My 16 month old son has taken 10-20 steps, but does not have any interest to walk on his own. We need to make it a game in order to make him walk. I have read many articles, had him checked by a peditrician, and heard some feedback from friends/family, but I'm still feeling worried about him. Does anyone have any advice for me to encourage walking or to make me feel less worried?
Thank you for all the reassurance. I know my little guy will get the motivation at some point. I'm trying to tell myself not to worry and he will decide someday he is ready to walk. Actually the funny thing is today he has decided to walk off on his own a couple times, one time he actually took 20+ steps, yeah! I was VERY excited. It seems like when I'm not paying attention very much is when he decides to walk by himself.
My daughter was "late" walking too. She was on her own timetable- not mine! One thing that worked for her was having a cart/walker to push around. Once she mastered pushing it around, walking/running was not far behind!
My son was 11 months when he finally started crawling, and 16 months when he started walking. I too was panicking and thinking something was wrong, but his pediatrician and everyone I talked to (including mamasource :) ) told me not to worry. One day, he started taking small steps, and within 24 hours he was walking EVERYWHERE.
Every kid is different, and I've learned my little man just likes to do things in his own time...like potty training. :)
L.,
My son is also 16 months, and I posted a similar question recently. Feel free to contact me privately if you want to chat.
Sounds like he is perfectly fine since you had him checked out by his doctor and he can walk if you make a game out of it. He may just be more interested in other things right now. My 2nd daughter didn't walk until 17 months. She is a healthy 3 year old who loves to run and jump. Some kids just walk later then others.
My niece just started walking at 20 months. She does have some medical issues of low muscle tone and hyperflexibility. She started physical therapy at 12 months when she couldn't sit or crawl. Your son sounds perfectly normal to me. My daughter crawled early and is very physical, but she wasn't really walking until 15 months. I'm pretty sure 9-18 months is considered normal.
Do NOT worry!! My daughter did not even crawl until she was 13 months....she started walking at about 15-16 months. She is perfectly healthy, never had any health problems. She is actually intelligent for her age, so it has nothing to do with a child being smart or not. Do not worry, he will walk in his own time, just keep encouraging him. Good Luck
Hi L.,
I was on this website about a year ago with the same concerns! My son took his first steps at 15 months, but had NO interest in walking until 17 months! I was going crazy. I knew I didn't need to be concerned, but I still was. Of course I got a TON of reassurance from all the moms on here, and he started walking soon after. If your son is taking some steps, he's moving in the right direction (no pun intended). He WILL walk on his own, he just needs to decide for himself that that's his preferred mode of transportation. Try to be patient - I know it's hard! After all, as one mom said, he's not going to be crawling when he's 30, right?
Good luck,
Amy K
As other moms have stated, everything is going to work out fine. These are developmental stages, and your son is going through them at his own rate. When they're crawling, the downward gaze that they use to get around is very important for depth perception later on. You wouldn't want him to miss that, would you? :)
Perhaps your son is going through another stage right now. Is he eating more? It could be a growth spurt. Is he working on talking? Maybe he's doing one thing at a time (like most kids), and he'll get to the walking when he's done with whatever he's working on.
My daughter started walking at 16 mo and son started at 18 mo so don't worry. I know it is hard to not worry because I too worried when my son got to be 18 mo. However it can be completely normal to walk that late. Both of my children are very active and smart so walking late didn't have to do with any kind of developmental delays.
We have an 18 month old boy who is just now getting to the point of walking around on his own. He sounds a lot like your son -- a few steps here & there, but scared to let go. One day he just took off, and now here we are! Try not to let it bother you too much -- every kid is different.
L.,
My fourth baby was like that. None of my kids walked early (12-14 months) but my fourth was 16 1/2 months before she took her first step. The big kids were forbidden to carry her around the house for safety reasons and I expected her to get herself around, so that wasn't the problem. She was just such a proficient crawler, she wasn't motivated to try another form of transportation. But once she started, the learning curve was quick - very few falls.
My third baby crawled really late; 11 1/2 months old. He was just so entertained watching all the busyness in the house, he never needed to go anywhere. Again, I wouldn't let the other kids bring him toys, he had to do it on his own. He was just content being right where we put him.
If your pediatrician has checked him out and there isn't a medical concern, I would say it's probably just his personality and he isn't motivated to get around yet. Just keep working with him and don't worry. He will get there.
Good luck,
S.
My son did not walk till almost 18 months, so don't fret yet!! I needed to remind myself constantly to not pick him up and carry him all the time. He also had 2 older sisters who catered to his every need. Keep putting those toys out of his reach and he'll get them eventually.
Neither of my boys walked til they were over 17 mths. They never really "cruised": one day the were crawling, the next day they decided to walk.
Just wanted to add my 2 cents. My soon to be 3-year-old was very similar to yours. He started walking between 16 and 17 months. He actually could do it before that, but it seemed that he knew crawling would get him there better or he was just being cautious. No need for you to worry. Oh, and I'm sure that this cautious attitude is a great thing to have in a boy because my Mathias is just the sweetest little toddler and a great big brother now! Compared to other boys his age, he's a dream ;) as opposed to those holy terrors you see running around the playground!
I also wanted to add that like another mom said, this does not mean your son has anything wrong with him. Quite possibly he is flexing his mind in other ways right now such as vocabulary. I was told this same thing back when I worried about my son, and I thought that his vocabulary was only average at the time (so I worried even more). However, he is head and shoulders above the other kids his age that I meet around the neighborhood. No worries!
Hi L.!
My daughter is 15 months and it's the same thing. Her pediatrician said they don't even START to worry until 18 months. Also, when we asked if we should be concerned, the dr's very first question was, 'how many words is she saying?' She said that babies tend to focus on one area at a time, and since our daughter (also L., by the way!) was talking more, she had less time to work on walking. I also did some checking on my own, and found several places on the web that said that the age at which a child walks doesn't relate to anything in adulthood - not to intelligence, or even to athletic performance. So hang in there!
