Early Walker...Possibly?

[candelaria80]

My DD is 6.5 months old and has been crawling EVERYWHERE for the past month or so and about a week ago she began pulling herself up. Now she is pulling up on everything and starting to cruise a little. Yesterday she "walked" from one end of the couch to the other. Of course she is still un-stable and falls often, but she seems determined to walk. She has always seemed frustrated about not being able to walk like everyone else.

Anyway, it sort of freaks me out. It seems dangerous. I have heard that walking too early may lead to foot problems later in life (my DH walked at 8 months and now has flat feet, may or may not be related). Also, she is pretty small (in the 20%) and it just doesn't look right?

I know she is probably at least a couple months away from taking real steps, right?

To the moms who have had very mobile babies, when did they take their first real steps? if they are older now did it cause any foot issues? shoes or no shoes? should I or did you try to discourage or slow them down a bit, if so how?

Sorry about all of the questions, I didn't expect this so soon!

Thanks in advance everyone.

[YayJennie]

My babe isn't walking yet, but we have a baby buddy in our playgroup who was an early walker. He was standing and starting to take steps when he was about 9.5 months. Now, at 11 months, he full on walks. And he's tiny too...he was maybe 17 lbs when he started walking and couldn't have been more than 28"!

My poor friend is more worried because the babe falls ALL the time. I have never heard about flat feet coming from early walking, but I would be careful about your babe falling and getting hurt. I know our baby buddy has suffered quite a few black eyes/bruises because he walked so early he wasn't steady enough yet. But what can you do? It's not really like you can discourage them from walking!

If you're going to use shoes, use soft soled shoes, as it's easier for baby to balance and learn how to walk without hard soled shoes.

I hope that helped. Good luck

[georgia]

I had three "early" walkers compared to many of their contemporaries. The actual months escape me at the moment. I didn't discourage them at all from doing what they needed to do, but I definitely understand your anxiety I would recommend bare feet as much as possible and soft/flexible soled shoes when necessary for her protection from weather/conditions. It's my very non-professional understanding that flat feet are either something you're born with or that are caused by something else like hip or achilles tendon abnormality rather than learning to walk when baby was developmentally ready (even though it might seem really soon to us!).

[Hey Mama!]

I've seen early walkers through my job and the thing they all seem to have in common is that they fall a lot. There isn't anything you can do to prevent her from walking, but be prepared for a very unsteady babe.

[emmalizz]

Mine started walking at 9 months exactly, and while he was unsteady, he never got seriouly injured. Just lots of startled expressions. He's 11 months now and only falls if he's wearing socks on the hardwood floors.

[bajamergrrl]

According to my parents I was walking at 6-7 months. I don't have flat feet or any other problems with my feet.

I don't have this issue with my son but I think that it would be hard to stop him from walking if he was ready to do it at 7 months.

[Pinoikoi]

My youngest walked at 8 months. When my mother saw him skirting the walls and furniture at just over 6 months she warned me about it. Apparently there is a trigger in the brain that goes off with crawling.. She was a special ed/ early dev teacher (retired) and knows a lot about this stuff. She was afraid that he hadn't crawled long enough to get that full cognitive experience/awakening that crawling provides.

Well, fine, but what do you do then? If a baby wants to walk, they are going to walk. Eventually she saw that her warnings were futile and as it turned out, he is quite bright- so perhaps he crawled long enough anyway. He is also very physical in EVERYTHING he does- hangs off the banisters by his knees- climbed the curtains and pulled the whole hardware system out of the wall, etc.. last week he got into a plastic crate thing and "sledded" down the stairs. It is just the way he's built..

we invested in a lot of spackle and Tae Kwon Do lessons. Both have come in very handy. Good luck.

ETA: I will say that I had had 4 sons by then, and two were very close in age to my youngest, so I think he has always been pretty motivated to keep up with them so I think he has that to contend with as well.

[claras_mom]

Two early walkers here. Dd1 was about 10.5 months and had first pulled up at about 6 months; dd2 took off a week before she hit 10 months and pulled up at 5.5 months. She's a hair over 11 months now and is moving really well. Has started to work more diligently on climbing.

Keep bare feet unless it's cold or the feet need protection. I had both girls in Robeez; I also have a pair of pedoodles that dd1 wore when she was a little older, maybe 14 months.

I certainly wouldn't do anything to discourage mobility. Yes, it looks kind of freaky to have a child who still really looks like a baby take off across the room, but it's a gift. Just the way the child is wired, to move earlier than usual.

Dd1 has gorgeous high arched feet, so I wouldn't put much credence in the damage to feet theory.

By the time your baby gets around to taking steps, she'll probably have figured out how to land on her bottom most of the time. Head bonks are pretty normal.

[sapphire_chan]

Good news/bad news. Lina pulled up about the same age and could go back and forth between objects slightly older than your dd and didn't walk until 10.5 months. However, she never seemed to care much about cruising, so my guess is your dd will walk sooner.

But my friend's little boy was walking at 7 months and his feet are fine! (She was working on her doctorate at the time and says she spent the time from 5-6 months alternating typing with tossing pillows behind him as he moved along the wall.)

[noobmom]

Not necessarily--DS started cruising at 8 months old and didn't walking independently until 16 months! So there can be a long delay between cruising and walking.

[firewoman]

My two year old followed the same timeline as your baby i.e. crawling at 5.5 months cruising at 6.5 and she started taking steps regularly around 9.5 months. I have video of her at 7 months where she is in the living room cruising and took two steps independently. It must not have felt right to her because it took her another 2.5 months to take step regularly. I can't say she fell or was anymore unsteady than her older siblings who walked later. Get ready. It DOES sound like you have an early walker!

[Blueone]

I started walking at 9 months and have no flat feet or other problems.

My son is 7.5 months and he's been pulling himself up on me (no baby sized furniture in house to pull himself up on) and he walks from me to the coffee table holding onto my hands, then walks around the coffee table as well. He's doing good, but hasn't walked unsupported yet (not sure I'm ready for that). He does a beginner crawl and rocks back and forth on his knees and hands.

I wouldn't worry too much. When your LO is ready the big step will be taken and when they are ready their body is ready. Also, lots of babies will start out that way, but don't walk until they are much older.

[candelaria80]

Thanks for all of the info and advice. I know we are in for it, she is already quite the bruiser! I am hoping that there will be a long period between this stage and her actual first steps, but just in case we are stocking up on ice packs this weekend.

[hannybanany]

My dd started pulling up and cruising at 6 months, but didn't walk walk until 10 months. Her feet are fine.

My brother started taking independent steps at 7 months, walking alone at 8 months. He's an adult now and his feet are fine.

[artgoddess]

I did everything short of push DS over when he pulled up and cruised. He was walking at 9.5 months. Full on running by a year. He wouldn't wear shoes (except robeez soft soled type) until he was almost 2 years old and his feet are fine. He's 6 now and continues to be very athletic.

[seren]

My third child started pulling up at 6.5 months. She took her first steps just after 9 months. A while later I noticed she was very pigeon toed. I asked the ped about it and he said sometimes early walkers are like that. It should go away within six months of walking. She's now almost 5 and still a bit pigeon toed. I asked the chiropractor about it and apparently one of her hips is rolled a bit forward. I dont' know if that's because she walked early or not, but after a few adjustments it's drastically improved.

[MangoMommy]

Mine crawled at 6 mo, 7 mo she was pulling up and climbing in things, by 8 she was cruising and taking the occasional step. Now at 9 mo she seems fairly content just climbing and cruising and has by now taught her self how to fall and how to get down from things. She seems to have slowed a little in her desire to move, since pulling up and cruising tends to get her what she wants LOL. So you just never know!

She also doesn't really full-on crawl that much, still mostly army crawling but she is FAST! She regular crawls when she wants though, and is able to get herself in/out of sitting,etc very easily.

[bandgeek]

DS cruised at 6 months and walked at 8. I did not even attempt to put shoes on him (his feet were so fat I couldn't find any that fit properly anyway!) and he has no foot problems that I can tell.

I've never heard of anyone having foot problems from walking early. Babies won't walk before they are ready.

[mamamorag]

my older kids walked at 9 months and 10 months. No feet problems and they didn't fall a lot. I liked it more because they where off the ground. We did get a lot of attention. My daughter who was full on walking at 9 months was small 17 lbs and cute! It was nice when she looked the part I didn't have to talk about it all the time.

[Kristine233]

Myself and our oldest daughter both walked at 7 months (ie running at 7 months, lol) and neither of us have any foot issues. I don't think I could have slowed my daughter down. By 11 months she was scaling shelves, lol.