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[quote=Anonymous]My nanny babe is 13 months old and can't walk. I've been a nanny to infants and toddlers long enough to know that that's okay--some kids start walking at 14 or even 15 months of course. The problem is that he isn't even close to walking, nor is he interested in practicing walking.

At 6 months we used the "Johnny jump up" that hangs in the doorway so he could build up his leg muscles, usually about 20 mins a day in 5-10 min increments. He loved it at first but by 9 months he would cry every time I or MB even tried to put him in it... we revisited it a few times but he would cry right away so we gave up on it.

I have been helping him practice walking (walking with him, holding both of his hands) since 8.5 months. He used to love it and we would do that often, but shortly after his first birthday he stopped wanting to. For the past few weeks, as soon as I start holding his hands and helping him stand up, he instantly sits back down and scoots around on his bottom. He used to cruise around a bit holding on to the couch, but now every time he pulls himself up to standing by the couch he then pulls himself up onto the couch and sits down, so he's practicing climbing, not practicing walking. He does have a very basic wooden walker push toy; he never really used it for more than a minute or two at a time (I think he got frustrated because he was always running into things and needing my help to turn it around), and he hasn't shown any interest in it whatsoever in several weeks.

I've been taking him to the park with his shoes on, and enticing him to walk over to the slide or swings... it worked well the first few times but lately he just sits on the ground and refuses to stand up after just a minute or two at most.  I've also tried putting on music and getting him to "dance" with me while I hold his hands, but he either sits down or cries for me to pick him up and dance holding him. MB says he's fine physically (which I agree with), and says she's not worried. I asked her about getting a different style of walker toy to help encourage him but she doesn't think it's necessary.

He is the seventh child I've been a full time nanny to from early infancy through toddlerhood, and out of the previous 6, only one child wasn't walking by 12 months. That child was a lot closer to walking on his own by this point though, and did walk on his own at 14 months. This little guy, on the other hand, still needs quite a lot of support to stand and walk. In my experience children can often walk or at least stand with just one hand being held and supported when they are getting closer to walking on their own; this little guy still needs both hands fully supported to walk or stand without falling over.

I really wouldn't be so worried if it wasn't for the fact that he no longer seems even remotely interested in trying to practice walking. Does anyone have any ideas for other things to try to encourage him to walk? Thank you. 
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