First Child-18 Mos, Not Walking

My first son was born only 3 weeks early, but had intra uterine growth retardation (IUGR). There is no telling how early he was truly born because they just stop developing after a certain point. Anyway - he did not start walking until he was 18 months old. The Drs. told me that with a premature baby, the neurological development is much slower and that until that part of the brain is fully developed, they wont walk. I tried to help him build the muscles by putting him in his walker at the lowest setting so that he would have to stand up and walk to move around. I also bought a jumper and put it pretty low so that he could learn balance of standing up in a place where he felt comfortable and knew he would not fall if he lost his balance.

It is difficult to have a child that seems to be slow in the stages of life, but children like ours do catch up! My son is 4 1/2 now, he is still small for his age, but not by much. He is also reading at a pace that most boys his age don't come close to - so don't worry!! When he is ready to walk - he will.

Good luck!

please remember he had a slow start and had to overcome a lot of development that some others have already accomplished, all 5 of my children were born premies, trust me they will catch up in their own time. 1 of mine was 4 lbs 2 oz and 1 was 4 lbs 4 ozs, and today they have children and grand children. be patient and dont forget to ask GOD to help. once they get their security with in them self you will not be able to stop them. my 2 premies now go futher, longer and out work their seblings. and all my children are in their late 40s. take care, be kind and please be patient. GMAJ

Talk to your peditrician. My son did not walk until 15 months. if nothing is wrong with him he just does not want to walk. my son just stood up one day and ran. the dr said he could do it all along.

Hi...my daughter didn't start walking until she was 19 months old. She was full-term. We had someone from USF come out to evaluate her (they said she was fine) and the next day we caught her walking to the garbarge can, just a couple of steps, but she was doing it by herself. Ask your pediatrician about the evaluation...it is free.

The push toy is a great idea. My daughter needed to walk holding the push toy until she was ready to walk without it. It gave her the confidence and skill she needed to develop to walk on her own. We even would take the push toy outside and let her walk on the sidewalk with it. Eventually, she ventured out on her own. Practice, practice, practice.

I would check w/the pedi. I have twins that are almost 16mos. They were 6 weeks early. Everything's been just a little delayed until walking. AJ started walking about 2mos ago (which is normal), but Abby doesn't. She doesn't even try. She seems scared to do it also. I asked the pedi at the 15mo checkup (for my peace of mind), and he said if there's little or no improvement w/in 2mos, come back in, and he'll have to refer us somewhere. She does cruise and has a push toy she walks with, but is very slow. We'll see what happens.

first of all stop panicking. I'm a SAHM first time mom. my son was born 1 1/2 month premature with 3 pounds only. he's now 2 yrs old, healthy and doing good. he was late for everything. he's having speech therapy because he doesn't talk yet. just to tell you not to worry. i had to work in day care for 1 month just to have some experience cause I'm going to open a home daycare and that's when i have realized that my son was delayed compare to kids of his age and even younger. he was not active as they were. and i got myself informed to help him out. now I'm looking for playgroups any activities to help him socialize. do the same it will help your son a lot. i had a request on mamamsource for playgroups and i have found a lot of links check it out. Good luck I'm sure your son will be fine.

Hello J., Nothing to worry about. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Nicholas, he is just telling you that he is not ready yet. Of course all parents are impatiently await for baby's first steps. Please don't rush anything. Babies limbs and bones are still very soft. When parents push their babies too much where there might be hips alignment problem, bow legs etc. He might be just skipping the cruising stage and before you'll know he will be walking and looking for trouble. Just enjoy this stage, you will miss it very much! The longer babies crawl the better and stronger their muscle development; their arms, their backs, stomach. The stronger the muscles more protection to the bones. Just for future reference; bare feet are better for those very first steps. Walkers and jumpers are also great. He will be running before you'll know it. I will be looking forward towards your update, please keep us posted.

I know a mom who had was in a similar situation. It takes time for some premature babies to develop certain muscular strength for standing and walking alone according to her doctor and no need to worry, it should even out later. However, her daughter was not crawling or standing and barely sitting up by a year. Mom looked for help with a physical therapist who helped ease the tension in the muscles and taught her movement and stretching and little by little she bagan to stand up and after 2 years of age began to walk a little. She is doing wonderfully today. Seek additional medical opinions and good luck!

Hi,My name is S..I have 4 children.My son who is now 9,started walkin at 18 months.Don't get discouraged when he is ready,it will happen.My son stopped talking when I brought my daughter home from the hospital,.When she started to talk,he started talking again in full sentences.I know how concerned you are over it,but really they all do their own thing an take off when their ready.Just keep working with him,he will take off soon.If you need someone to talk too sometime you can e-mail me at,____@____.com.I'm home all the time.Oh yeah,an all my children were 3 weeks to a month early.

Has his doctor expressed concern? If not, then I wouldn't worry. What you need to do is subtract those 2 1/2 months from his birth age, because he's really closer to being 15 1/2 or 16 months old. If he's tall, he could be a late walker as well. Both of my best friends have tall children, and theirs were both late walkers (18 mos for one, 17 mos for the other). Both of their children's doctors said that the taller the frame and the more weight on it makes it harder for a little body's muscles to hold itself up. Not that either child was overweight, but the boy was the size of a typical 2 yr old at 15 months. The little girl is also in the 80th percentile in height.

All you can do is keep working with him to build up his balance and leg strength, and encourage walking even if he's holding on to you or furniture. Soon, he'll let go and do it all on his own.

It could be a depth perception problem.

My daughter, who was full-term, did not begin walking until she was 15 1/2 months. Her pediatrician was not at all concerned. In fact, the doctor told us that children begin walking, on average, at 15 months (not 12 months like most people think). The doctor also said that she wouldn't even consider any kind of therapy until 19 months. So no worries... your little one will walk in his own time.