Not walking yet @ 17 months

Replies

• LiveWire20436

  Aug 14, 2007 2:54AM

  My daughter is 16 months old and has only JUST started walking........but she won't walk anywhere other than in our living room! She crawls 99% of the time and although it frustrates me, I am trying to remember that she is an individual and she'll walk in her own time. What really started her off was when I took her for her first pair of real shoes and made a proper fuss, taking her to see her grandparents and auntie and having them make a fuss of her shoes - any time after that whenever she gets her shoes on she wants to stand up and walk. The other thing I did (and still do) is get her to walk holding on to my hands as often as possible - when going to the car, when going to the shop, when going into the kitchen for meals - she's progressed from holding both hands to holding only one. Hopefully she'll take off herself shortly, I'm just trying to be patient. Also, I heard that they can only concentrate on one thing at a time - if they are developing other skills like talking or motor skills, they tend not to be able to concentrate on learning to walk at the same time. Good luck!

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• wenders

  Aug 14, 2007 7:15AM

  hiya
  my son is 23 months old and has mild cerebral palsy. he still doesn't walk on his own yet but will walk holding onto my hand and will walk around holding the furniture. his physio says it's all about confidence building and getting them to experience walking as many times as possible and if he doesn't want to walk then not to push him, as that will make it worse.
  
  like timefor2 says get them to walk to the car or to walk to the kitchen for dinner etc.
  
  if walking in a 'normal' child is delayed then speech/fine motor skills/eating etc will have taken priority the same way a child could walk at 12 months but then not speak until 2 years old. it's all swings & roundabouts really.
  
  also the best way to get to gain confidence is to walk holding onto their shoulders so they can learn to use their hands/arms to balance or holding onto their hips. at the moment daniel doesn' like this too much but he'll still try to hold onto my hand which makes him feel safe.
  
  they will do it in their own time but as they get older they become more aware that falling will hurt, so in turn will take longer to gain the confidence to go for it alone. but they will do it & when they do you'll be chasing them around wishing they'd stop! xxx )
  
  [Modified by: wenders on August 14, 2007 12:18 PM]
  

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• lu007

  Aug 15, 2007 6:25AM

  I didn't walk til i was 18 months. my mum said i was sensible cos i didn't keep falling over, i'd waited til i was 100% ready!!

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