Did you do anything to encourage walking?

One of my boys is incredibly cautious – he is very careful about everything he does (the other is the complete opposite!). Yes this is great – BUT he seems scared to walk. He stood without holding onto anything almost a month ago. Then after that if you would ask him stand to he would either shake his head no or start crying, so we backed off and stopped asking and just let him do it in his own time. When he does it he LOVES all the praise and excitement he gets. As of about a week ago he will stand up and take 3-5 steps toward me or DH and then do a hail mary and fall in your arms. Is this how long this normally takes? Should just let him go at his pace? Anything we can do to encourage him?

 

I had a cautious daughter who did not walk until 20 months. We had her in EI, tried everything they suggested, but in the end and in hindsight, it really was just because she's very cautious. And the older they get before they walk, the more the have a fear of falling, IMO.

The suggestion we got the most was to set up chairs where it is more convenient to take a few steps between them than get down and crawl. Set interesting things on the seats of the chairs. But that never worked on my DD.

 

Some things we did to encourage walking was:

Like PP suggested, putting chairs (or other pieces of furniture) closer together so that they'd walk between them.

Have a push toy for them.

Me and my husband would sit in a Vshape with our feet touching and they'd walk between us and as they got more comfortable we'd move further apart.

Time. With all this stuff, my son took his time and did it when he was good and ready... but I like to pretend I helped him along. :laughing:

 

My son was also very cautious about walking too. We had a push toy for him to use and would make a big deal about him taking walks with us in the living room. We would hold both of his hands and let him practice. Plus, lots and lots of praise. Once he felt confident, he was walking like a champ. Good luck!

 

Squeaky shoes! Jessy wasn't interested till we got her some then she enjoyed making the noise :laughing:

 

where do you get those??

 

weesqueak.net has some cute one but we bought ours from pipsqueakers.com. I think i actually ordered them from amazon

 

I don't think Kelsey will start walking anytime soon, she didn't crawl until after their birthday. Ryley has taken a couple steps on his own and will walk from the couch to the coffee table. We hold things out infront of him to entice him...sometimes he will sit to crawl, we stand him back up. With Korey is was the wipes box :laughing: I am not sure why but that was his favorite toy, I would hold it out infront of him and he would try and walk to it.

 

DD was a cautious walker too. She first crawled at 11 months, but didn't start walking until 16 months. DS started several months before that & so we kept trying to encourage her to walk too. But she wanted no part of it & nothing we did could change her mind---I could get her to take a step or two but that was it. Finally, one day we went to the hair salon to get their 1st haircut, DD took one look around & then got up and started walking! I was amazed! I guess she felt like she needed to show everyone there what a big girl she was!

 

DD2 didn't walk until 18 months. But we did find a trick to get her going independently. Just by chance, they were all playing with a toddler harness. DD1 put it onto DD2, and all of a sudden, she got up and walked! It was like Dumbo's magic feather. It gave her no help, but she thought it did.

 

I have a cautious DD. She is just now starting to walk on her own, by that I mean taking 8-10 steps and even turn around now. The minut eshe thinks she is goign to fall on her knees she goes. She actually has been walking on her knees for a few months, its very funny and I always get "Ive never seen a kid do that before". She has a push toy we call her old lady walker, that is how she gets around the house (its really funny). My son has been walking since 11mo and he is a bruiser which is why I think she is a bit more cautious, he was always knocking her down...still does. I also wonder too.... because I carried her alot chasing my DS (if we were out), if that made her a bit lazy.

I havent pushed her, I know she can do it, but in her time.

Hang in there, hell be walking before ya know it!

 

My DD didn't walk until 18 months and part of it was her confidence. One trick that really helped (in addition to lining up all the furniture) was pulling her back from the chair or couch and letting her walk to it by herself, just a few step away at a time...they use the same technique for teaching swimming. "Pull them away from the wall a bit and let them swim back to it themselves". A LOT of cheering and clapping helped too! :clapping: