Can it be wrong to encourage a child to walk before they can sit well unsupported?

[Lilylulu]

Hi, we have a family who are very keen to get their baby walking, the baby doesn't yet sit very well unsupported however shoes have been bought and baby is encouraged to walk holding hands - for considerable distances. Baby now wants to be 'walking' holding hands all the time, we nearly have to physically bend the child in half to encourage the sitting position and to encourage floor play as the baby now prefers to be up bouncing and being held up to walk. We want to see and improvement in core strength and gross motor development and balance before a lot of 'walking'. Baby is very bow legged and when sitting has a tendency to topple over easily still.
Has anyone got any pointers/ documentation to show parents that gross motor development/balance etc might be more important than the walking right now.
Thankyou in advance for any help :)

[JCrakers]

How old is baby?

I agree :) Sometimes children do miss out some milestones like crawling etc and go straight onto cruising the furniture but it sounds like they are slightly being forced.
I would have a chat with parents and say you are willing to let baby develop in her own time and not make her walk. Muscles need to develop in their own time and by putting pressure on things that aren't ready isn't good. Crawling and sitting is a major part of muscle dev. Do you have a copy of EYFS you could show or download something off the internet.

What kind of shoes are they? Are they soft or rigid as they could be doing more damage than good.

[CH1957]

I had a child in my care who was wearing proper shoes a long time before she started walking (they were her sisters!) and my ELaT told me it is a safeguarding issue - apart from being bad for her feet. Mum seemed in denial that child couldn't walk, she still says now she was walking at 15 months, when she didn't take her first 2 steps until she was 19.5 months! What is it with some parents.

[sarah707]

Oh dear I think some parents forget it's a marathon not a sprint :(

However, you can't parent the child - you can suggest and encourage and support and share ideas - maybe give them some tips about sitting and reaching play to try at home :D

[Zoomie]

This made me remember about my nephew who started cruising along the furniture at 7m and was taking independent steps within weeks.

At about 18 months old, he suddenly started falling over and hurt himself quite badly (banged head) numerous times. He was taken to the doctor and checked over and the only conclusion that the GP could come up was that his internal sense of balance had not developed at the same rate as his physical skills and that he would out grow it.

[Winnie]

Early years guidelines | BHF National Centre - physical activity + health (http://www.bhfactive.org.uk/earlyyearsguidelines/index.html)

importance of tummy time :)

[Lilylulu]

The child is only 7 months old, she is very wobbly when sitting, the encouragement to walk aided has made her that she is quite difficult to settle to play without direct adult support. She expects to have adult contact all the time and refuses to settle on her tummy or laid down, she springs to her feet and wants to be up on her feet now. I think the tummy time and floor play is all being missed. we are trying to encourage it but she is part time so I think we need to be trying to get them to see this at home too - the tummy time sheet is fab - refers to how it helps lots of future development - thankyou :)

[hectors house]

Without tummy time the child may miss out the crawling stage - research has been done that suggest some children develop dyspraxia because they missed out the crawling stage - here is link to dyspraxia site with a quote from it below.

Dyspraxia Foundation - Symptoms (http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/services/gu_symptoms.php)

The symptoms
They are slow to achieve expected developmental milestones. For example, by the age of eight months they still may not sit independently.

Many children with dyspraxia fail to go through the crawling stages, preferring to 'bottom shuffle' and then walk. They usually avoid tasks which require good manual dexterity.

Hopefully after reading this they will work harder at tummy time, crawling and then walking in the correct order!

[JCrakers]

7m....oh my goodness...far too young to be walking

I was an early walker at 9m and I don't know if that been good for me because I have a back problems linked with the muscles at the backs of my legs. Don't know if there is a link but you never know

[sing-low]

I was going to mention link with dyspraxia too but didn't have a reference. Thanks, Hector's House, now I know where that info comes from.