10 month old not bearing weight on legs!

newmum09

Should I be worried that my 10 month old is still not bearing any real weight on her legs. She is not making any attempt at standing up at all.. she has no interest in crawling but is starting to shuffle on her bum alright. Have being trying to encourage her to stand...any suggestions on what I could do to encourage her a bit more...any excercises etc that i could do..thanks

Nevyn

Some children don't walk until they are past one year, one year is the average but there are babies who just don't walk until they are nearly 18months, if you are worried about her that there is something wrong then mention it to your dr/baby nurse and get her checked out.

kmick

You are looking for her to run before she walks literally. Give her time. A friends 18 month old is not walking yet so they all take their own sweet time. Trying to encourage them to walk before they have the muscles to do it is not encouraged. She will figure it out.

newmum09

Thanks for the quick responses, not worried about her walking yet I know that she will do this in her own time..was with PH Nurse when she was 9 months and she commented that she wasnt bearing weight on her legs and that she was surprised that she wasnt so that got me kinda worried as she said this was a gross motor skill and she should be making some sort of attempt... just wanted to know did anyone else have same experience and what they did do if anything?? is this just the PH Nurse being over cautious

Tabnabs

Don't get me started on PH Nurses, our local one gave us all sorts of worries, including get you baby to the GP immediately to have a look at a possible problem, we waited three days as already had an appointment and doc said it was fine, no need to worry at all (grr :mad:). We also had junior in to see a paediatrician for another problem and mentioned the PH Nurse's comments on some issue and the paediatrician gave a knowing look to her colleague and said that some PH Nurses advice should be taken with a pinch of salt.

But back on topic, we got junior a Walker (http://www.mothercare.ie/ContentBuilder/DisplayPage.aspx?DataId=DA000057&view=detail&ProductID=PR000008&UniqueID=205) and he loves it, it has given him great confidence in getting mobile. It also gives us a great laugh as he looks like Macca Pacca pushing it along

ThePiedPiper

NewMum,

I've found one of the Public Health nurses to be quite annoying at every stage we've had dealings with her, it may possibly be the same person. First of all, our baby wasn't putting on weight enough and she wanted to refer us to a Dietician, then she wasn't spending enough time on her belly, wasn't onto solids fast enough, wasn't crawling. All kids are different. Our little girl is nearly one now and has just started bum shuffling. She can't quite drag herself up to standing yet either but I'd say it's not far off. Don't panic, everything in it's own good time.

Forest

deisemum

There are good and bad PHNs, fortunately I've had good ones with a lot of cop on.

About half the babies/toddlers that I've minded over the last 10 years were about 18 months before they started walking, a couple about 20 months and guess what they're well able to walk, climb and run about now.

I think it's still a bit early to start worrying over this, they're individuals so ignore the calander and the majority get there eventually. Your little one is possibly ahead of other babies of similar age in other areas of development.

Bookkeeper09

My niece had an infection in her leg when she was about 7 months old and had to have surgery on it. A physio in the hospital suggested buying one of these and advised that it would help to strenghten her legs. She started walking at 14 months which was the same age as her 2 older brothers.

dan_d

OP, my sister never crawled as a baby, she "bummed" herself around until she started to walk.
She's now a healthy 26 years old!! I wouldn't worry too much.

emmiou

Babies that "bum shuffle" sometimes go straight from shuffling to walking without the crawling stage, and can be a little later walking - they can already see everything going round them and get wherever they need to by shuffling so don't have the incentive to crawl. I was worried about my niece because she was so late walking but that was given as the reason when she was brought to a Paediatrician. I found a paediatric osteopath to be a great help when I was worried about my own infant son's range of movement.

newmum09

thanks for all the comments... its piece of mind to hear from other mums that its normal....I know now not to take the PHN comments as gospel.. thanks again

caprilicious

Hi Newmum, that Graco play centre that Bookkeeper09 recommended is really good.
When I worked previously in childcare the nursery had these in the babyroom, the baby's loved it and it was great for getting them used to moving their legs/putting weight on them.
I'm going to get one for my little lady. She's getting bored of her recliner and is mad to sit up straight so I think she'll be in her element in this!


My mum also loves reminding me what a lazy baby I was, I didn't make any effort to move til I was nearly 2 years old and then (finally ) I went from bum shuffling to walking really fast

Kimono-Girl

I have to agree to the above, at around 6 months old my mum bought our daughter this(Graco baby einstein): as she was frustrated at not being able to get around and was too young for a walker...she loved it! and the difference in her in just over a month was amazing, by then she was standing in the entertainer (to make it wobble) and using her legs so we moved her onto a walker, and when she started standing on her own in that, we noticed she also started climbing couches and tables,

recently she has started letting go of the couch and walking by herself and shes only ten months. i put it down to the entertainer though, id completely recommend it...plus the book part the baby in the picture is holding onto, has animals (which the circular part makes the noises of) so its great for teaching babies other stuff too!:)

January

My first daughter was a bum shuffler too and started walking properly at around 14 months, she was around 10 months before she started trying to put any weight on her legs... if I held her up and put her on the ground she would stand though.

Babies will learn at their own pace, like everyone else says some PHN's advice needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

deisemum

Some PHNs give great advice but some follow text books and seem to have forgotten that babies haven't read the textbooks. They're all individuals.

gowayouttadat

My son is 10 months next week and isn't crawling or bum shuffling. He bears very little weight on his legs. If I put him up against the couch he will hold on and stand for all of 5 seconds before either deciding he wants to sit down or making a go to walk and flopping to one side!

He does look like he will crawl soon but am not too worried about it.

kevin12345

My mam says I didn't start walking until 18 months :eek: I was a lazy baby :rolleyes: just "bum shuffled" everywhere