How to Help Your Toddler Learn to Walk
December 24, 2010, By William Browning 2 comments
Babies begin to walk sometime between nine and 14 months according to WebMD's Sherry Rauh. By 18 months your baby should be walking and exploring independently throughout the house. Several things can help foster this newfound sense of independence.
Signs of Growth
The first thing a dad should watch for are signs of developmental strength and growth which favor walking. By nine months your baby should be crawling up a storm. Crawling leads to walking but there is an important intermediate step in the process.
Somewhere after your baby becomes a proficient crawler he or she should begin to have an irresistible urge to pull up with their hands to try to stand alone. When you notice your baby wanting to stand up more and more often it's an excellent opportunity for dads to step in and help things along.
Being Supportive
When your baby can pull up and balance themselves to stand while clinging to something for support, usually furniture or a walking toy, that's the cue for dad to to step in and help baby "practice" walking. You can hold your child's hands and he or she can walk in front of you, according to Parenting.com. Allow your baby to grab your hands. Then your toddler can put one foot in front of the other while their arms are straight up over their head.
Another thing you can do is have your baby's feet on yours so you can show them how one leg goes in front of the other. It is one thing for your baby to watch the people around him or her walking but it is another matter to master perfect muscle coordination. Proficiency comes with practice like anything else in life. Using your own steps as a guide is a good way for your baby's motor skills to improve and strengthen.
Walkers and Jumpers
Many toys and products for babies involve developing skills which are essential to your baby's growth. Finding a sturdy jumper is a good way to get your baby's legs in shape for the rigors of walking. Two basic kinds of jumpers exist—ones that attach to your doorframe or ones that sit on the floor.
Another option is to get a walker which has lots of ample padding around it. These round plastic walking toys come on wheels with a seat in the middle so your child can walk and still be supported. When you invest in either of these options make sure the weight and height ranges are appropriate for your child.
Furniture
If you haven't already, before your toddler is fully mobile, be sure to childproof your home. Invest in safety locks for your lower cabinets and arrange furniture so your baby can cruise freely throughout your house. After your child takes those first tenuous steps on their own he or she will probably revert back to the safety of crawling for a while.
To continue to foster their natural need to explore you might consider moving furniture in your living room closer together so your toddler can easily use them for support. Make the couch just a few steps from the coffee table and then the coffee table just a few steps from the end table and so on. Adding some rugs for extra padding and traction support on the floor may also be a valid safety precaution against falls.
Stairs
As a father of two, I was most afraid of the stairs in our house when my children were first learning to crawl and walk. Even if your child is walking more steadily you may want to keep baby gates up as a safety precaution.
Stairs shouldn't be handled without supervision until after your baby is walking independently for some time to prevent falls.
Signs of Trouble
A "developmental delay" is the terminology used when a baby doesn't reach a particular milestone by the upper end of the normal timescale according to Marat Zeltsman of Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. Check with your pediatrician if your child hasn't at least tried walking by 12 to 18 months.
Not wanting to walk could be as simple as a difficulty with depth perception or may be associated with a more complicated problem with bone density or muscle development. Your pediatrician can test your baby's mobility and reflexes to determine if something is amiss.
The most important thing you can do as a dad when helping your baby walk is to watch and listen. By the time nine months rolls around you should have a very active crawler in the house. You should also see a baby who loves and lives to pull up with their hands to try to stand on their own.
This developmental milestone is key to every activity which will follow. You have to learn to crawl before you can walk and you have to learn to walk before you can run. Helping your child master this important "step" will continue to strengthen and build the unique bond between father and child which lasts a lifetime.
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