Developmental milestones - WALKING. What age should my child start walking? Why is my child is struggling to walk?
One Step at a time
Walking! Quite possibly the most anticipated baby milestone around. Surely there are photos and videos of proud parents sharing this milestone with the world through social media every second of every day. And rightly so!
What if your child is struggling with walking? You may be worried over your child’s development. We know it can be concerning at times, and with our experience in treating kids with difficulties reaching milestones, we hope to provide you with further knowledge and information to support you and your child in their growth journey.
When can we expect walking to happen?
Walking occurs over a wide age range, from about 10 months to 20 months of age. But remember, every child is different.
Why is walking important? What has helped my child get to this stage?
All those milestones we have talked about in previous blogs (tummy time, rolling, crawling, sitting, cruising) have helped set your baby up to be able to walk. Once they don’t need the support from furniture or yourself, it is all them! It is the strength, balance, proprioception and coordination, it’s using their other senses, ears and balance, visual feedback; that constant feedback from their feet and hand and body to their brain to let them know where they are in space and what they need to do next to keep walking and not fall over. Whoa, that’s a lot of development right there!
What starts off as slightly shaky, wobbly walking will turn into smooth, fluid movement, gaining speed and momentum, to later be able to change direction, vary speed and change between postures of sitting-walking-standing-squatting.
How can Osteopathy help my child? When would I bring my child to see an Osteopath?
At Osteo For Families, we see kids that struggle with walking. Parents may come to see us after they’ve noticed their child is having trouble with a stepping motion on one side or is walking unevenly. Some parents have concerns over feet, ankles or knees not looking the same. Parents may think their child seems disinterested in walking but wonder if there is something musculoskeletal contributing.
Our Osteopaths consider the whole body. We ask ourselves if one part of the body is affecting another part, and how is the whole body functioning as a result of that?
An example of this may be a child who looks like they are walking unevenly and is taking a short step on one side. Are they taking that short step on one side due to a tight hip that is having trouble stretching out?
When considering the whole body, we look to see if one part is affecting another: Does that tight hip tend to lean them over to one side to compensate for the movement restriction? Then do they have to tilt their head back to the other side to help keep their eyes level?
Osteopathic treatment considers the body as a whole. It involves a light pressure to relax tight muscles and increase joint movements. If your child’s body is free of tightness and restrictions, it may help promote good range of motion for your child to walk, and later run, and jump and do cartwheels, and then onto all sorts of other terrifyingly exciting yet endless skills!
Any other important information?
This blog has provided a rough guide of a range of ‘normal’ timings for milestones to occur – please do keep in mind that every child is different. One child may be advanced in one type of milestone (like, verbal milestones, but less advanced in another type of milestones – such as these B I G movements we have been blogging about). If a child is late on one B I G motor milestone, they tend to be late on the rest of them too.
Other considerations to acknowledge is your child’s age at birth: for example, being a premmie baby may affect the times that they meet these milestones as well.
If your child is outside these age range guides, that is ok too, we can help be part of your support team to help them where we can. Other kids skip milestones altogether. As Osteopaths we would try to see if there are musculoskeletal issues contributing to the skipping of milestones and try to assist in helping your child integrate the skills.
If you have more serious concerns about your child’s development, we encourage you to consult with your medical practitioner.
If you require an osteopathic consultation for your child, please contact us on 0416 161 411. As Osteopaths who treat babies and kids, we do see those who struggle with reaching milestones. With a thorough structural assessment of their back, neck, shoulders, hips, arms and legs, we are looking to promote their ability to access their full range of motions needed to complete these B I G milestones.
If you would like to book an appointment, please follow this link https://osteo4families.cliniko.com/bookings