16 Months and Still NOT Walking!!!

My middle child was the same way! One night I was at Baskin Robbins with a friend, and she looked at my daughter and said,"If you want a bite of ice cream, you need to walk to me." My daughter let go of my fingers and took about 5 steps to get a bite of ice cream. She has been walking ever since. :)

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I am sure you have tried this. Give your child a toy to hold on while you hold onto it also.. walk around for a few minutes, when your child is not looking let go. We have done this with many friends like you and it has worked many times.

My mom says that is how they got me to walk around. I would walk with her holding onto a pencil (I know not considered safe now) and my mom would let go and I would walk.. She says for a while if I was cruising or scooting around saw a pencil I would pick it up and walk with it. Till I figured out I did not need the pencil.

i wouldnt worry, both of my SIL children starting to walk 16-17m, actually running :) i didnt realize 16m is an average age for walking ability. by their 18m pediatrician appt. it was just fine. my SIL didnt push them, didnt have a walker just a little cart but the kids didnt show any interest. I am going to see if i can find the link my SIL emailed me about this study which actually states the later walking the better. if i remember correctly, crawling ability is reinforced for kids in older age to help them perfect some kind of learning ability. smart kid, free scholarship and a retirment plan LOL. i will pm you the info.

encouragement! My daughter walked earlier, at 11 months... but when she was able to walk, but not quite ready to "step out" on her own... I Tied a long string to a screw in the ceiling. at the end of the string I tied a fun toy. I made the toy high enough that my daughter could reach it only if she was standing up... and far enough away from any furniture that she would have to walk to get it.

She was walking within a couple days.

But don't worry- I was 16 months when I started walking, and I am still super coordinated and developed just fine! Just wait, soon she will be not just walking... but running and YOU'LL be chasing after her!

-M.

Well... she IS walking. She just wants to hold onto stuff when she does it. One of these days she'll do it without holding something and not even be thinking about it.

I would be worried if she weren't walking at all or showing interest in walking, but she's walking.

I went through the same thing with my son who didn't walk on his own until 18 months! Starting around 13 mo, he would walk holding on to something like your daughter. We'd go for long walks holding his hand and he loved it. But he was and is and has always been such a cautious fellow! He's now 32 mo and just the other day for the first time, he climbed up the slide at the playground all by himself. I've seen babies blow past him while he was deciding if he was ready. When we took him for his 18 mo check-up, the docs wanted him to have an evaluation and send someone to help him start walking. i was pissed! I knew that he was fine and it was totally psychological. I knew that he'd walk when he was damn well ready. And let me tell you, when he did start taking those first steps, he was an expert walker almost instantly. We skipped that whole clumsy cute falling-down getting into everything stage altogether. Soon after he was running.

At least one other mom mentioned the idea of playing with other kids. That was exactly what did it for my son. The neighbors had two boys ages 9 and 6, and they loved my son and always wanted to play with him. they'd pick him up and hug him. So cute! One day while playing with them he took his first steps. As much as I loved some of the suggestions on here, and think they sound like good ideas, if your daughter is anything like my son, he is stubborn as a bull and gets performance anxiety. I might add he's also extraordinarily smart, and he knows if I'm up to something like trying to get him to walk. The first time he peed in the potty, I was in the other room! But oh... when he is with other kids, there is a whole host of things he will do that would never fly if it was just him & I.

Don't worry about your sweetie, don't get frustrated, she will be walking soon enough and then soon you won't remember what it was like when she didn't. One thing my son has taught me is that they all have their own little timelines... I sincerely think it is best to let them walk these lines at their own pace.

Some babies do not walk until they are 18 months. She will do it when she
is ready. One day in the very near future she will take off running and not
stop! She sounds like she is doing all the pre-walking things necessary.

hi there, i'm prob no help at all. my son didn't walk until straight up 16 ms. i told myself if he didn't walk by 16 ms i was calling ECI (early childhood intervention). and i'll be darned, he walked exactly in his 16 months. it's as if he knew i was going to call, lol. i don't have any way to specifically encourage her b/c i'm sure you're doing everything you can since 1.) you're a momma & obviously wanna do what's best for her and 2.) you've already had two babies & been down the parenting road. this is my first baby & i had no idea what i was doing! my vote is to just keep doing what you're doing & wait for the inevitable to happen. i bet she's walking in the next couple wks, if not at least within the next couple months. you know how it is, these babies have no interest in doing things when WE want them too, lol. good luck, you're doing good mama! :)

The fact that she will walk while holding onto something leads me to think you really should not stress over much about this, she will walk independently when she is ready. Have you tried the squeaker shoes? They only squeak if they step down right...both my sister and I have had babies that did not want to walk right, we had toe walkers...the squeaker is in the heel, so if they wanted to squeak it they had to step right...just an idea.

If your baby is like mine, she insists on being held. And by insists- she refuses take no for an answer! Boy she can throw a fit! My baby girl is 13 mos, and still won't walk on her own for more than 1 step. Any more than that, and she plops right down on her fanny and goes to crawling. My son walked at 11 mos! She had much prefer to be toted around with me, watching what I am doing, and trying to "assist". I am trying my best not to carry her around as much because I think she will start walking if I just leave her to her own means. Easier said than done! I am very interested to see some of the responses. Good luck to you!

My daughter was 19 months before she started walking. We even had her evaluated. The neurologist's suggestion was to find a child that she liked that was about age 6 or 7, have them play with her for a while, then have them go outside and play without her. Tell her she can't play with them because she isn't walking. The idea was that a 6 yo would want to eventually play their own games and if she can't be involved it would give her more incentive to want to walk. Sure enough, one day my nephew was playing with her and the opportunity came up to play ball outside with his brother and he left her in a quick second. Because she couldn't walk, my MIL wouldn't let her outside. Well, she was ready to walk with assistance real quick. A few days later we had someone from our Infants and Toddlers program come see her and darn if she didn't walk across the room for her. My son didn't walk until he was 16 months and he took his first steps for my father when I wasn't there. For some reason, they are sometimes more inclined to do it for someone else first.

My daughter didn't crawl til 13 months, didn't walk til 17, and 7 years later she's splendidly on-target academically and physically. We did call Early Intervention and I think it was helpful. She'll walk when she's ready!