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My LO is 16 1/2 months, not ahead verbally, and still not consistently walking by herself '

She physically can do it, for her it's more of a confidence thing. She likes to hold our hand when she walks and she gets scared and/or upset if she doesn't have our hand. There are times when she will walk by herself, but for the most part she won't. The doctor originally said that we should get her tested at her 15 month apt if she wasn't walking by 16 months, but since she actually can walk they said not to worry about it.

So I try not to worry and figure she'll walk when she wants to walk, and we try to encourage her as much as we can. She's not in daycare and doesn't see kids her age walking a lot..... I feel like that has a lot to do with it.

@sarac: I would talk to your doctor about it. If there is a need for PT its better to start sooner than later.

Thats a great vocabulary!

I'm not sure about the walking... If you have a 15 mo well visit that would be a great time to discuss with the dr. Maybe your LO is tall or high on the weight scale and it is harder to stand /walk? But if it makes you feel better, my 15 mo old has 4 spoken words.. 50 and doing sentences is amazing!!!

My mother in law was telling me that my brother in law didn't walk until he was 18 months old (his son, my nephew was a late walker too). My brother in law is a neurologist, so I just think late walkers are probably very gifted!! She'll walk when she's ready!!

Don't worry yet- my best friend's daughter didn't take her first step until 18 months. She is 4 now and runs races.
It will happen! I know it's hard to be patient.
My little one is in daycare and they really helped him practice-- even let him borrow those booty, (in my opinion) not very fashionable, ankle supporting shoes. They swear by them and my son walked at 12 months so maybe they helped...does your daugher see other toddlers walking? Maybe that would encourage her a little.
And her vocabulary is amazing!!! I love little voices so she must sound so sweet with all of her words.

I posted this on another thread yesterday, but I didn’t walk until I was almost 2 years old. Once I did start walking I was totally fine and was on par with kids my age. I have never had any issues from late walking – I danced ballet for years, ran track in high school, etc. Just took me a long time to walk. I never went to PT as a baby/toddler either

@sarac: one thing I did with LO to overcome her fear of falling was pretend walking unstable and lose balance in an exaggerated manner, fall down and laugh hysterically like it was so much fun. At first she was shocked and then laughed with me. After a couple days of this acting game she became brave and took more risks...and walked. It wouldn't hurt to try if you want to encourage her.

@sarac: it's waaaaay easier when they can't walk. with charlie i was so excited for him to walk (he did at 13 months). with olive, I'm kinda happy she's not walking. she's sooo easy because she just crawls around and doesn't get into any mischief. charlie on the other hand was standing on the dining table shortly after he could walk!

@sarac: people think olive is a baby too because she crawls, but she is way taller than charlie was at her age! she is a tall but tiny thing too.

your lo doesn't know any better at this age so i don't think it will affect her in the longterm. yes there are more things you can do when your lo is walking, but honestly it's way easier when they're not walking. but that's easy for me to say as a mom of two. i would be worried too if i were a mom of one, so i understand! but know that as a mom of two, i'm not worried at all about olive walking at 18 months!

My sister and I both didn't walk until well over a year. To this day, neither of us is the most athletically adept, but we both scored in the highest percentiles on our SATs. I have a PhD in a science field from Harvard University, and I'm a college professor. So that should tell you what a late walker might turn out to do with her life. Don't worry about it unless your doctor is worried.

@sarac: I have the opposite problem.... my LO is in the 90th percentile in height and weight so people know she's not a baby. She's a big girl! But I feel like I'm being judged because she doesn't walk. I'm not sure other mom's know that she is doing it on her own though, I feel like when we're out at the library or somewhere they think I'm a helicopter mom and hovering and picking her up all the time. I would LOVE to not have to do that, but if I don't she cries

DS took four steps a few days before he turned 13 months old but didn't start walking consistently until closer to 14 months. FWIW, my LO's vocabulary is no where near your LO's. I would try not to worry. I've always heard that the average age for walking is 18 months.

My mom said my sister and I were both 15/16 months before we walked. Don't worry, all babies are different!

@sarac - i'm a PT that works with kids and adults. One thing that may help is putting some furniture close together, but not so close that she can just cruise from one to the other. Put them just one or two steps away. It may be a confidence issue. If it's a big open space to walk through she may get intimidated, but if it's a smaller space she may be more inclined to give it a try. Can she cruise with just one hand, holding a toy in the other? Does she walk with push toys? Or if you hold her hands? Those are also ways to help encourage her and build some strength.

@sarac - sounds like she's doing just fine. You could try to encourage her by putting things she wants a few steps away and not letting her hold onto you. She's doing all the pre-walking stuff so it's just a matter of time until she decides to give it a go.