Does anyone have a child that started walking after 18 months?

[FloridaLisa]

I have an 18-month-old (nearly 19 months) that is just now taking her first independent steps. She's been walking with her walker and zooming her little chairs all over the place for months, but she wouldn't walk on her own. She was no where near ready to walk independently at 12 months (still wobbly), cruised at 15 months and is just now taking the first steps.

 

She understands everything. She babbles and has a developing vocabulary. Hears great, ascends and descends steps.

 

Since I understand there is wide variation in these developmental milestones, I didn't panic when she didn't walk by her 1st birthday. By 15 months, I instructed all siblings to please put her down and let her do it! She made progress. But, at what point do I worry?

 

And, yes, we have an appt with a pediatrician. We've been in the process of changing pediatricians which is why she hasn't been evaluated yet. PT friend evaluated and said everything looked like it was working well.

 

Any other really late walkers? What do I need to look out for?

 

Thanks!

Lisa

[Nicole M]

My oldest did not walk independently until he was 16 months and he was pretty wobbly. And then, he only did it with a look of utmost concern on his face.

 

I read that 14 months is actually the average, though I think we tend to have in our minds that "a year" is when most walk.

 

If she seems bright and attentive, I'm guessing there's no problem. Others here may have more info. But with my late walker, I did get a lot of criticism from folks who felt I held him too much, etc. I hope you're not getting that, and that you're able to be relaxed about it (you sound relaxed) until you talk with your doctor.

 

HTH

[Alenee]

I have two sides here.

 

One friend's dd walked at 19 months. She's 6 now...no issues ever presented to explain the late walking.

 

Another friend has just found out her dd who is 20 months has a neurological disease that's as of yet cause-undetermined but after mri's, they've determined at least that it's not degenerative.

 

It's good to go through the motions with your ped. imo.

[abbeyej]

Not mine, but a dear friend's son didn't walk till 20-21 months. When he wasn't walking at 19 months, they made an appointment with a neurologist (that's where the ped sent them), but they also made a concerted effort to *push* him to walk. By the time his appt came around at 21 months, he was walking fairly well. It was determined that he was just slightly delayed in his gross motor development (but not enough to require intervention) combined with lacking motivation. ;) He's eight years old now, and not the most coordinated kid out there, but well within normal. He does tae kwon do and other activities... No other signs of neurological problems...

 

Anyway, I think it's wise to get your little one checked out. It's probably nothing, but it's good to rule out any causes you could be working to fix...

[Kris]

I have an 18-month-old (nearly 19 months) that is just now taking her first independent steps. She's been walking with her walker and zooming her little chairs all over the place for months, but she wouldn't walk on her own. She was no where near ready to walk independently at 12 months (still wobbly), cruised at 15 months and is just now taking the first steps.

 

She's not walking on her own because she doesn't have to. My little sister did the same thing. As soon as they took her out of the walker, etc., she was off.

 

My son was a late walker and we wondered what was going on. "He doesn't walk because he doesn't need to -- you carry him all the time!" Okay -- so I hadn't noticed that, but once I left him to his own devices, he was up and running, too.

[PinkInTheBlue]

Easton didn't walk until right at 17 months. Like your's he "walked" everywhere as long as he held a hand. If you let go, he immediately couldn't walk anymore. You said your daughter cruises furniture and chairs really well, right? She can walk, most likely. She's just not confident to let go. At least, that was our experience. Our older boys all walked WAY before 17 months.

 

Follow your intuition but for us helping him build confidence took him from being a non-walker to a walker within a couple of days. I knew he could walk, he just didn't know.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Any other really late walkers? What do I need to look out for?

 

If she's the youngest of several, I would assume it's the older siblings and wait to bring it up at a well-child check up.

 

One of mine walked at 18 months only with a walker.

[Mommy22alyns]

Sylvia didn't start to walk on her own until about 17.5 months - I was pretty worried by that point and asked any doctor or nurse I could get my hands on, but my ped. refused to worry until past 18 months. She was making enough progress towards walking to satisfy them. She was otherwise healthy and hadn't showed many signs of delayed development (she was born 1 month early - technically a "preemie" but I never really viewed her as such). She just had the, er, disadvantage of having Becca as an older sister. Becca was motivated from the womb and took off running at 13 months... I knew not to compare kids, but at the same time, Becca was my measuring stick. :001_smile: She was the sum total of my daily experience with babies.

 

MIL was rather snippy about it and said a few things that won't ever be forgotten, but on the whole Sylvia's had no ill effects from not walking until almost 18 months.

[rafiki]

.

[plansrme]

A child has, by definition, a "gross motor delay" if she isn't walking by 18 months (though cruising may constitute "walking" for this purpose, though). My now-8 yo, adopted from China at 15 mos., took 2 steps at 18 months and then not another step for a solid month after that. This summer, she won "most valuable swimmer" on our summer swim team and came in 6th place in the 25 meter butterfly in our county swim meet. And we live in a competitive county--we have a swimmer in the Olympics. Do you know what would happen if I tried to swim the 25 'fly? I would drown. But I digress. All summer, other parents comment on how muscular she is and ask how she gets that way. She doesn't do anything, but she has beautiful muscle definition that is just wasted on an 8 yo.

I just offer up this little tale to provide hope for moms of other late walkers.

And I agree with the others who have noted that it is often personality as much as coordination that determines when they walk.

 

Terri

[Cricket]

Our second didn't walk until sometime in that 18th month. Now that he is much older we see that he has a very cautious personality. He is very cautious when it comes to physical activity (which is weird because is good at sparring in taekwondo. lol) But he doesn't like heights and wouldn't even put his face in the water until last summer (now he's our best swimmer). He wouldn't even say his older brother's name until he was 3 1/2 and then he said it carefully and correctly. People still get a kick out of how precise he is with his pronunciation.

 

I figure he just waited to walk until he knew without a doubt he could do it correctly. :001_smile:

[Lolly]

One of my dd's didn't walk until around that age. I don't remember exactly when she did. I asked the pediatrician about it before she started walking. Turns out she has tibial torsion. Her feet turned inward, and she tripped over her own toes. Nothing needed to be done. He said to keep her barefooted whenever possible because shoes just got in her way even more. She has no ill effects. Still a little tibial torsion. She is an extremely fast runner and swimmer.

[kiana]

I didn't walk until I was almost 2, and I wasn't able to walk while wearing shoes (I would crawl) until I was nearly 3. My feet went out instead of in. I can walk perfectly well now. :)

[Laurie in VA]

My DD didn't walk until 3 days before she turned 18 mos. Ped said if she didn't walk by 18 mos he would check into it further. DD also refused all solids until 16 mos. She was EBF until then and was off the charts, she was so heavy, LOL! All that to say she *was* listed developmentally delayed, but today, at 4 shows no signs of any problems whatsoever. HTH!

[8filltheheart]

I have seen both sides of the issue.

 

I didn't walk until I was over 18 months. My mom told me that she did not encourage me to walk (I am the youngest of 6) and that I was just as happy to sit and play. I guess I turned out normal . ;)

 

Conversely, our 16 yos didn't walk until almost 18 months. He does have neurological issues(I have never really thought about this connection before though.....I see this as a separate issue) and motor control issues (mostly very clumsy.....steps on things w/o paying attention and fine motor control problems....writes very slowly and sloppily)

 

FWIW, having been through a lot of different serious medical issues with various children, I have found that the majority of the time I have worried for it to turn out to be nothing.

 

Hang in there. Children definitely are who they are and they do things their own way. More than likely it is being a younger sibling, personality, and her own way.

[Parrothead]

I've got a friend that has a 17 month old that doesnt' walk normally yet. She walks on her knees though. It is like she hasn't figured out how to make the hip and knee work together yet. My friend doesnt' seem to concerned because there is progress.

[JudoMom]

I have an 18-month-old (nearly 19 months) that is just now taking her first independent steps. She's been walking with her walker and zooming her little chairs all over the place for months, but she wouldn't walk on her own. She was no where near ready to walk independently at 12 months (still wobbly), cruised at 15 months and is just now taking the first steps.

 

She understands everything. She babbles and has a developing vocabulary. Hears great, ascends and descends steps.

 

Since I understand there is wide variation in these developmental milestones, I didn't panic when she didn't walk by her 1st birthday. By 15 months, I instructed all siblings to please put her down and let her do it! She made progress. But, at what point do I worry?

 

And, yes, we have an appt with a pediatrician. We've been in the process of changing pediatricians which is why she hasn't been evaluated yet. PT friend evaluated and said everything looked like it was working well.

 

Any other really late walkers? What do I need to look out for?

 

Thanks!

Lisa

 

My 2nd didn't walk until 18 months, my 5th until 22. The others were between 14 & 16 months.

 

There were no problems. The baby did go to an orthopedist and he's got really loose, flexible joints, but nothing to worry about.

 

My guys have large (95-100+%) head size and small (20% or below) body size. I think this made their balance worse and contributed to late sitting up and walking.

[clarkacademy]

Both my girls were very late compared to my boys. My girls were around or even past 18 mnths and the boys well they walked on their on by 8 months my older son was crawling by 5 months. I just kinda figured boys are quicker to go than the girls or maybe the girls were just lazy LOL

[eksargent]

My son just turned 2 when he started to walk. He was my youngest. My older son walked at 10 months. Go figure. I was worried at the time. However, knowing him now (he is turning 7 in 2 weeks) that was just his personality. He was content sitting around watching everyone else move about. When he made up his mind he wanted to do it...he took off. Like I said, I was worried at the time, but he was just fine.

 

Emily

[FO4UR]

My ds was 15 mo before he took his first steps, and when he started walking he walked with one foot pointed out. That lasted about a week - I made a Dr appt b/c of it, and then he just stopped doing it the day before the appt:tongue_smilie: After that his walking took off. He is still clumsy, and has chubby little legs which I think contributes to the toeing out and clumsiness but no other issues. I was advised not to let him sit in the *w* position.

[FloridaLisa]

I really, really feel like this little girl 1) was disadvantaged because we all liked to hold "the baby" :001_smile:; 2) therefore had no motivation to walk; 3) is on the slow end of normal gross motor development. Your stories have reassured me that it could be nothing.

 

We are very motivated to get her exercising and and walking independently and she is responding beautifully. She stands, balances, takes a few steps, but doesn't much like falling. It's just easier to crawl thankyoukindly.

 

I will check it out with our new pediatrician, but my hope is that she'll be walking by the appointment with our encouragement.

 

Thanks all! Have a wonderful evening ~

Lisa

[cin]

My dd was late crawling and walking, but there were other issues invovled. She had been abused and had numerous broken bones which were healed up by the time she was 12 mos. But now she is 7 yrs old and I see other things that played a role. She is NOT highly coordinated, she is a cautious child, we call her skittish. And she is not highly physical. Sitting and reading a book for an hour or 2. And has been that way since she was a year old. And, her temperament: STRONG WILLED. She started crawling when she got mad at me for walking away. I sat her down and walked over to the sink. She started screaming (nothing new there!) But, I turned around and almost stepped on her, she had crawled over to me!!!!

 

So, there's my experience with a late walker. :D

[MOCA]

My father, a successful MD, didn't walk until 18 mths!

[Kathy in MD]

My ds was walking at 18 mo, but he walked with his upper body leaning forward and his arms stretched out behind him. He had severe balance and other sensory problems.

 

I'd look into possible problems, because it's better to address them early. But there's also a chance there's no problem.

[Annie N]

Don't have time to read the other posts, but I didn't walk til I was 18 month old (and I heard about it for decades!!!!) and now I walk just fine :wink: ;)

[Ellie]

which may or may not relate to your situation at all.

 

I was visiting with someone when my dd was about 12 mos old. She was walking, but my friend Alice's dd, who was about a month older, was not. I watched as my friend's baby stood rooted in one spot, hanging on to the sofa; she plopped down at one point and sat there and cried until Alice picked her up and attached her to the sofa again :-) Then Alice put baby in the walker, and baby zoomed off.

 

A few days later Alice and I were talking on the telephone, and Alice commented about my baby walking and hers not. I said I had noticed that Alice had picked her baby up when she had fallen, and Alice said the baby couldn't pick herself up. I also said I had noticed that the baby had zoomed around in the walker, and that there was a "jolly jumper" thingie hanging in the doorway. Alice said the baby was almost always either in the walker or in the jolly jumper. And I said that *sometimes* those aids actually keep babies from walking as soon as they might, because they don't *need* to walk.

 

Alice called me a couple of weeks later. She had removed the walker and the jolly jumper from her house. The baby was crawling within a few days, and walking by the end of the week.

 

So I'm just saying that sometimes those walkers actually keep babies from *walking*, because they don't *need* to walk.

 

The "average" age for children to begin walking is 1 year old, BTW.

[FloridaLisa]

I did with nearly all of my others, though and I wonder if that gave them a headstart with length strength. Anyway, when I wrote "walker" I actually meant one of those things that toddlers push to stabilize them as they learn to walk. Like pushing a shopping cart.

 

Yes, I can see how putting her in a walker or jumpy thing would inhibit walking. Having older siblings carry and entertain them does the same thing, I'm afraid. :tongue_smilie:

 

Lisa

[Renee in NC]

I have an 18-month-old (nearly 19 months) that is just now taking her first independent steps. She's been walking with her walker and zooming her little chairs all over the place for months, but she wouldn't walk on her own. She was no where near ready to walk independently at 12 months (still wobbly), cruised at 15 months and is just now taking the first steps.

 

She understands everything. She babbles and has a developing vocabulary. Hears great, ascends and descends steps.

 

Since I understand there is wide variation in these developmental milestones, I didn't panic when she didn't walk by her 1st birthday. By 15 months, I instructed all siblings to please put her down and let her do it! She made progress. But, at what point do I worry?

 

And, yes, we have an appt with a pediatrician. We've been in the process of changing pediatricians which is why she hasn't been evaluated yet. PT friend evaluated and said everything looked like it was working well.

 

Any other really late walkers? What do I need to look out for?

 

Thanks!

Lisa

 

I had 2 walk at 18 months and 1 at 20 months - all perfectly fine now!

[Ellie]

I did with nearly all of my others, though and I wonder if that gave them a headstart with length strength. Anyway, when I wrote "walker" I actually meant one of those things that toddlers push to stabilize them as they learn to walk. Like pushing a shopping cart.

OIC. But I wonder if that could still be problematic. I'd be inclined to take that away, too. She doesn't have to balance herself when she's pushing it around, KWIM?

 

Yes, I can see how putting her in a walker or jumpy thing would inhibit walking. Having older siblings carry and entertain them does the same thing, I'm afraid. :tongue_smilie:

Yup, I've seen that, too :-)

[KAR120C]

DS didn't walk until 17 months. He could stand at 12 months, but wouldn't let go of the [table, chair, sofa] to walk, and didn't actually "cruise" along things much either. He was late on all the gross motor skills, but not late enough to have an official diagnosis. The ped said he was just "cautious" which fits his personality in general.

 

At 17 months I finally just set him down at one end of a walkway (it was a long pedestrian bridge between the parking garage and the office where I had a meeting, about 100 yards I think, and since we were early for the meeting it seemed like a good time), let him hold on to my fingers, and waited until he took a couple steps, and a couple more, and finally after probably 45 minutes managed to cross the bridge. The guy who drove the little golf-cart shuttle for the parking garage thought it was hysterical (as he passed us a good half-dozen times! LOL) From then until about 18 months he only walked holding on to at least one hand, and then he was fine with walking alone, although he has always been happy to hold a hand when one was available. Even now!

 

He was late on gross motor skills across the board, way back to rolling over and pushing up and all that, so I don't think it was anything particular to walking. It was just that it was a more visible delay. Also he never had a walker or an older sibling, and never bothered to use things as walkers -- he just scooted around or crawled (also late). As of his first birthday we owned a ride-on toy, but he didn't use it until after he walked.

 

Another poster mentioned balance issues with big heads, which might have been the case with DS (>95th percentile for head circumference, average or slightly below average height and weight, tiny feet), but I think the temperment was the biggest issue. There haven't been any real lingering issues, and he has become quite a good tap dancer since then. :)

 

The number of times people have said, in regards to some aspect of homeschooling and whether one was pushing academics or sticking too closely to a PS scope and sequence, that "you didn't just set your child down at a certain age and say 'you're old enough to walk, so go ahead and do it!'"... well... I guess I did, didn't I! LOL

[FloridaLisa]

The number of times people have said, in regards to some aspect of homeschooling and whether one was pushing academics or sticking too closely to a PS scope and sequence, that "you didn't just set your child down at a certain age and say 'you're old enough to walk, so go ahead and do it!'"... well... I guess I did, didn't I! LOL

 

That's just about what I'm telling my little one! ;)

 

Thanks for all of your experience ladies! I appreciate it ~

Lisa

[Karen FL]

Our second child didn't walk nor talk until he was 23 months. To whatever question the nurse practitioner asked at our well appointments, the answers were always, "No, he's not doing that. No, he's not doing that either." I kept telling the NP that I was not worried. I could see that our son understood everything that was going on. He just didn't seem interested in walking nor talking. DH tends to worry so he pushed me to get referrals for Physical and Speech Therapy. I can't say that he was helped by the therapy sessions. He started speaking in complete sentences when he did speak. His first words to the director of our nursery were, "That's our new mini-van."

Our ds still doesn't like to do anything until HE is good and ready to do them.

[rjperez1]

My dd, now 3, scooted around on her bottom until she was approx. 18mo. She never really crawled. The weirdest part was that she had a "friend" from nursery at our church who was a month younger than her and did the same thing! I wasn't sure how to feel! She is fine now and we look back and giggle esp. at the pictures.