Late walking babies - when did they finally walk?

[Wee Pip]

I have an almost 16mo baby, born 10 weeks preemie. She's most likely my last baby, so I'm not in a big hurry. But so far, she's my latest to walk. I think she may actually be "caught up" developmentally, but just sort of happy to not walk, LOL. So I'm curious about other late walkers. When did they walk? Were they late in other things, too? If you've gotten past the learn-to-read phase, were they late readers, too? (Yeah, I'm sort of wondering if this will be my "not reading until age 12" child, which will totally kill me and all of my extravagant homeschooling ideals).

[Renee in NC]

I had one who didn't walk until 20 months because she was faster on her knees (and she wouldn't fall far!) She is 6 now and reads just fine. She hasn't learned to ride a bike yet, probably for the same reason as the walking.

[Tess in the Burbs]

my ds was 14 months here when he finally got up off his butt to walk :-) And he is the one still sucking his thumb and wetting the bed at nighttime. *sigh* He did learn to read at 4 1/2 though!!!

[JudoMom]

My earliest walker was 14 months (my oldest), my latest was 22 months (my youngest). The others were somewhere in between.

 

My latest walker has really loose joints and had trouble holding himself stable. All of my kids have very large heads (95% plus) compared to their body size (less than 20% for weight/height), so they are very unbalanced. They also sit up late.

 

So far they've all been reading well (can decode anything I hand them) by 6.

[AnotherLinda]

My latest walker was 22 months. By age 3 she seemed completely caught up. I have noticed that I shouldn't push her to try something too early but now at age 8 you'd never know that she had a rough start. On a funny note, she is the fastest runner out of all 6 six kids.

[Laura Corin]

My two (both full term) walked at fifteen and sixteen months. The earlier walker did end up having some coordination difficulties. The later walker has nothing wrong at all - he was just a champion crawler who didn't bother to walk.

 

Laura

[EKS]

My best friend in college didn't walk until she was 18 months old. She very quickly went to running and hasn't stopped.

[Miss Marple]

My late walker is my most gifted academically. He walked at 17 months. He was incredibly fast with the commando-crawl! He was perfectly satisfied to get around that way. He also took to roller blades at age 3 and was playing roller hockey at age 5.

Edited August 23, 2010 by CynthiaOK

[Food4Thought]

DS did the commando crawl until he started walking at 18 months. He still has some coordination issues, but he has a brilliant mind (and I'm not biased ;)).

 

I'm not sure what's considered "late" for reading, but he started chapter books this summer at 6.5. I think he's ahead, since DH didn't read until he was almost 9. :)

[whitestavern]

My dd10 was 10 lb/12 oz at birth and didn't walk til 17 months. She was actually an early reader.

[LibraryLover]

10-24 mos here.

Edited August 24, 2010 by LibraryLover

[ThelmaLou]

My earliest was at 10 months and my latest at 17 months. Both boys. The 17 month walker has the laid-back personality to match.

[SapphireStitch]

My son was born 7 weeks early. He walked at 18 months, didn't talk till 2.5 years, learned to read at 6yo, learned to ride his bike at 8yo.

 

His sister, who was also 7 weeks early, did everything physical before the "normal" time but didn't read till 6.5yo.

 

I think some of DS's delays can be blamed on prematurity and some on personality. He's a perfectionist and doesn't do anything until he's sure he can do it Just Right. DD, on the other hand, has always been my risk-taker who constantly pushes herself to do more.

 

Oh, one other factor with my kids...DS is built big and cuddly and DD is slim and athletic. Most of my friends with big chunky babies tell me they walk a lot later than the slimmer ones.

[swimmermom3]

My oldest rolled everywhere until she was 17mos. old. The next one walked at 10 months. The third one was somewhere in between. It's reflected in their personalities.:D

[Lolly]

My late walker walked at about 18 mths. She was 8 weeks preemie. All three others were 12 mths (two more preemies in that three).:) I was extremely concerned when she was so far behind her twin and big sister. Her apgars were 2 and 1. Turns out, she has tibial torsion (toes turn in). She was literally tripping over her own feet. I had put shoes on her when her twin started walking. (My usual milestone for purchasing shoes.:tongue_smilie:) I was told to take them off because they were tripping her up even more. She started walking 2-3 mths later. Until we put shoes back on. Down she went. :lol: Today, she is extremely bright. Reading occurred at 4. She is fantastic on the violin and good at piano. She is also a fish in the water. Not kidding. THis kid is fast, really fast. She has done one triathlon in which she placed first by quite a large time difference. Her late walking hasn't slowed her down one bit. I think those toes turning in might actually give her a slight athletic advantage at this point!:D

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

DD finally walked at 21mo. She was not premmie and had nothing wrong with her, just slow in the gross motor development and perhaps the fine motor as a result of taking so long to get upright. She was a very content baby - we have since realized we may have mistaken contentment for laziness. At 2 she moved on to being "helpless" at other things - anything she doesn't want to do for herself, especially if certain men are present. I don't know where she gets this from because it's not me and her Daddy doesn't spoil her. Anyway, she has always been ahead of things mentally and verbally so the only thing that will hinder her from starting school early may be her fine motor skills. Oh, and at three she is much better at the gross motor skills but still no ballerina.

[Mommyfaithe]

I have an almost 16mo baby, born 10 weeks preemie. She's most likely my last baby, so I'm not in a big hurry. But so far, she's my latest to walk. I think she may actually be "caught up" developmentally, but just sort of happy to not walk, LOL. So I'm curious about other late walkers. When did they walk? Were they late in other things, too? If you've gotten past the learn-to-read phase, were they late readers, too? (Yeah, I'm sort of wondering if this will be my "not reading until age 12" child, which will totally kill me and all of my extravagant homeschooling ideals).

 

My late walker was 18 mos. She was my late reader as well....reading at about 7.5...but not fluently until 9. She also did not write an essay until 11th grade...

 

She is in her 3rd year of college right now...with a 3.98 GPA...guess it didn't hurt her much!

 

Faithe

 

ETA: She was full term and had no other developmental delays.

[HeatherM2]

My son walked at 16 months. He was a late reader as well, but he was diagnosed dyslexic.

[Barb_]

My girlfriend's baby was 19 months...full term, no developmental delays, no learning difficulties in later years.

 

Barb

[Dobela]

My dd was 14 weeks preemie (born at 26 weeks) and didn't walk until 21 months. The doctors were not concerned since she had been so premature. She didn't begin crawling until she was almost 1. Now at 3 she has qualified for physical therapy and occupational therapy due to low muscle tone (weak muscles) but is otherwise on target. We didn't notice the low muscle tone until she stopped being able to keep up with peers and I noticed she wasn't able to ascend stairs by herself. Prior to this year she had never qualifed for therapy.

[Rebel]

7 week preemie walked at 15 mth if you define, "walk," very loosely.

[knit247]

My youngest walked just a few days shy of 18 mos, however she said her 1st word at 6 mos and was sounding out c-v-c words at 22 mos!

[abbeyej]

Not mine, but a good friend's. When he wasn't walking at 18months, the ped referred them to a neurologist for tests, and the appt was made for 21 months. They started really *pushing* him to walk. He would walk (a little) holding hands, so they just walked holding his hands as much as they possibly could. He finally took his first steps on his own at 20 months, just a couple of weeks before his appointment.

 

He's 10 now. Read a little on the early side (5, I think?) and is very quick academically (strong in math especially). He's not the most physically coordinated kiddo, but he does martial arts and swims and is generally competent.

 

The best explanation they could ever come up with for him was that walking just wasn't a priority. ;)

[silliness7]

I had 2 who walked at 14 mos. (#3 and #4) Neither were preemies. One is smart as a whip and the other is academically challenged. ;)

I got told a lot that they weren't walking because everyone carried them around. That theory was disproved by my latest. He walked at 9 mos and he had the most "carriers" of all. He was also the biggest moose of a baby...still is. He's just blowing all kinds of theories out of the water. :D

[Mommy22alyns]

Sylvia was born 4 weeks early and didn't walk until she was 17.5 months. She was late to potty train too, but she taught herself how to read at an early age.

[Lovedtodeath]

Well, I was 18 months old. I was a preemie born at 29 weeks. I had a lot of ear problems and my mom thought dizziness was an issue. I learned to read very quickly after entering 1st grade. I was always ahead academically, a bit behind in growth, weak and unathletic.

 

My kids were huge term babies. They learned to walk at about 15 and a half months old. DD was an early reader because I couldn't wait to start homeschooling and taught her at 3. DS is showing interest.

[Ellyndria]

DS walked at 19 months, and only because he was pushed to by an OT. He was perfectly happy just cruising around hanging onto the furniture before that. He climbed up and down stairs before he could walk.

 

We found out that the reason he walked late is because his hip and ankle joints are very loose and flexible. (He is also a kid who doesn't really do much unless he is pushed. For example, he had no trouble going potty when he sat on it, but never took the initiative until I took the diapers/pullups away when he turned 4 and I told him 4 year olds aren't allowed to wear diapers. This resulted in immediate night training, and only 3 accidents during the day the first week, and he was trained.)

 

He was also late learning to run, jump, balance on one foot, and he is still working on learning to hop on one foot. This is one reason why we've had him in tae kwon do since he was 3, to work on gross motor skills. I'm not worried about it, he'll catch up eventually. He may have been late learning to run, but now he can keep up with the other kids!

 

However, his fine motor skills have always been on target or ahead. He learned to cut with scissors well at 3, and started writing his letters at 3 (even though he has a funny grip, which is also probably because of his flexibility.)

 

Academically, he could recognize all uppercase letters by 22 months, all lowercase a few months later, and started recognizing words before he turned 4. So I started phonics with him in earnest when he turned 4, and by 4.5 he was a fluent reader, though he still needed practice with longer words. He also did a kindergarten math program starting at 4.5 (Rightstart A) and he did very well with that.

[prairiegirl]

I had a full term baby and he didn't walk until he was 17 mo. old.

[Jane Elliot]

#7 was born at 36 weeks and walked at 18 mos.

 

#8 was born at 41 weeks and walked at 16 mos.

 

These two were my latest walkers. Everyone else walked sometime between 11 and 13 mos.

[angela in ohio]

Mine all walked late, but second dd was the latest. She was about two weeks early, induced for her size (10 lb, 1 oz. at birth.) She was about 17 months when she walked. When she was sixteen months, the doctor sent her for x-rays "just to give us peace of mind." They came back clear. She walked a few weeks later.

 

She never crawled either. She rolled or sat still for the first sixteen months. She was very much into stacking blocks, coloring, playing puzzles, etc., and not very active with large motor. She sat up late, too, but we think that was because her behind was so round she just rolled down. She was a huge baby, but now she is a skinny little thing.

 

She was an early reader. She was reading Frog & Toad when she turned 4. None of mine walked "on time" or crawled, and they have all read early.

[BigMamaBird]

My son was born right on time and didn't walk till 15 months. I told myself that he was who he was and he'd walk when he walks. But it's hard when everyone is telling you about how all their kids walked by their first birthday or their little prodigy walked at 9 months.

[PinkInTheBlue]

Our 4 year old didn't walk until he was 17mths old. Our oldest walked at about 10mths. He was a fast learner in everything. However, the 4yr old is the only guy I've had that reads at such an early age. He's reading at the least of a first to second grade level. I don't think the two things are related but I do find it interesting.

[Closeacademy]

I guess my grandmother was 3 before she actually walked because no one would put her down she was so cute and loved. She was probably able to but that is the story.

 

My youngest was about 15 months old when she finally learned to walk. She got place quicker by crawling and she liked to be held a lot.

 

She has also taken her time with learning and I have let her have that time. She is also more content and balanced.:001_smile:

[KrissiK]

My boy were 15 months and 16 months when they walked. Now, there were some mitigating circumstances. They're both adopted and we got them (at the same, DS1 was 13 months and DS2 was 4 months) DS1 was just starting to "cruise" when he was placed in our home and went through a some transitional stuff and grieving and he regressed a little, so he was 16 months when he really started walking. DS2 was a premie, so he was a little behind on everything.