My premie was late to sit. He was late walking, took his first step at 18 months and only started taking 2 or more steps at 19 months.

At 16 months, he was evaluated by Infant and Toddler and they said the most telling was that he could not stand up by himself in the middle ofh the floor. He could pull to stand while holding on to something, but not independently. He also couldn't cruise frontwards, only crabwalk-cruise wtih two hands on the couch or other object.

Anonymous wrote:Late to sit generally means late to walk. This was my kid. Sat at 9 months, walked at 15-16. sitting is the big milestone, apparently. Also, crawling is actually super important for the brain, I guess, some say, so don't worry about it if they are crawling for a while. Bottom line - if they sat and bear weight they will walk at some point in the near term.

Crawling is not a developmental milestone.

I will note that late to sit generally means low core strength/low tone, just something to be aware of.

Late to sit generally means late to walk. This was my kid. Sat at 9 months, walked at 15-16. sitting is the big milestone, apparently. Also, crawling is actually super important for the brain, I guess, some say, so don't worry about it if they are crawling for a while. Bottom line - if they sat and bear weight they will walk at some point in the near term.

We are just getting my "late" walker evaluated now at 4 yrs old. ("Late" because he walked around 16 months, which is not really late.) He just has some proprioceptive issues, so mild that he most likely will not qualify for any public services. I don't have any reason to think we should have gotten him evaluated earlier. I always figured based on his dad's own clumsiness that I wouldn't worry about it until it started to impact him in some way. Now that I see he's noticing he is slower than the other kids, I'm working on it. Although people freak out about "early intervention" there's really no strong evidence that in cases like this there is any harm in a wait and see approach.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I asked a similar question a few months ago and someone posted this: http://motordelay.aap.org

It was VERY helpful. The general consensus is that if your baby can sit and is making progress (however slow) then they will walk.

This was my son. The ped wanted him evaluated at his 9 month appt, so we did, but didn't follow up with PT. He was constantly progressing, but just a lot more slowly than the rest of my kids, and he walked about 3 months later than everyone else.

PP here. Thanks for the info. We did do a PT visit, mostly because I wanted to know what I should or shouldn't be doing to help him (should I stand him up? exercises, etc?) We got some ideas and are working on building his core. He was "late" to sit, so I expect him to just take his time with everything else. It's just SO hard when his peers are basically walking on their own!

I'm 13:27. Would you mind sharing what you're doing for his core?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I asked a similar question a few months ago and someone posted this: http://motordelay.aap.org

It was VERY helpful. The general consensus is that if your baby can sit and is making progress (however slow) then they will walk.

This was my son. The ped wanted him evaluated at his 9 month appt, so we did, but didn't follow up with PT. He was constantly progressing, but just a lot more slowly than the rest of my kids, and he walked about 3 months later than everyone else.

PP here. Thanks for the info. We did do a PT visit, mostly because I wanted to know what I should or shouldn't be doing to help him (should I stand him up? exercises, etc?) We got some ideas and are working on building his core. He was "late" to sit, so I expect him to just take his time with everything else. It's just SO hard when his peers are basically walking on their own!

Anonymous wrote:I asked a similar question a few months ago and someone posted this: http://motordelay.aap.org

It was VERY helpful. The general consensus is that if your baby can sit and is making progress (however slow) then they will walk.

This was my son. The ped wanted him evaluated at his 9 month appt, so we did, but didn't follow up with PT. He was constantly progressing, but just a lot more slowly than the rest of my kids, and he walked about 3 months later than everyone else.

I asked a similar question a few months ago and someone posted this: http://motordelay.aap.org

It was VERY helpful. The general consensus is that if your baby can sit and is making progress (however slow) then they will walk.

At my daughter's 15-month appointment, she wasn't yet pulling up, and we had her evaluated. She started physical therapy and within two weeks of starting (one session/week), she was pulling up all over the place. Now, a week later, she's cruising (fast) and starting to stand up on her own.

Mine is 14.5 months and not walking (or close yet). We did have her evaluated at 9 months because she was not yet sitting independently. The day of the evaluation, she starting sitting on her own and crawled the next day. She started pulling up around 11 months and cruises some. She really prefers to be in a W while playing or on her knees. She walks all over the place on her knees, but has no interest in having us hold her hands while she walks on her feet. She will bear weight on her feet but prefers not to.

Mine pulled up at 13 months and was walking about 16 1/2 months. A totally normal elementary age kid now.

About 12 months she started pulling up, then cruising. We didn't do an evaluation because she wasn't a late walker (which I think is 18 months) and there weren't any other issues. My personal view is that she waited to walk until she was steadier and stronger, since when she started walking, she immediately caught up to her peers who had been walking longer.

The big milestones for gross motor are sitting and weight bearing. If your kid is sitting and bearing weight on his legs when you hold him in a stand, he will walk.

If you had a walker on the late side (16 mos. or later) of the curve, when did they start pulling up? Was it by 12 months? Did you get your baby evaluated for gross motor delays? Were they generally progressing in terms of gross motor skills but at a slower rate than the average child? If they were progressing, albeit slower than average, did you get them evaluated?