Help: My almost 10 mth old & his beloved walker !

[Dina]

Choo (not his real name!) my almost 10 mth old boy, loves his walker and the independance it gives him to whiz around the house and explore and touch things.  But he now hates activities on his tummy, he's never been a fan of it and doesn't crawl at all and frankly I can't see him ever crawling as he doesn't know how to push himself up on his knees.  We have activity time on his play mat together everyday at 4pm - 5pm where I give him the chance on his tummy, but he always gets frustrated after about 5 minutes.

He loves his doorway bouncer and can bear weight on his legs, but is a bit floppy - unless he's in his walker when he seems to bunny hop rather than walk !

How do I encourage him to stand up from sitting position and walk without the walker?

[Mariek]

Hi Dina

My DD didn't crawl at all until she was 12 months old (in fact she walked before she crawled). She was strictly a bottom shuffler when she wanted to get anywhere she wanted to go.

I would say restrict the walker just to 15 minutes at a time and only a few times a day. I'd encourage him to stand with you holding his hands as much as possible to get him used to being on his feet. With Grace she started standing and cruising at about 10.5/11 months and then would walk around if she had you holding her hands. Then on her first birthday she took a few steps on her own and then there was no stopping her.

HTH

love

[Daniel's mummy]

My ds started crawling a couple of weeks ago but not on hands and knees.  He crawls along on his tummy.  I too thought he would never crawl as he wouldn't pull up on his knees.  Maybe your lo will crawl this way too.  My ds hated being on his tummy.  When I put him down on the floor he waould always want to be on his back.  At around 9.5 months I just made the decision that every time I put him on the floor I would lie him down on his tummy.  More often than not he would roll straight over onto his back, but gradually he got more and more used to being on his front.  Now if I put him down on his back he rolls straight over on to his tummy :lol:

My sis is a physio and she has always suggested not using (or limiting) the use of a walker as it doesn't encourage them to bear weight on their legs.  Obviuosly a few mins here and there will do no harm.  Instead of the walker we used to put loads of toys on the settee and I would sit behind ds as he played standing up at the settee.  This way he was bearing all his own weight and happily playing.

As for how to get them to stand from sitting, I have no idea!!  I'm still trying to get ds to do this.  In fact he still hasn't figured out how to go from tummy to sitting.

HTH

[melbatarseh]

Ladies,

Do you have "exersaucers" in the UK?  The baby stands in it like she would in a walker, but she doesn't move anywhere.  On the bottom is a saucer between her feet and the floor.  It has toys on it to play with.

My daughter has been able to bear her full weight on her legs since she was 2 months old (we found this very odd), and standing up in our laps always made her happy (she'd stop crying if we just stood her up!).  So she loves the exersaucer because it lets her stand, and she is bearing her weight.  So maybe this is better than a walker somehow?  Strengthens the legs and helps the balance, but doesn't allow the child to move around, so he has to learn to walk to get to where he wants to go.  Just a thought.

Anyway, my DD has never been a fan of tummy time, and she used to play for a while on her back under a gym (toys dangling over her), but now she loves the exersaucer and doesn't like to lie on the floor (or bed) even if I'm right there with her.  She's 6 months old and has yet to roll over, and I'm worried that she doesn't spend enough time lying around.  So my question is, how can I encourage her to roll over and eventually crawl?  Or should I not even worry about this?