My child is so close to walking, but won’t!

“My child LOVES pulling up to stand and is walking along our couch, but they just won’t try to walk independently!” 

*Guest blog
In my role as a Pediatric Physical Therapist, I have had this conversation countless numbers of times over the past 12 years.  Walking is a complex motor skill with the typical emergence starting at 12 months.  Walking is a big deal for our little ones as it requires the greatest level of strength and stability to stay balanced against gravity!

There has been some great content on Sprout + Thrive about play positions to prepare your child for walking for those early movers who need more work with getting upright.*  For the purpose of this article, I want to take it to the next step (literally!).  If your child is close to their first birthday and you are wondering how ready they are to start walking by themselves, consider a few of these questions:

• Can your child easily pull-up to a standing position by stepping forward with one leg?

• Can your child pull-up to stand at a flat surface (i.e. the wall or your kitchen cabinets) or do they still need some extra arm support provided by a couch or table?

• Can your child cruise (walk or sidestep) along furniture? 

• Is your child able to let go with (at least) 1 hand to play in a standing position?

• Is your child able to walk with a push toy? 

If you answered ‘yes’ to the majority of these questions; your little one is likely READY!

Walking involves many body systems including our vision, our vestibular system (the balance system in the ears and brain), and our musculoskeletal system.  These three systems work together to help our bodies learn how to stay balanced and react to changes in our center of gravity as we start to move through space.  There is a lot quietly going on under the surface of our complex bodies as we attempt to move, considering our little one’s only motivation for movement is to ‘go get that toy’ or ‘snuggle Mama.’  

I’d like to share some of my favorite PT activities with you to get your mover to the next level.  Without diving too deep into the science behind each activity, please know that as a Pediatric Physical Therapist I carefully craft activities and ideas to support progression and growth in each of the abovementioned body systems with the goal of more safe, independent and efficient walking.  

• Have your child work along a flat surface (i.e. the sliding glass door or the refrigerator).  Practice putting on and taking off reusable stickers or magnets.  Bonus: Try to find items that have some extra ‘stick’ on them as the attempt to pull them off will create some additional balance challenges!

• Work on climbing skills, but have your child put weight through their feet & not their knees!  Sometimes, kiddos need a little more work with getting input into those feet muscles as they are the first line of defense in our balance systems when standing.  One way to encourage this would be to have your child climb up the stairs and help them place a foot on the next step instead of a knee!

• Instead of cruising along surfaces set up activities to practice having your little mover go between surfaces.  For example, place an ottoman your child’s arm length away from the couch.  This way they can easily reach both surfaces, but they have to get a bit more fancy with their balance by turning, letting go with 1 hand, and taking a small step towards the other surface.  As your child becomes more comfortable and proficient with this set up, slowly increase the distance they need to travel.

• Practice activities that require them to be on 1 leg for a brief period of time as this is a great way to challenge & grow their balance systems.  Age appropriate ideas include: getting on/off a riding toy, stepping in and out of a small box (with their hands on the box for support), stepping up onto an elevated surface.

My motto is always to play & have fun!!  Kids learn motor movements best when they are actively participating and engaged.  

* This blog post was written and submitted by guest Author, Jennifer Bastian, for Sprout and Thrive.

Ms. Jen

Jennifer Bastian, PT, DPT, C/NDT

www.launchpediatric.com

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We’re Jaclyn & Bree

Pediatric therapists and moms with a mission to empower you with knowledge to encourage your baby’s development and continue confidently into your parenthood journey.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below and we will get back to you. As always, the information we share is meant to provide general education and tips and is not intended as medical advice. If you have a specific question or concern about your child’s development, please speak directly to your child’s doctor or therapist.

Mouthing on Toys and Oral-Motor Development

Why should I encourage mouthing on toys?

While it can be frustrating (and unsanitary!) at times, mouthing toys is important for baby's development for many reasons.  Babies typically begin to explore fingers and toys ⁠in their mouth around 4-5 months of age. This mouthing behavior tends to peak midway through the second half of baby's first year and fades gradually over time.⁠⁠

Through mouthing, baby is leaning about:⁠

Properties of objects: size, texture, shape⁠, taste⁠

• Oral-motor skills: chewing (jaw strength), tongue movement side-to-side⁠.

• Strengthening and refining movements for eating and later speech sound development⁠

• Oral desensitization: Texture, pressure and movement in a controlled way to prep for transition to foods

• ⁠Calming and self-soothing⁠

Quick Note on Mouthing and Pacifier Use

Pacifier use, especially during waking hours and while playing, can greatly limit a child’s opportunity to mouth toys and reap the benefits mentioned above. When baby has a pacifier in their mouth they are either using a static bite with the font gums/teeth and retracting tongue far back in the mouth or suckling with the tongue to keep the pacifier from falling out of the mouth. Both are restricting tongue movement and limiting opportunities for practice moving the tongue freely in the mouth to develop more mature motor patterns for swallowing and speech sound development.

Around 5 months of age, when baby can sit supported in a highchair and bring toys to their mouth, offering teething toys is a great option for calming and self-regulation. Baby can explore the toy, bite down and chew as they learn to self-soothe instead of offering a pacifier. Baby will learn to self-soothe in this way while also working on improving strength, coordination, and sensory components needed to progress oral-motor skills- win, win!

More to come on pacifier use in another post, stay tuned!

When looking for a good teething/mouthing toy, look for these characteristics:

• ⁠Lightweight and easy for baby to manipulate⁠

• Large enough to not be a choking hazard⁠

• Small protrusion that can easily be placed farther back in the mouth for chewing practice at the molar area (not just front and center)⁠Variety of smooth and bumpy textures and firmness

• ⁠Easily washable and durable for when teeth come in⁠

See our post on the Top Feeding Products we recommend to see which teething toys are our favorite to use with babies around 5 months on up. You can also scroll through our post on starting solids here for HOW to use teethers as a tool to help baby transition to more advanced textures.⁠⁠

Gagging

Mouthing can lead to gagging at times, but unless excessive or often leading to vomiting, gagging is a very normal (and helpful!) reflex that baby will need to work through for purees and solids to be eaten well⁠. Help your baby work through gagging episodes by staying calm and briefly labeling what just happened “Wow! You moved that toy too far back. Here, try again.” Try not to make it a big deal, and baby will likely move right along and try again.

 ⁠Keep in Mind

When babies are in a mouthing phase (and beyond) it is so very important to ensure your home is free of items small enough to choke on. My favorite rule of thumb- if it can fit through a TP roll, it's too small for baby to have access to.⁠ Accidental poisoning is also a concern, so now is the perfect time to add child locks to your cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom and get those chemicals up away from baby’s reach. We like these locks here.

Mouthing can seem like it lasts forever, but before you know it, baby will have moved on to using their hands to explore and manipulate toys in so many different ways. Like all things in motherhood, it will seem long in the moment, but a blip in time once you’re through it. Encourage baby to mouth on safe, non-toxic toys and their fingers and watch those mouth skills blossom. 

Jaclyn, SLP

We’re Jaclyn & Bree

Pediatric therapists and moms with a mission to empower you with knowledge to encourage your baby’s development and continue confidently into your parenthood journey.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below and we will get back to you. As always, the information we share is meant to provide general education and tips and is not intended as medical advice. If you have a specific question or concern about your child’s development, please speak directly to your child’s doctor or therapist.