18 Month Old Still Not Walking

Don't carry her around with you very much. If she cries when you leave the room just say come on and make her crawl. And if you have her around other kids and let her watch them walk it helps. Especially if she can't go where they are.

L.

Some kids walk first and some develope thier social skills first. Since all other "problems"??? have been addressed, I would just give it time.

Just hang in there. I had the same issue with my second child. He was slower to develop talking and walking than my first child and I was worried like you. The doctor told me that it is unofficially called second child syndrom. The older child usually talks for them and they typically get held more so you can do thing with the older one, so it takes longer for them to develop these things. My younger son is now 5 and is a little bit of a slower leaner than my older son who is 9. But I think that the older one is a little advanced in all aspects of his life anyway. Hopefully this is the case for you and she will start walking soon.

Also, you can get her a baby walker or some sort of bouncer that will help her get strength in her legs. It might help her with her balance and strength if you get one that she can actually walk in around the house.

She will walk when ready, its good that she is pulling herself up and standing holding on, its a start. You can take her by her hands instead of under the armpits and hold both her hands and you walk backwards and let her walk with you. Its how we got our son to walk then every so often we would let go and sometimes he would take a few steps on his own then fall down. You can always sit on the floor and have hubby sit across from you and stand her and have daddy call her over, or vice versa. My son would crawl into the kitchen and push our kitchen chairs around the kitchen while walking. They seem to do things at their own pace. Just keep working with her and encourging her to walk she will eventually.

I second the idea to hold her hands instead of under her arms. If you are holding her under the arms, you are giving her most of the balance and support that she needs to walk. Holding her hands, she has to balance herself but has you as a safety net. You can also get one of those toys that they can push while walking. This was how my niece learned how to walk. I would just check one out from your PAT toy library though, I wouldn't buy one for the short amount of time that she will use it. My niece would also have fun with the chairs while my SIL mopped the kitchen floor. She would put the chairs in a line just far enough apart that the little one would have to reach for the next one. As she gets more confident in her balance, push the chairs farther apart.

If the doctor is not concerned, then I think you can probably relax. Is she a large child for her age?? I think that the larger babies tend to start walking a little bit later...maybe because they just have more "bulk" to balance!!
I agree with the other Mom's about holding her arms, instead of holding her under her armpits...that way she has to do more of the balancing on her own.
I would also look into getting one of those walk behind toys...they have some really neat riding toys that also have a long handle ( think shopping cart handles) behind them that she can hold onto as she pushes the toy!!
Most of all...relax and enjoy this stage of her life...they grow up SO quickly!!!
R. Ann

K.-

I can't speak from personal experience, but thought it might give you some comfort to know that the daughter of a friend of mine didn't walk until after 18 months. I don't know details, but I'm pretty sure they didn't identify any issues to cause the delay and she didn't experience any negative issues once she started walking.

Best of luck,
K.

I have had two late walkers! My daughter walked at 16 months and my son was on the later end of 18 months. My son did all the same things your daughter does and there was not just one day where he "decided" to walk like everyone would say he was going to do. He finally just started taking steps and walking more and more until he was fully walking. It is so funny how it is such a concern of yours and then on the other side of it (only 3 or 4 months on the other side) - you can't even remember the details of when they exactly started walking.

I promise you if everything checks out fine with your doctor, she will walk. I was there just a few short months ago. For now enjoy the "calm"

Good luck to you!

P.S. One thing someone told me to do that I never ended up trying was to take a hula hoop and hold on to one side of it and have your child hold on to the other side - and teach them to walk on "their own" that way.

I've always believed the best way to let a child learn how to walk is barefoot. Because shoes don't let the child feel the ground or how to balance properly. I would just let her do her thing. not every baby is the same. so long as she can cruise she eventually will walk. But the standing thing can be because it is to easy for her to hang on to things. so try clearing a space and put her in the middle in a standing position and let go of her. repeat this every time she sits.

my daughter is one and she can stand on her own and take a few steps but she acts like she can't. she sits down to crawl on purpose. But you mentioned how small her feet are and that could be a big part of it. sometimes if shoes are to tight it hampers the growth of the feet.

Don't worry to much though because every baby eventually gets the hang of it. my friend's little girl is 2 months older than my daughter and she barly crawls and still won't cruise but she will stand. The big part of her issue is an over protective mom and she is very chunky so it is harder for her to move.

I don't have time to read the other responses, so I apologize if I'm repeating anything. I have worked with toddlers for many years. Here is a good exercise to help with balance and walking:

Instead of holding her armpits, hold her HANDS, or let her hold your fingers. Let your arms kind of swing/dangle below you as she holds on, providing as little support as possible. If your arms are stiff and giving her lots of support, she doesn't have to do much of the balancing because you are doing it for her. If you just let her hold onto your hands as your arms dangle, she has just enough support to not fall, but still has to balance on her own.

Push toys are also great.

Hope this helps a little. It really does work, so I hope you try it out. Try it both ways, and you can really feel a difference in how much of the balancing she has to do on her own.

C. G.

Have you talked to your pediatrician about this? Have you heard about the Parents as Teachers program? My son was born 10 weeks premature and my previous babysitter and pediatrician suggested it because he wasn't "on track" with his language development.
http://www.parentsasteachers.org/site/pp.asp?c=ekIRLcMZJx...
She comes out every month to your house and talks about any questions or concerns you might have about your child. I find it very helpful and it eases my mind. She is very nice also. Good luck!

Since you've ruled out any problems with her bones and joints then I wouldn't worry about it. She is younger and has an older sibling who, I'm sure, does things for her. My youngest was like that also. Her older sister did everything for her, including talking. I wouldn't worry to much, she'll figure it out sooner or later. Be encouraging to her, but don't "help" her so much either. She'll be fine. Good luck and God Bless.

My oldest didn't walk until 18 months. One day, my husband and I were in the living room watching T.V. while our son played close by. All of a sudden, he just took off walking! He fell a lot, but he would get up and go again. He was just ready! Babies do things when they want to. I had a sister that never crawled. He only scooted on her bottom. One day, she stood up and walked.

My Daughter didnt walk until she was 14 months, which was funny because she could say a whole sentence but didnt want anything to do with walking. Her doc said at 16 months if she wasnt walking they would test her for things. I think really my daughter was kinda scared of it and spoiled. But if you are concerned about other things, it could be something else. But Im sure your ped is aware of this and they should be advising you on what to do. If she has no other issues, Im sure she will start walking any minute. I got my daughter walking shoes and MADE her walk! Good luck!

My 1st son walked at 10 months so I'm no help there, but from what you described it sounds like your daughter is about to take off soon. :o) Maybe she just needs a little more time. Hang in there!

My daughter was a late walker but it was caused by fluid build up in her ears. Have you had that checked out yet?

You didn't mention how big your daughter is but I know my I have two nieces and two nephew who didn't walked before 18 month and that were all large kids. My one nephew was in size 6 diapers by 9 months. They just were too heavy to carry their own weight. Once they did start walking they all thinned out very quickly. I don't know if this helps.

I am curious how you ruled out structural problems with her hips? It was very difficult to diagnose my daughter's hip displasia. She was younger, 4 months old, but part of the problem was getting a good look at the joint. Because the bones are not "hard" they look more like cartilage, it was hard to see with x-ray and ultra sound. They couldn't tell if it was out or in. The hip had been minupulated by her dr, x-ray, and ultra sounded
It took the pediatric orthopedist from Children's Hospital in St. Louis, watching the ultrasound as it was being done to finally see that the hip "ball" was not in the socket.

This still may not be your daughter's problem, but I would certainly make sure that it is not. As the bones do "harden" it will be more difficult to get the ball back in the socket and stay there.

Good luck.

My friend & I had boys 1 week apart from each other. My son started walking around 9 months, my friends son's wasn't interested in walking until he was close to 2 years old. He found some of his older brother's shoes and wanted to wear them (he wouldn't take them off even to go to bed). When he wore the shoes he could walk. We figured that since he was a large boy, his feet weren't big enough to balance his body. With the bigger shoes he could balance (who knows if that's the real reason or not).

But now they are both about 6 years old and you would never know that one was an "early walker" and the other was a "late walker", they both are pretty fast and active.

So I would say, since a physical problem has been ruled out. Just be patient.

My daughter didn't walk on her own until close to her second birthday. I think she could get around just fine so she thought "what's the rush?". If you have a table she can hold on to try putting her favorite toy away from her - that way she will have to make her way to it. Good luck and don't worry too much about it - she'll get it soon enough!

If you are not already involved in the PARENTS AS TEACHERS PROGRAM through your school district, you should call them. They can give great ideas and resources to help encourage the walking.

My daughter was 2 1/2 when she began walking but she has cerebral palsy. We discovered this through an MRI and most likely a pt would have found this if this was your faughter's issue. But, with my youngest I found these things called walking wings. It is a soft belt that goes around the waiste and had straps so that you aren't bending over and holding thier hands. Since they are being helped with cloth straps instead of supported, they can help to develope those trunk muscles which are a necessity for walking. I wish I had a pair when my daughter was trying to walk. You could goodle them and see what you think

My daughter and nephew were born 8 days apart. My daughter was walking well before her 1st birthday, but my nephew didn't walk until MUCH later. (I can't remember exactly how old he was.) He was a REALLY fast crawler, so he could crawl and keep up with his older brother and my daughter running, so he didn't really need to walk. He also had nursemaid's elbow, so we would be very cautious about holding him up by his hands. (On the plus side, he hasn't had his elbow dislocate in over a year and a half, so he's likely outgrown it.)

My guess is since your daughter gets around just fine crawling, she doesn't feel the need to walk yet. If your doctor has ruled out any problems, just give her time. She's already showing signs of being on the verge of walking (walking with a toy, cruising, letting go to stand briefly). She'll walk when she feels there is an advantage to it over crawling.

I had a friend whose daughter didnt start walking until around 2 because she just didnt want to, it was easier to crawl, and she's perfectly fine. Babies decide to do things at different paces.

I am thinking of a couple of things here ..... one is that "chubbier" babies do tend to take a little longer to walk.

Another is that some babies are afraid. They have generally fallen on their bottoms a few times, don't like that at all, and are afraid to try it again. My younger sister and my oldest daughter were like this. My mother solved this by holding a couple of spoons in her hands, and having the babies hold onto the spoons (as if they were mommy's fingers) while they walk. As the babies walked along, she would eventually gradually let go of the spoons and baby would walk alone, not realizing no one was helping. This was a great way to see that it was just fear and not a "structural" problem.

Another thing I am thinking of, is to try allowing her to go without shoes. Many children walk much better in bare or stocking feet. We actually got that info from our doctor. He said it was better for their foot development.

One last thing is what the pediatrician told my oldest when her own child was a late walker. He observed that she was carrying her baby everywhere. He said "Why should she walk ? You carry her everywhere she wants to go."
So .... she stopped carrying her around the house from one room to another. If she wanted to go to her room from the living room,(for example) she had to get there on her own. She soon tired of crawling and/or begging to be carried, and started walking on her own. She found it was much faster and easier.

Well, I hope at these ideas have helped.
:o)