Anyone else have "knee walkers"?

Hi,

This is my first post in the 1-4 board since I took a short break from TS right before the babies 1st Birthday and am just getting back on. Anywho...

I have two very stubborn children who refuse to walk. They went from crawling to "walking" on there knees, something I have never seen another child do. They can get where they want/need to go that way and are pretty darn quick at it too and I think that is probably the reason they wont walk because they dont need to. So anyone else have this issue and have any advice on how to stop it and get them to actually walk. We have tried sitting on the floor and having them walk back and forth to us, standing and trying the same thing, and standing a couple feet from the couch and trying to have them walk to the couch. Faith will atleast try a little but then gets frustrated and resorts back to the "knee walk". Thomas wont do it at all he just gets right down and goes back to the "knee walk". We also walk with them holding their hands and do great for the most part but as soon as we let go they go back to the "knee walk". Help please.

 

DD did this, too.

She started about 16 months and intermittently crawled and "knee walked".

FINALLY at 17 1/2 months, she just got up and walked. She stopped crawling immediately and only knee-walked if she was going a really short distance.

 

Sarah never did this (she also barely ever crawled -- went from cruising to crawling to walking, in that order), but Amy did. For about a month, she walked on her knees. I think it's pretty normal, although if yours have been doing it for months, you might ask your ped about it. I think they will get it eventually. They may just not feel stable enough walking on their feet yet.

 

Both our girls did this for a while before walking. A close friend is a physical therapist assistant (we didn't take the girls to therapy; he's just always at the house!), and he theorized that it helped build their ab muscles and balance.

I wouldn't worry about it. They'll walk when they're ready.

 

My DD did this for a long time, and she just started walking right before Christmas at 20 months. The PT said it was fine she was doing it, she was building important muscles. But I thought she'd never stop! But she did and now she's a pro at walking.

I think someone posted about this a while back and from the responses it seemed like knee walkers were later walkers for the most part, but they all walked within the proper time frame and did fine.

 

One of my daughters is a knee-walker, and she's almost 17m! She can take about 10 steps if she wants to, but prefers to knee-walk or crawl. Her sister will only crawl. Their PT isn't concerned, so I try not to be either.