My 16 Month Old Is Not Walking, Should I Be Worried?

I wouldn't push it too much... My DD would flop on the floor if I tried to get her to walk when she didn't want to. But maybe get him a push toy? That helped my DD a LOT. My last roommate's DD had absolutely NO interest in walking, then she got one of those table toys. (You know, the toy itself has 4 legs, with activities all around it.) She wanted to play with it so bad that she would stand up with it. Then she started cruising around it. Then she started standing on her own, and from there taking a step or two every now and then...until finally she just took off walking. (If I remember right, she was about 14-15 months old...I think...lol)

What does his pediatrician say? It's important to get a professional opinion on this. There could be other signs that there is or is not a problem.

My son started walking at 16 ½ months. I didn’t worry about it much just because I LOVE the crawling stage! What I did though to encourage him was buy him the Bubble Blower Lawn Mower toy. He absolutely loved it and walked outside with it all the time.

Within a few weeks after buying it for him as a Christmas present, he started walking.

I remember at a Christmas party we were at someone made a comment that I should be worried and that her child was walking at 11 months (blah blah LOL) but a friend defended my son by saying “It’s been proven that late walkers are smarter!”, and even gave them back up information. Shut that person up! LOL!
My son is now 5, and is a perfectly normal 5 year old that loves to run, run, run! As far as intelligence, he is right in line with all the other kids in his class so everything is fine.

Early Childhood Intervention or ECI as it's known is a great place to go for this kind of support... They are located in every county and will come to your house and do an evaluation to determine if he qualifies for services...They provide as much or as little support as needed to help reach your goals... They provide strategies for facilitating developmental milestones... They use a sliding scale to determine costs, accept medicaid and insurance....

You should give them a call if you're worried.... i agree with previous post.. if your child feels too much pressure he may shutdown... a push toy or incredi-block of some type...

How is his speech? How are his other gross motor skills? How are his fine motor skills? Does he understand you when you speak to him? Can he follow simple directions? Has he been in the late end of the normal range with his other physical milestones?

My point is that I would be more concerned with his development as a whole rather than just looking at whether he's walking yet or not. At 16 months he's still well within the normal range for learning to walk. The time to be concerned would be if he's unable to walk at 18 months old, but again you also have to look at the rest of his development as well. There's too little information right now to tell you if you should be concerned yet or not but if his walking is the only thing he's behind in, then I wouldn't worry yet.

Edited to add: I do want to make it clear that I'm posting this as a mom to two typical children and one special needs child (with autism and other developmental concerns). I had the same questions you did about walking, and my special needs daughter didn't walk until she was about to turn 18 months. We had many worries in regard to global delays.

My daughter will be 18 months old this Saturday, and she isn't only walking, but running, climbing and into EVERYTHING. However, just six weeks ago (16 1/2 mo. old) she still wasn't walking; she seemed to have no interest in it at all!! And like you, it worried me to death!! My husband and I did all of the same things you guys are doing.. She would walk like a PRO with just one pinky finger to hold on to... But the minute you took your hand away, down she went. She would pitch HUGE fits when we would try to get her to walk back and forth between us. We finally decided she would walk when she wanted to walk; she has always been a very strong willed, independent child.

One weekend we were out of town visiting my parents, & the first question my mom asked me was if we had any new walking developments. I, somewhat bitterly, answered no and went to put our bags away. I heard my mom shriek and yell for me.... When I walked out of the room with our bags, our little one proceeded to stand up and walk across the living room and into the kitchen to find me!! She walked so well that my Mom thought we were just trying to surprise her about it!! And since that day, lily has been unstoppable, walking like a pro! She was 16 months and almost 3 weeks old.

With all that said, I don't think you should be too worried :) little ones have a surprisingly strong sense of self and seem to do most everything on their own timeline, not ours. My ped. told us she wasn't the least bit concerned about lily not walking at 16 mo. In fact she told me that many children that are later in physical milestones tend to be early in developmental milestones, and I've noticed this to be true with Lil. He'll walk when he's ready... He won't crawl into his 1st grade classroom :) no worries, mama!!

I say just leave it alone. He will walk when he's ready. If your very worried then talk to your pedi at his next appointment.

Hmmmm . . I wouln't worry about it to much. Each child develops at their own pace. I would suggest trying the previously mentioned toys. My son loves the push toys! I mean there are the tantrums from hell if he sees one and doesn't get to play with it. At the 18 month check up I would bring it up with your doctor and see what he says.

Just for some encouragement. Neither of my daughters walked until they were 17+ months old. They are 8 and 4 now and as normal as can be. I agree with the person who said that you should consider all areas of development not just walking. However if you are concerned, you can call ECI and schedule an evaluation. But 16 months is still well within the normal range for learning to walk.

my first didn't walk till he was 17 months, my third walked at 20 months... they are both fine. keep an open conversation with your Dr and you can have him evaluated if you want but for my third he just waited till he had room to practice, we were living in an apartment while our house was being built, so he just wouldn't do it, the day we moved he walked and never went back. the first is one of those kids that just didn't do stuff till he knew he could do it, one day he just got up and walked, no practice nothing, just went! sometimes they just think it is easier to crawl, so that's what they do

Try ECI (Early Childhood Intervention)
www.ReadyStart.org
toll free 1-866-619-5660

I would discuss this with your pediatrician. He or she might recommend you take him to pediatric physical therapist. There's one in town called PlayWorks.

My daughter was extremely early and walked at 7.5 months (the earliest our pediatrician had ever seen) but didn't talk until she was almost 3. My neice, the same age as my daughter, didn't walk until 18 months but was talking full sentences at the same time. Different kids develop different things at different times. Don't stress. If your pediatrician is OK with it then it's fine. Before you know it he'll be walking and on the precipice of danger all the time. ;o)

I would talk to your pediatrician about your concerns.

If you are worried you could have him evaluated (for free) by ECI:
http://www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis/resources/development.shtml

Frustrating, but I have been there... twice. Both of my boys took their sweet time walking with my first waiting until he was almost 17 months old and my second waiting until he was just shy of 17 months. We did WAY too much for our first and swore we'd make our second more independent. and boy did we ever. So we were convinced the whole walking thing was an issue with independence, until our second rascal came along. He is 18 months now, super independent and almost running.

We think two things were occurring with both boys:

1. Something genetic - we have no idea how old either one of us were when we walked and they say it can be inherited.

2. And just as important. Both of my boys were well advanced in their talking. My first had tons of words down at this point (maybe about fifty) and could use them when prompted. My second has easily 60 words at this point and uses them at will. He is extremely social and has been talking since about 10 half months (time frame same with first son).

If they focus on something else rather than walking, then that is what they will acheive first!

No worries, your DS is likely doing just fine and thinking about other stuff right now.

My first walked at 15.5 months and my younger one week before turning 18 months. Both walk fine now (teenagers!) and are very athletic, intelligent, etc. No worries. Honestly, I think you may be making too big of a deal about this. Walking a few steps back and forth between adults should be a super fun game for him. If he is pitching fits about it, he may be feeling pressure to perform. Just because littles one's can't communicate well, it doesn't mean they don't feel stress. He probably senses that this is a big deal to you, and he feels like he 'can't' do it. Too much pressure. Our stress about these things really transfers to our kids.
Time for everyone to relax. He'll learn all on his own. If he's able to walk while holding one hand, and/or cruising furniture, he's fine. My ped said he never even thinks about it unless they reach their 18 month check up without walking.

My oldest daughter and middle son started walking right after their first birthday but my third son didn't walk until he was 18 months old. It was just like all the sudden, ok, I want to walk now! So I would give it a couple of months. If it still seems like he is not interested or not even close, then, I would look into it. My son was also a little late on everything else too, like talking and climbing and things like that. I think it all depends on their personality too. If they have a more timid personality it may be that he is just afraid to try new things but as soon as they find out how much more fun walking is then he will take off!!

I would be worried, and I would contact ECI or EI (early childhood intervention) and the Pedi asap. This is something that needs to be looked at right away.

My son walked at 14 months. Besides walking with you (for short periods because those little legs get tired), get him some walking toys so he can hold on and push and walk himself. My son LOVED pushing a stool up and down our hall. Sure he was holding on, but he was walking, practicing, using those muscles, developing his sense of balance and before you know it he won't need to hang on so much anymore.
Crawling, rolling, scooting, cruising, etc is good too. As long as they are moving, exploring (and trying to get into stuff - it makes you crazy) - the moving is all good.