weight bearing harder work.

Ah. Bum shufflers do walk later so probably means it will happen any day now. The frustration will get to much. Child will want to do something and get up to walk as if they have always known how to.....

Watch out!!