When people ask if your child is walking, what does this mean?

So, along w/speech concerns, pediatrician said it would be concerning if the twins aren't walking by 15 months old...

But what does this mean?

Does this mean:
A) Took some steps
B) Can walk more than a couple steps unsupported
C) Can walk a little bit unsupported (around a corner, etc.) but still is unsteady and falls sometime, and is still crawling most of the time
D) Walking about 1/2 the time
E)Walking as their primary mode of transportation, crawling occassionally
F) Walking all of the time

Our boys are at C right now (and 15 months in 3 days). They run around the kitchen with push toys, but can walk a little unsteadily, around a corner, etc. but fall down. They are crawling most of the time still. They took their 1st steps at 13 months.

What do pediatricians, developmental experts mean when they say 'child is/should be walking'?

 

I don't know what "experts" say, but I highly doubt they define it as F. My guys have been walking as their primary mode of transportation for over 4 months and they still get down and crawl occasionally, just for grins. Heck, so do I!

My guys also went from A to E within a matter of a couple weeks, so the intermediary stages went by very quickly. If I had to make a guess, I'd say B or C because (based on my limited experience) going from a few steps to a lot of steps goes pretty fast. ardon:

I'd call 'em and ask 'em!

 

I would say it's somewhere between B and C. They should be able to get across a room without looking like they're just lurching from one fall to the next :laughing: , but they can still be crawling a lot or even most of the time.

Both my girls took a long time (a couple of months) to get from A to B -- though they did it at completely different times, Amy at 11-12 months and Sarah at 14-15. But then they went from B to E in another month or two.

 

For me, I said my girls were walking when they walked most of the time (so probably somewhere between D and E). Like everyone else, that happened pretty quickly after the first few staggering steps.

If your pedi is thinking along the same lines I did, then he's not following all the guidelines that I've seen, which say that typically walking occurs anywhere between 12 - 18 months. So if your boys aren't walking by 15 months, I don't know that I'd worry...

 

Weird. So is it unusual that it’s been almost two months since they took their first steps, and they are only at C?

 

I think your kids and mine are the same! :laughing:

ETA: Up to 18 months is still within the "normal range." My doc was not concerned that they are not proficient walkers (15 mnth app)

 

Nope, not weird at all.
My DD started walking at 10 months and had it down pat by 11 months. My DS however, took tenative first steps around 12 months and was not a full, confident walker until 14-15 months.

 

Same here. :good:

 

this is what i've heard as well - it seems strange that your doc has a shorter time line for these things than most other docs (it seemed like the same thing with speech). :unknw: i think it's causing you a lot of unnecessary anxiety. :hug:

both my girls did the same thing as Nancy's little guy - they took their first tentative steps around 11 months & i thought oh crap, now we're in for it! :laughing: but then they didn't reach a point where they were walking regularly/well until 15 months. it did seem to happen "overnight" though - one day they were hesitant, taking 3 - 4 steps before sitting down, preferring to crawl and the next they were motoring around like someone had flipped a switch. ardon: babies are so weird!

 

My Dd took her first steps at 11 months and was walking full time with in a few days. My boys on the other hand started at 9 and 10 months but wasn't walking most of the time until 12 and 13 months. Our Peds here say they have up until 17 months for in to be in the normal range. I know lots of kids that have walked at 15 and 16 months and it hasn't been an issue.