15 month old not walking

@galileesilk My daughter just started walking the last three days, and she's almost 16 months. We encouraged her to walk by holding her hand and encouraging her to do it independently. We asked our pediatrician because like many new parents, we were super nervous too about her not walking like all the other kids, and our pediatrician mentioned that they don't refer PT until 18 months. Go with you gut. Nothing wrong with PT, but totally normal for the age range.

Edit: Saw your comment below. Our girl was also born at 37 weeks.
 
@empower Thank you! our pediatrician said she was concerned mainly because he's not able to stand alone (without leaning on something), was your daughter standing alone early on or closer to when she started walking?
 
@galileesilk Standing on her own happened maybe 2 weeks prior but was very infrequent and super unsteady. And then she tried to walk by herself for another week or so, falling every 2-3 steps.
 
@galileesilk I’d say stop focusing on the big milestone and try to spot the smaller ones that lead up to walking. Maybe you see him kicking or bouncing? That’s him strengthening his leg muscles for walking. Maybe your see him doing lots of ‘upward dog’ type postures or energetically bashing with his arms? That’s him strengthening his core and back to prepare for walking.

Maybe he likes pulling up and bumpy back down again? That’s strengthening again and experimenting with balance. Or maybe he’s suddenly reaching across his body or interested in clapping/banging things together? All bilateral coordination skills that he will need for waking too.
 
@galileesilk Well this is exactly what your PT will be able to tell you.

My point was more to say, focus on observing and appreciating what he IS doing rather than focusing on what he’s NOT doing and you’ll be able to see the progress he’s making.
 
@galileesilk I follow milestones.and.motherhood on Instagram (she’s a pediatric PT in NYS). If you feel like you need/want to do activities before you see PT, she has some, and also lots of conversations about the range of “normal” milestones, mini stones, etc. She has a couple of highlights that might give you reassurance or tips (STAND, PULL>STAND). They’re located almost at the end of her highlights so you have to scroll a lot to the side to see them though. 😁 she also has a bunch of posts on cruising, mini stones, acitivities to encourage walking/standing, etc. I personally haven’t bought any of her courses or anything though), so I have no feedback on them.
 
@galileesilk we were referred to PT at 15 months also, she wasn’t independently standing or walking yet but would cruise. she refused to use all of the different walker toys. we had a few sessions of PT but honestly our daughter didn’t connect with the physical therapist, she wouldn’t let him touch her, and he wasn’t really able to help (this is not meant to discourage you— i still recommend trying PT to see if it can help!). the best thing about having PT come for us was piece of mind— he told us he didn’t see anything physically wrong and that he thought she would start walking soon. In any event she started walking 3 days shy of 19 months and hasn’t looked back, but it was stressful.
 
@galileesilk Some babies prefer crawling because it’s easier for them to get to their toy faster. There are some walkers which you can use and try to make his legs stronger to stand on. Even if he takes a few independent steps that’s good. Some babies can take upto 18 months to walk so it’s not unusual. So what we did was have a large baby stand like a fence around the baby play area with a lot of things at the top of the stand, something to attract the baby and encourage to stand. Physical therapy is also good. By any chance does your baby show interest in climbing stairs? That can help to make leg muscles strong to walk. As adults we usually do squats, lunges to get stronger legs and that’s what is required for babies as well
 
@revdstephen Thank you for this advice. He shows some interest in stairs at the playground but we don't have any stairs at home so I will try taking him to other places with stairs. That totally makes sense! As far as walkers we have the vtech walker and some balance bikes and a ride on train.
 
@galileesilk Bring him to PT. You have a referral for it and you said you were looking for insight from your pediatrician…he gave it to you. Your pediatricians insight is going to PT. It’s not like he’s going to have a neon sign above his head for the rest of his life reading “I went to PT to learn to walk.”
 
@romans_5 I understand that. Just looking for some help on here and the replies have been super super helpful for me so I’m glad I posted this. I was told to wait for PT to reach out to me, and they are just taking forever. Our healthcare system is just that way. I’ll keep trying and calling them but, in the meantime I’m super blessed to have access to this community talk to other moms about it. I know he won’t have a neon sign and everyone will forget about it one day. I know there are much worse problems to have. I’m just a human reaching out.
 
@galileesilk If he’s got some core weakness, a pediatric physio can help you with exercises to do with him! Sometimes kids just need some extra help in some ways
 
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