Not walking yet...Can i worry now?

[nyc_mom]

Hey everyone,

I was hoping I could get some advice. DD is 15 months old and is not walking yet. Everyone keeps telling me not to worry but it's hard when I take her to play group and classes with her peers and she's the only one not walking. When should I start to worry? I worked as a speech therapist in early intervention so my first thought is to get a physical therapy evaluation. Am I a crazy first time mom? Any suggestion?

nyc_mom
http://b2.lilypie.com/yVa8m5/.png


http://bd.lilypie.com/HiJNm5/.png

[brittone2]

The average age for walking is about 13.5 months, but the normal range is up to 18 months. There's no way to know for sure without evaluating your DD first-hand, but at 15 months I doubt your dd would qualify for services unless she's not yet pulling to stand, cruising, or crawling. If a child isn't walking but has the precursory skills at that age, there's probably not much room for concern unless you see other indicators of potential issues (really abnormal muscle tone for example).

You might want to talk it over with your pediatrician but most kids won't qualify for PT at that age unless they are missing some other skills in addition to walking. HTH. I wouldn't worry yet...I know it is hard but your DD is still well within the range of normal (provided everything else is going okay) most likely :) Obviously I don't know your DD so I can't be specific but I doubt she'd qualify if she hit her other milestones.

(I worked in early intervention as a pediatric PT before DS was born...it is a mixed blessing sometimes because I think it makes you worry a little extra when you are looking at your own child ;) )

[kedss]

hi-

my ds didn't really walk til he was 18 months, he cruised for a long time before he did. I think for him crawling was faster for a while.

edited for typo

[nyc_mom]

Working in EI has definitely made me worry more rather than less. In my rational mind I realize my DD may just be reaching her gross motor milestones at the end of the range. But my mommy mind worries all the time. She is crawling and cruisng and pulling to a stand and she seems to have typical muscle tone (though she's a chubster!) so I know her delay wouldn't be significant enough by EI standards. But a part of me wonders if a private PT eval would be warranted.

Thanks for all the advice. Maybe I'll try to hold off and not worry for a little longer.


nyc_mom
http://b2.lilypie.com/yVa8m5/.png


http://bd.lilypie.com/HiJNm5/.png

[Corie]

My son is one week shy of being 15 months old and he isn't
walking yet either. He cruises all around the furniture
and he walks with his push toys but not by himself. I think
he feels that crawling is much faster! :)

For what it's worth, my 4-year-old daughter starting walking
at 10 months old.


I guess my son is just taking his own sweet time!! :)

[brittone2]

If her tone is normal and everything else is going well (she's obviously hitting her other milestones) I'd definitely wait it out :) Yep, the EI background is a curse sometimes LOL ;)

I hope she'll be walking soon but for now try not to worry :) If she wasn't hitting her other milestones it would be very different IMO.

Deep breaths ;)

[jacobmatias]

My daughter started walking a week before she was 18 months ( and got her 1st tooth at 15 months!) and she is completely fine now. So do not worry unless you see other signs that there may be a problem.

[COElizabeth]

I agree that it's too early to worry about walking since she is meeting other milestones. At my DS's 1-year checkup, the ped saw how fast and well my son crawled and remarked that he didn't expect him to walk anytime soon because he was so good at crawling. James started walking at 15 1/2 months and definitely has no gross motor concerns.

Elizabeth, Mom to James, 9-20-02
and Charlotte, 11-04-04

[calebsmama03]

FWIW, DS didn't start walking until 15 mos but when he did, he was running within a few days! I like to think of it as waiting until he's perfected the steps of a task in his head, lol! Seriously, he has been on outside edge of "normal" for most tasts but excels at them when he does them (skips the initial "tentative" phase).
Lynne
Mommy to C 3/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif[/img][/url]
And Miss Purple, 5/05

[AmyZ]

My DD did not walk on her own until 18.5 months! At 15 mo. I really started "working" on it more with her. We would take walks up and down the street and I would hold both hands, and then around 17.5 I would hold one hand. I also have early childhood special ed. experience, so I was sort of worried, but my true gut told me that she just wasn't ready yet. My ped. said that if she was not walking at 17 months, I should make an appt. with a ped. neurologist before they would refer me to any type of EI. By the time our appt. rolled around, she had just started walking. Like other PP's said, my DD also crawled very fast -- why bother walking?! :-)
Also-- enjoy it now... guess what they do once they start to walk??

RUN -- everywhere!!

Amy Z

"Ma!" to Eliana May 2/5/04
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif[/img][/url]

[ett]

DS took his first steps at 16 months and started walking at 17 months. He was also a very good crawler which probably contributed to why he started walking late. I wouldn't worry about it but if you're still concerned, give your ped a call to see what they say.

[omgrown]

My DS is also about a week shy of turning 15 mos and is still not walking on his own. He has taken steps, but chooses to crawl or cruise the great majority of the time. I don't have any additional words of wisdom, but it sounds like she's still got some time before you need to worry if all her other milestones are being hit on time.
I worry like that too. Whenever I take him to places with lots of other kids his age, they're all running around and he's on the floor crawling, like a little speeding truck, but crawling nonetheless. It can be disheartening, but my gut tells me he's fine, so I'm going with that for now.

[deenass]

MY DS didn't walk until he was 16 mos. He didn't crawl until he was 10 mos (DH was disappointed, he walked at 9 mos. I was thrilled, who needs a walking 9 month old???? :)

The nice thing about him not walking until 16 mos, is that once he started, he just walked, and he was old enough to understand some basic limits.