second guessing myself...

[andrewsmom]

Hi, I'm looking for opinions because I am starting to second guess myself a bit.
Andrew has been "walking" for awhile now but will only do appox 4-5 steps at a time. At first I thought maybe he thinks he can get around faster crawling, and then I actually thought maybe he's just being lazy. I know sounds bad calling my own son lazy, but I honestly could not figure out why he doesn't walk more....until today.
I was trying to encourage Andrew to walk more but still couldn't get more then 5 steps out of him at a time. When he would stop, I would stand him back up and tell him to walk more for Mommy. He would then do another 5 steps, the next time only 4, then only 2, and after a few times of this, I didn't stand him back up but instead let him sit on the floor. When I let him just sit there, he looked up at me and let out this big sigh...like as if to tell me it was REALLY hard for him....he was tired. Well, I felt just awful!! Here I am pushing my poor son so hard I didn't even stop to think that maybe he just isn't physically ready yet.
He can cruise the furniture all day long without even batting an eye, and is extremely energetic but walking on his own seems to be really hard for him. Has anyone else noticed their children having a harder time walking on their own?
Am I just pushing him too hard? Should I just back off and let him tell me when he's ready?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
-Trisha

[Radonna]

LOL
Oh Trisha,
You aren't pushing him to hard!! He is just learning to pull one over on Momma.
How we "won" with Kaden was to pull one over on him, we started with a homemade pvc pipe thingy that looked like a lawn mower handle. Didn't give him any support. Well that little cat bird walked everywhere with that thing. Getting no support!! We finally put magic markers in hands and he walked all around thinking he was holding on.

Just wait until he figures out how much MORE he can get into walking than he can crawling. That will be all the motivation he needs!!
Pretty soon you will be chasing him around and missing the days you could sit him in one place and he wouldn't go that far.

Radonna

[Chris]

I think he will walk further when he is physically able to. That doesn't mean that you don't need to push him a bit to help him build his strength. Sarah started taking her first steps at 25 months but she wasn't able to walk across the room for six more months. She wanted to walk more than anything so it wasn't a matter of not being motivated or being lazy.

Chris

[cindylou]

I would say he's doing great! Kaylee didn't walk until she was about 26 months old--and that was after lots of PT! I don't think you're pushing him too much--but only you can be the judge of that. I know I had to be careful when Kaylee was little to not make her "work" all the time, as though she were some project I was working on. (Not saying you are doing that--just that I had to be aware of it in myself)

Sounds like Andrew is doing fine--but I would have to agree and say I think Kaylee would get tired much faster then any of my other kids when they were little-and still today. Drives me crazy! God's way of teaching me patience though-

[laurasnowbird]

If your profile is current, Andrew is only 19 months old. That would certainly be in the early range for a child with DS to walk. Ethan didn't walk until he was 30 months old, but had been taking 3 or 4 steps at a time for six months before that.

We started him in horseback riding therapy, because his PT felt that he lacked control of his trunk. She felt that all of the other pieces were there, but he always fell forward.

Long story short, we started him in hippotherapy, and after his first 1 hour lesson, he came home and walked. Can you say speechless? Talk about a good PT, LOL! Within a month he was walking 75% of the time. Another really odd thing is that as soon as he started walking he was able to kneel down to look at things, bend backward, stand on one leg, etc. His PT said that usually kids learn to walk, and then learn all the other skills that go along with walking. Ethan was apparently secretly working on all the other skills and it came together for him all at once!

Another thing to keep in mind is that those lax ligaments make a simple act like walking much harder for our kids. When I look at all the things Ethan is able to do with his legs (you know, like put his feet in his hair, LOL!) I'm amazed he can walk at all!

[ethansmammy]

Hi Trisha,

I guess I would ask how long he has been walking his few steps at a time? Ethan took his first steps at 17 months - so I thought great he's walking....but it actually took until 22 months for him to build up strength, endurance and confidence. He just started taking more and more steps, my husband would come home and I couldn't wait to tell him how many steps he had taken that day. At 22 months he was walking all over - soon followed by running all over.

The only thing you might want to check is his feet - is he flat footed or anything like that. If not don't worry it will come.

Elaine.

[andrewsmom]

oopps.... no Laura my profile is not current. heehehe...I will fix that right now. Andrew will be 2 on the 28th.

Radonna...you might just be right LOL!!! He is known to try to "pull one over" on us before. The little bugger! I'm going to try your trick and see if it works...I'll let you know.

Elaine...he has been cruising for quite awhile now. Actually, he took his first steps alone on Thanksgiving day. He has AFO's also.

Thanks for all your input. If what Radonna suggested works, I will be soo thrilled... and soooo mad ... all at the same time...kwim??

-Trisha