How Can I help encourage my baby to walk?

04 Oct How Can I help encourage my baby to walk?

Walking is one of the major milestones we look for in our babies. Typically walking is achieved between 10 to 18 months. It is really important to not compare your baby to other babies as everyone develops at their own pace. However, it is important to continue monitoring for milestones and to get the advice of a qualified healthcare professional if you have any concerns regarding your baby’s development.  

Mostly the order of our baby’s development happens because they cannot do one thing without the other. For example, crawling is imperative to develop strength through the core and hips that your child requires for walking. As Physios/Parents/Carers we can certainly use this knowledge to provide our babies with exercises and activities to help strengthen what needs to be strengthened and improve your child’s balance to help with walking. 

Activities/Exercises  

• High Kneeling – Kneeling on both knees with bottom lifted off feet, playing with toys at a bench about chest height. This helps to encourage hip strengthening and starts working the core muscles in an upright position. 
• Pull to stand – It goes without saying you need to be able to stand before you can walk. Pulling to stand has the added bonus of helping to strengthen through the legs as your child pushes up. 
• Squat at bench – Squatting whilst holding onto something for support. Squatting in babies and toddlers has the same benefit as squatting in adults. To strengthen the leg muscles. To encourage squatting, play a game where your child has to move a toy from the ground to the bench. Or pass your child a toy at about their knee height. The lower the toy is the harder it is. 
• Weight shift and Cruising – With your child standing at a bench start by placing toys just out of reach so they have to shift their weight to one leg. Once they master this place toys further away, so your child has to take some side steps and start cruising.  
• Walking with reduced support – Walking at a bench or something solid feels quite safe for your child. They may be reluctant to go from 100% support to no support. Gradually reducing support whilst walking by using things such as hula-hoops and having them hold one end of a toy and you hold the other is a great way to encourage your child to move away from the bench.  

Another great way to reduce support is to have your child use the wall for support. The upright wall is less support than a bench but more support some of the options listed above.

• Standing without support – Working on standing balance in the middle of the room. Distract your child by having them play with toys at chest height. Balance is a very important skill to master. Some children will master it before walking, some will master it whilst learning to walk.  

Above are some great exercises to try. However, if you are having a lot of trouble encouraging your child to walk they may require further assessment to ascertain why they may be struggling to walk. Our physiotherapists at Western Paediatric Physiotherapy are skilled in assessment and addressing issues that may be preventing your child from walking. We can also provide recommendations if we will further input from a paediatrician is required. 

If you are concerned about your child’s development or they are getting close to 18 months and not walking, please do not hesitate to contact Western Paediatric Physiotherapy for a consultation.