Standing and walking

[Qaytbey]

My daughter has just started her 6th month and though she is not (yet?) too interested in crawling, she is VERY interested in sitting up and standing.  She has more-or-less mastered sitting up and just needs a bit of help with balance.  She still needs a lot of help with standing; I gently pull her upright and support her, but she does a lot of the work herself.  She loves leaning her chest on the sofa while standing up. Given help, she also seems to love trying to walk! 

My question is, is she too young to be standing up?   I'm not forcing her to do stand or walk, she seems to both like it and want to do it.  I am just a bit concerned that she is not ready in terms of leg strength and food development.  Also, should she be crawling first and then moving on to walking later?

Thanks!

[hawkeye1315]

There are many children that skip the crawling phase.  My LO started to stand first, probably because something caught his eye and he wanted to reach for it.  I took extra effort making sure he was familiar with how to get himself down from a standing position because many friends had their LOs stuck in the standing position when they were in the crib.  For my LO, it worked, he never got stuck. 

He eventually started to crawl.  However, I let him do what he was interested in trying, while still be around to make sure it was safe. 

[taygensmom]

My LO also loved standing at around the same age as your LO. He also loved walking holding onto my hands! This is completely normal... I gave him sots of time standing/walking with me, and jsut made sure to also give him alot of time on his belly. He is now almost 9 months and just started crawling!!!

[frustratedmommy]

Every child is different...My DS pretty much skipped crawling and unfortunately (LOL) was walking competently at 8 months...SERIOUSLY! He sat at around 5.5 months and was pulling himself on furniture by 6. We have video of him running away from me in his crib at around 7.5 months when I was trying to get him dressed after a bath!

Now my DD...6 months, sits...okay, but has no desire to do anything else. She is extremely content. I'm not worried. She gets tummy time and will pull up her knees and rolls both ways. But most days she'd rather watch her brother....

If your DD wasn't able to support her weight standing, she wouldn't pull herself up. I think she's probably doing just GREAT!

[Qaytbey]

There are many children that skip the crawling phase.  My LO started to stand first, probably because something caught his eye and he wanted to reach for it.  I took extra effort making sure he was familiar with how to get himself down from a standing position because many friends had their LOs stuck in the standing position when they were in the crib.  For my LO, it worked, he never got stuck.

My daughter loved (and loves)  being pulled (gently!) into the sitting position for the past month or two, then one day she skipped the sitting bit by sticking her legs out and standing up!  She was most put out when I hastily sat her down and squeaked until I helped her up again!    She's never got stuck either; as soon as she's tired she bends her knees and plop! back on the floor she goes!

[Qaytbey]

Every child is different...My DS pretty much skipped crawling and unfortunately (LOL) was walking competently at 8 months...SERIOUSLY! He sat at around 5.5 months and was pulling himself on furniture by 6. We have video of him running away from me in his crib at around 7.5 months when I was trying to get him dressed after a bath!

WOW!    Don't know if she'll be doing that quite so early, but no doubt she'll be giving it a go! 

If your DD wasn't able to support her weight standing, she wouldn't pull herself up. I think she's probably doing just GREAT!

That's very sensible advice, thanks!  Something I will apply to everything else she does too