Q&A: early walker scares mother

I'd like to thank all the teachers out there who did projects with their classes for Mothers' Day. Single moms with kids too young to come up with and make or buy their own projects don't get anything else for Mothers' Day. So thank you.

Lydia writes:

"Gah! My 8-month-old is starting to walk. She's a total daredevil, and has no control or judgement. I'm terrified that she's going to fall and get a serious head injury, and am seriously considering buying her a helmet. But then I think that's insane. I need some perspective. Help!"

Let me begin with one of my mom's favorite aphorisms:

"God couldn't make them so fast and us so slow if he didn't also make their heads so hard."

Assuming that you've babyproofed all the truly dangerous things, and that you don't let her walk around in dangerous terrain outside, she's going to find her own level. Which isn't to say that she won't fall. But if she's being monitored appropriately (which doesn't mean you have to hover--just pay attention) she won't get hurt more than her size can take. So she'll get bumps and bruises and scrapes and cuts, but nothing that would require protection from a helmet.

If you think about it, letting her find her own balance and what she can and can't do now, instead of when she's really big and can get into lots of trouble, is going to mean fewer injuries later. Plus, it'll give her confidence in what her body can do, and let her know that you trust her to be able to do what she sets out to do. So letting her learn and walk the way she needs to (helmet-free) is a gift you can give her that'll set her up for confidence and physical accomplishment for the rest of her life.

Did anyone else have an early walker? How did you deal with the lack of judgment at that age? How long until your child was smooth and graceful?

Comments

[Lex]

My 15-month-old started to walk at just 9 months, so I can relate.

As Moxie says, childproofing is your friend as it means you can take a break, otherwise watch like a hawk. The worst I can remember was a 1-year-old's party in our mom's group in a park beside a fish pond, and a busy road. I spent two hours chasing after him, while the other moms sipped champagne and watched their kids play on the grass and occasionally crawl a metre or so.

He got smooth and graceful very quickly, and now he runs and climbs and even jumps like a 2-year-old. He also got sensible very quickly - after a few falls, he got more careful.

[catherine]

If it makes you feel any better my younger brother walked at nine months and started running almost immediately. Even before he mastered breaking so there were many, many bumps to the head but he's 21 now and a real estate agent so hopefully that will provide you with some comfort.

Maybe lots of time outside on the grass would be good, something soft to fall on?

[Steph]

Ditto Lex. My son started walking at 9 months, and we just created a safe Caden zone in our living room. That's where all his toys are, and not many sharp corners. If you have a coffee table, I would get rid of it....we did, and it created so much more baby room! (but I hated our coffee table, so it was no loss to me at all!!!) We used the Superyard XT gate to block off the TV, fireplace, and end table with stuff on it side of the room. HTH!

[parisienne mais presque]

According to my mother-in-law, her youngest walked at nine months but fell so often at first that he went back to crawling after a week or two. He started walking again, with much more assurance, at 12 months. This may be why my mother-in-law was obsessed with covering everything in the house with spare blankets and pillows whenever she came to visit after my son learned to walk at 11 months.

I don't know if this is broadly true, but my son got pretty fluid and stable after a month and a half of practice.

Of course, once they master walking, they're off to conquer some other perilous skill, like climbing or running. I figure I won't be able to let my guard down until my son's in his 20s and has mastered driving, and then he'll probably just go out and buy a motorcycle to spite me.

I've been careful to tone down my reaction when he falls so I can tell by his reaction if he's hurt. By limiting myself to an "oops! boom!" he does the same and only cries if he's really bumped something hard, which is reassuring.

[chive]

My son ran 10 minutes after he first walked. He could either go fast or corner, but not both, and he chose running. He used to turn by ricocheting off walls, sofa etc. He fell a lot, but never cared in the slightest. At the swings he'd fall and strangers would turn to pick him up / calm the inevitable storm him, whereas I wouldn't really register he was down, and judging by his grinning, neither did he. He just scrambled up quicker than anyone could get to him and carried on charging about.

My mum would make a big fuss "consoling" him when he tripped, and it confused him and sometimes distressed him. Proabably because he was trying to run off and she was insisting on scooping him up. Obviously when he's upset, I'm there like a flash, whether the cause is physical or social, but don't assume that stumbling is automatically distressing for all kids.

[Kate]

I just wanted to point out that this experience can recur later--at my daughter's swimming lesson yesterday was a girl (3 1/2) who exhibited absolutely no fear of the water (4 feet, so over her head) and poor judgment regarding it (flinging herself off the side of the pool without an instructor there to catch her). I chatted with her mom for a minute; her mom said that's why she was getting swimming lessons...to try to instill some judgment and get some skills in the water to try to make up for the lack of it.

Anyway, I think that babyproofing + soft outdoor surfaces are the way to go for now.

@ Steph: our whole married life we've never had a coffee table, in anticipation of kids. Someday we'll have one...

[Erin]

My DS is an early walker, too! He took his first steps at 9 months and by 10 gave up crawling altogether. It's been exhausting, that's for sure. The first few weeks were the most perilous in terms of falling down. Even though he's running now, his movements are fairly smooth. The biggest problem I've noticed is that he doesn't look down at all! I guess it's too hard to balance AND look down, which makes sense. So he trips a lot - we try to keep everything picked up as much as possible, so he won't have too many obstacles to confront. However, I did notice that he very quickly learned how to navigate the tiny step up between the kitchen and dining room (by holding onto the door frame). One of the things we did, besides the other babyproofing mentioned by earlier posters, was buy those colored foam squares for the floor - we have hard wood - to make a soft play area. For us the hardness of the floor was the biggest hazard (though just yesterday he banged his face on the coffee table and got a little fat lip). Once he ran too fast, tripped and fell on the wood so hard with the front of his head he got a black eye. This was just days before the whole Natasha Richardson head trauma media frenzy, so I was pretty upset about the whole thing. His pediatrician got a LOT of calls that week, and he was very reassuring - if the baby seems fine, hasn't blacked out, and isn't nauseous/vomiting, there's no reason to worry. My DS's head blow was pretty nasty and he was fine within a few minutes, even though the eye took 10 days or so to heal. So I would say watch her carefully, but try not to be alarmed by the falls.

Oh, and for my DS, the grass outside was much more difficult to walk on than pavement or flooring. He's a great walker but grass still makes him stumble, esp. if it's not perfectly flat. If the little one is just learning it actually might help her more to give her smooth flat surface to practice (like foam or carpet).

[Tricia Royal]

so, having kids = getting rid of your coffee table?? or not having one at all??

[Kate]

Tricia, most coffee tables that I've seen either have sharp corners or glass elements or are made of material that's not great for babies. There are all kinds of pads and things that wrap around your table to make it kid-safe, but most aren't pretty. Plus, as Steph pointed out, taking out a piece of furniture in the middle of the room makes more space to play.

It's not a hard and fast rule :), just practical for some families. (In my case, my husband prefers to watch TV lying on his back on the floor; a coffee table wouldn't have been good for that either.)

[Shelley]

Echoing Parisienne's advice not to react too much when she falls -- kids totally look at their parents when determining whether to cry after a spill. It's really hard not to react strongly, but if you can take your cue from the kid's reaction, rather than the other way around, you're in good shape.

This is difficult, though -- all this mobility before the cognitive maturation catches up. Hang in there.

[LauraC]

One of my twin boys Alex had a helmet for plagiocephaly during the time he learned to pull up and walk. Whenever I see someone considering a real helmet, I feel like I have to comment! He has NO FEAR bc he never learned how much he could hurt his head falling down at an early age. He is 3 now and each month, I feel like I need even more of an iron stomach bc of his lack of fear on physical things.

Avoid the helmet!

[Erica]

My 2 cents on the helmet--I agree with Moxie that given appropriate childproofing, a child is built for falling (at least I hope so because I've lost count of how many times my son has fallen!). I'd also think that a helmet would throw off the child's balance and make it more dangerous for them. In a lightly different situation, but I was told not to even consider a helmet for a child for bike riding until after they were one because their necks aren't strong enough to support it.

[Nutmeg]

When we had our son, now almost 2.5, actually even before we had him, people would come to our house and see baby death trap. I think these people had a little bruise phobia.

If nothing pointy is sticking out of the wall or furniture at head height, and you've baby proofed the obvious things (and even coffee table corners aren't that pointy) everything will be fine. Each time your child gets a new skill, it requires a little extra attention from you to see exactly WHAT things they are interested in using their new skills for. Are they interested in outlets or do they ignore them? Do they want to yank the TV down, are they climbers? Are they crazy maniac daredevils who will stack toys higher and higher and then climb on top and jump off them to the ground and slice open their lip on the corner of a book that is standing on end?

That last example is true... and mentioned to point out that you can be careful about their world of predictable things, and then you go 15 feet into the kitchen for 30 seconds to stir the pasta sauce and then they are screaming and blood is pouring out of their mouths and you have no idea what happened and you spend the next day trying to piece together the crime scene.

Another true story. My son was a bit older, but not much, last year when he ran head long into the corner of my mother's dining room table. He was going full speed with a 15 foot start. It literally knocked him off his feet, flat onto his back. He screamed a lot, there was a visible DENT in his head, I called my husband (doctor) if we needed to take him to the hospital, he said just keep an eye on him. The next day? He didn't even have a bruise.

Hard, hard heads.

[kakaty]

My girl started walking one day after she hit 10 months and she has been going at breakneck speed ever since. My philosophy was to do the standard babyproofing then just sit back and let her learn. She had bruises and scrapes pretty much all the time for a few months, but I followed her lead on falls - I waited to see her reaction to it before I intervened and she's a pretty tough cookie. Of course I had several inward cringes each day and had to sit on my hands a few times, but I tried not to show her that. Anyway now at just over 2 1/2 she's pretty fearless when it comes to physical things - she loves to swim and go under water, loves to run, climb and jump off of things and onto things. And I still take the "let her learn" approach unless it is really dangerous. So she's the girl with the always-scabby knees at daycare.

[parisienne mais presque]

Oh, and my 22-month-old now goes up to whatever he bumped into (including me, if we managed to both lean over at the same time and knock our heads together or something) and pats it a few times, saying "boom! boom!"

Of course, after a major ouchie I'm not sure he'd have the presence of mind to do this, but he does it for small spills and it cracks me up. It also helps me figure out what corners may be a little too dangerous.

[maria]

I'll just chime in to echo what everybody else has said. My daughter walked at 10 months and 10 days, and just to reaffirm your feelings - it is a lot harder! They don't have the reasoning abilities at that age to understand danger, so you can't talk about not running in the road with any real efficacy. I scoff at those parents who worry that their child is not walking soon enough.

That said, kids are tough, so don't worry too much about all the falling. It will teach her caution and help her learn what her abilities are. This is just the first of oh so many worrisome tricks your daughter will learn – you might as well get used to it!

[Christina]

HAHA! Graceful? My boy started walking at 15 months and is 19mths now. He falls and hits his head at least 10 times per day. I fell down the stairs on the way to the treadmill this morning and I have been walking for 32 years. I think we could both use a helmet.

All joking aside, I do get the fear. But I agree with everyone that they are much tougher than we realize. Pad the fireplace corners and try and enjoy her toddling.

[Diane]

My daughter walked at 10 months and although we babyproofed, she would always find some way to fall face-first onto a hard toy or step on a book and slip! Just make sure to reevaluate the babyproofing on a regular basis, since height and ability can change the landscape overnight. I would always say "Kaboom!" when she fell, rather than acting sad or trying to comfort her (unless she clearly needed it), and she learned to take her falls in stride. She is a very happy and resilient little kid, although at 2 she is still trying to go faster and higher than she should!

[Zan]

My son was not an early walker, so no advice to offer on that front, but I just want to echo the huge thanks to my son's preschool for getting the kids to make Mother's Day presents. I'm a single mom, and you're absolutely right -- that was my only special Mother's Day anything, and it was very, very much appreciated.

[violingirl]

DS1 walked at 9 months and DS2 walked at 11 months. For both we removed our coffee table from the living room and covered the fireplace corners. Both really had the walking down within a few months, but watching DS1 was always easier- DS1 (now 3 1/2)has always been a very cautious kid and DS2 (22 months) is the daredevil. I swear I've aged 10 years since he was born. The second he could walk he figured out how to climb and has been perching on tabletops, desk tops and counter tops ever since. The child is never without a bruise somewhere. He has no fear!

[Cloud]

For those worrying they'll miss having a coffee table- we didn't have one when we first moved into our house (our previous apartment had been too small). So we bought some flat top ottomans to use as a coffee table. When we have guests, we can pull them together and make a table. Otherwise, we have a couple blocking access to the TV and one in use as an actual ottoman. Since we bought ours, I've seen lost more ottomans with storage inside, too. We got some that look like padded, rounded benches. They actually made a great tunnel when Pumpkin was crawling.

I don't have much on the actual topic. Pumpkin walked at 11 months, and then advanced far too quickly to running and climbing. We babyproofed as well as we could. And we make liberal use of our "owie bunnie" (a little bunny that holds a plastic ice cube in the middle). Pumpkin asks for it when she's really hurt.

[spoiledonlychild]

I just want to speak up for the poor coffee table here. I have a 3.5-year-old, and I have had a coffee table continuously since her birth--a rectangular one with sharp corners. And we never even bothered to put those protector things on the corners. Yes, she hit her head on it plenty, but she survived. And I couldn't live without my coffee table. Where would I put my beer? So if you're considering abandoning your plans to have children, take heart, you can have a coffee table and a child too.

[Scotti]

I'll just add that when, and they will happen, you have head bumps and nasty goose-eggs on the forehead, try using Arnica gel. It's a homeopathic treatment for bruises and also helps with the pain. Works like a charm to keep the bumps from becoming huge bruises! You can buy it at natural food stores.

Though their heads are really strong - if you have a major fall on a really hard surface, watch for signs of a concussion. It's something to take seriously.
We had a scare with my son when he fell onto the tile around our fireplace and cried hysterically until he fell asleep (a sign of a concussion) so we had to rush him to the emergency room. Luckily, it wasn't a concussion, but he did have a nasty hematoma on the side of his head for months.

[heyannonynonny]

My son walked at 8 1/2 months. Was running by 9. Like many of the other posters, we babyproofed as well we could. He fell a lot though! And it wasn't until about a year or so that he stopped having bruises all over his head. But he didn't seem to care much and we were pretty blase when he fell down--we didn't make a big deal about it in the beginning and then it happened so often. You should have seen the looks I'd get from other parents rushing to help him at the park, though. Our ped. assured us he would be okay and that they had hard skulls for a reason. His gross motor skills have always been way ahead, so this may just be the beginning for you. Start thinking about what your little one will be able to climb on in the near future! Good luck. And, yes, we are going to push the second one down to keep this from happening again! Ha ha.

[wealhtheow]

The wonderful benefit of not reacting too much when your kid falls down is that you'll be able to tell when they're really hurt, because that's the only time they'll really carry on. Although the other day we were out at a class, and my S fell down and another mom picked him up and was carrying him. After that, anytime he so much as tripped he'd lie down on the floor and wait for someone to come comfort him. He does NOT do that at home!

We do still have our coffee table with the ugly padding, which actually made a great teether for the little guy, so I don't think getting rid of it is a necessity. It is pushed against a wall, and nicely blocks off the windowsill so I can keep my laptop there and out of reach.

[Kelly]

#2 stood at 8m, walked at 9m, ran at 10m (he's got pretty amazing balance). He's 2.5yrs now and despite loads of bumps he's doing just fine. He's not a daredevil but he does have very little (apparent) respect for his body. He doesn't seek out dangerous stuff or anything, but he's more inclined to laugh than cry in pain. Eg. he intentionally jumps as high as he can, lifts his feet out and lands directly on his butt.

Eventually you learn to just sigh/roll your eyes/shrug dismissively (after confirming no real injury).

Good luck!

[Tara]

My 1st started walking at 8.5 months. Like other commenters, we also got rid of the coffee table (put it in the garage) because for some reason her head was a MAGNET to it's sharp corners. She also took several dives into the leg of our piano, so we ended up just wrapping the offending piano leg with a blanket for a few months.

She still took lots of spills, but we saved her quite a few bruises by getting rid of/amending the most troublesome areas of the living room.

Since then, we've acquired a (faux) leather ottoman that we use in place of a coffee table. I'm thinking it will prove to be a much better furniture choice when DD2 starts pulling up/walking in the next couple months.

Good luck!

[Jenn]

My kid walked at 7 months and change and the biggest problem for her was other kids. She was a tiny thing and got knocked over easily, if we'd go to the mall play area I had to spend the entire time shielding her from everyone else. She got pretty quick at dodging though.

The best purchase we made (besides the Pampers box which taught her to pull up/push/walk) was a large ABC block mat from Babies R Us. She could practice all day on that and since it was cushioned I didn't have to worry about her noggin. Kid fell *A LOT*.

[Jac]

We swapped out our coffee table for a big leather (okay - pleather) padded ottomon. I actually like it better than our coffee table because (a) lots of storage inside for the kid crap (b) wipes clean with a damp cloth (c) DS just bounces off. The one we bought came with a tray so we still have somewhere to put drinks.

[wookie]

If it makes you feel better to put your coffee table in storage for a few months, do it. If it bothers you to take that step, don't! I'd put any glass ones in storage, by mine are these hulking huge pine things that I don't worry about. I also recall a friend who gated off his entertainment center to give himself peace of mind. Made more sense than keeping the baby in a playpen.

However, now is the time to make sure all your tall cabinets, entertianment center, bookcases, dressers etc. are ANCHORED TO THE WALL. In a stud.

[hush]

DS is now 18 mos old, and he walked/ran by 10 months. He is super accident-prone, risk-preferring, and likes to climb everything, which we try to encourage in the safest way possible. (We've aged considerably since these milestones!)

His biggest injury so far was sustained by simple tripping while walking on the kitchen floor at 13 mos, bloodying his nose and lips pretty severely, getting 2 black eyes, and necessitating a trip to see an ENT dr. & get an x-ray. Amazingly, his nose was not broken. Dr. was most concerned about a possible infection after the severe bleeding left a ton of dried blood in the nose, so we had to irrigate his nasal passages with saline for a few days to clear out the bloody gookus.... eew, TMI.

Anyway, we've found he's most at risk for scary injuries like that when there are actually 2 adults present, supposedly watching after him, but neither has accepted the primary responsibility for him. So the best solution we've found is to always make sure one of us is "in charge" of watching after him - on the weekends, it's usually DH, weeknights it's me: "You're watching him tonight, right? Yep." Even though we're both playing with him.

Like others have said, we also got rid of the traditional coffee table, but this was before DS came along (I was constantly bruising my shins on it, and our dog had chewed the corners), and we wanted some padded ottomans that we could rearrange for guests and also store stuff in. Super handy for storing kids toys. Dog now leaves ottoman & toys alone. Put a little tray on top and you have a makeshift coffee table. We have started noticing this all the time on the shows on HGTV. Love it.

The latest babyproofing challenge happened just this weekend, when we realized DS can both open and climb over the baby gate that's supposed to keep him from going upstairs. So we've been practicing how to safely go down stairs. Did I mention I've started sprouting extra grey hairs? Good times!

[meggiemoo]

Best advice...put your child in soft shoes like Robeez. Podiatrists recommend anything that mimics bare feet while protecting the foot and keeping it warm. The old-fashioned hard shoes are unnecessary, make it hard for the foot to grow properly, and don't let the child balance as well.

My SIL had her early walker in hard shoes, and I've never seen a kid trip and fall so much in my life.

Barefoot is best, but soft shoes are 2nd best.

[Cobblestone]

We have concrete floors in our house so we went to the sports store and got some 1/2" gym mat for the living room. It is completely un-sexy but it was cheaper than the pretty kid foam and thicker/more durable {I assume - since you can put a weight bench on the stuff}.

At 8.5 months and excited to stand up/waddle regardless of actual ability to stand/waddle the mat is worth it's weight in gold because it has already caught a lot of face-plants.

[Kate]

Mine never crawled and started walking at 8 months, and she fell all the time. She was not good at falling, either - she'd fall like a tree and wouldn't catch herself with her hands. She didn't fall into things, really - we kept all our furniture and babyproofed pretty minimally, just getting rid of the obvious hazards - she mostly fell on the floor. So we spent a lot of time running around behind her teetering self, so that we could catch her when she fell. We also got foam mats for her bedroom (hard wood everywhere else) so she had a "safe" area. She still managed to bang her head a few times, but she was never seriously hurt. I do think they're sturdier than they look! But she got to be a better walker after a couple of months, and, more importantly, a better faller, and that was that.

As a bonus, she is such a tough kid, now. When she hurts herself, nine out of ten times, she shakes it off. If she cries, we know that whatever happened is going to leave a mark, and even then, she's fine moments later. I think it is the result of the early falling, personally.

[the milliner]

I second Cloud's suggestion re: ottomans. Great for resting your feet when watching TV or with a tray on top they serve the purpose of a coffee table. And they do make great barriers.

We have two small tables we use as coffee tables, which I will be re-covering soon to be ottomans (both for DS who is learning to pull up now at almost 11 mos. and for us - more comfy to rest your feet!). They are positioned together at night in front of the sofa, and during the day, I split them up. One to barricade the glass fireplace doors which DS can open (& likes to bang), and one to barricade the corner near the TV where there are a few cords we have yet to get rid of / tack down. Works like a charm. Leaves more area to play. And he doesn't even pay attention to those areas anymore. Well, except that now that he's trying to pull up, he likes to practice with the shelf on the coffee tables. Yikes.

And a last note: FWIW, we have two nephews who seem to be blessed with (thankfully) 'canceling out' qualities: one is strong as an ox, but very cautious, the other is not-so-strong, but a complete dare-devil. I like to think that this is nature's way of balancing them out and making sure they don't get into too much trouble. :)

[meggiemoo]

This is a bit off-topic, but I'm very curious how many of the early walkers didn't crawl...

I'm really interested in the connection between the Back to Sleep campaign, children not having enough time on their bellies, not crawling, and early walking.

FWIW, my son was a belly sleeper because he had good head/neck control and wouldn't sleep any other way (and our risk factors for SIDs were nil), and he crawled well and didn't walk until 14 months or so.

[Margot]

Our son started walking at 9 months, and he's never fallen hard enough to get us worried. The good thing is that they're so short, they don't have far to go! And it seemed like our guy figured out how to break his fall with his butt or hands pretty quickly. We keep an eye on him but let him wander as freely as possible within the house, and we don't make a big deal of it when he takes a tumble. We do the "Oops! Fell down!" routine and make sure he's not truly hurt. Carpet certainly helps, too! His motor control got lots better within a couple months.

[Barb @ getupandplay]

My niece walked at 8 months and one thing we noticed is that she fell a lot more when she was tired. So not letting her roam around before bedtime may save a few bumps.

[akeeyu]

My pediatrician said that, barring unsafe surfaces and pointy things, babies just aren't TALL enough to seriously hurt themselves when they fall from a standing position.

The falling is important.

EMBRACE THE FALLING.

Learning how to fall safely (and this is a skill that they can only learn on their own) is a really important part of locomotion.

Fitz-Hume was an early walker, too. Sam was horrified. I said "Well, what do you want me to do, trip her? I can't stop her. This is just what she wants to do."

We didn't comfort after falls unless she was in distress. Any non-cry falls were treated as non-issues, although we would (sometimes) help her up afterwards.

[caramama]

My girl (who is now just over 2 years old) started walking at 10 months and quickly went to climbing. She had no concept of heights, edges or other things that were not safe. She got into EVERYTHING. Our initial baby proofing simply wasn't enough.

We also took the coffee table out of the family room for a few months (although once we were confident in her walking, we moved it back in) and put up really secure baby gates to block off that room. We would often take the cushions off the couch and put them on the floor to give her safe things to walk around and climb on that weren't to high off the ground.

She got graceful and capable pretty quickly and didn't fall much or hurt herself really when she would fall. However to this day, I think the only concept of danger she has is to seek it out.

I also say try not to make a big deal out of the falls, but let her know you are there if she is hurt. We are now able to go, "Are you okay?" and she answers yes or no based on whether she really is or not and we can respond accordingly--usually we give her boo boo a kiss and send her on her way. That's all she usually wants, an acknowledgement that she did hit her foot or bump her head but not a big deal. And most of the time we just say "oops!" and she laughs and keeps going.

As for the baby proofing... You have to gauge what your child needs, and what YOU need. My husband is a worrier. I'm more likely to let her try something new (that he would consider unsafe/dangerous) and see how she does, standing nearby but not hovering. My husband tries to stop new things because all he sees is the risk. To compromise, we babyproof more than I think she needs, but it makes him feel better about our little daredevil.

And no, she's never stopped being a daredevil, but you wouldn't believe the things she can do! She's really incredible and keeps up with kids a year or two older than herself!

[caramama]

Oh yeah, she gets clumsy and falls more when she is tired or going through/just gone through a growth spurt. So something she was completely capable of can become something we have to watch her doing carefully when she goes through the clumsy period. And then we also have to re-assess the babyproofing (growth spurts for a child in the 97% for height means nothing on kitchen counters pretty quickly).

[caramama]

@akeeyu - LMAO at "Fitz-Hume was an early walker, too. Sam was horrified. I said "Well, what do you want me to do, trip her? I can't stop her. This is just what she wants to do."" I've had similar conversations with my husband, though I never thought of the trip her line!

[hedra]

@meggiemoo, my earliest walkers did funky crawling (one leg normal, the other leg crossed sideways, which allowed them to push backwards into a nice half-crossed sit without rearranging their legs). Looked weird, but definitely worked. My latest walker rolled first, then crawled. The one in the middle was the latest crawler. All were side/back sleepers (head on my arm).

Not sure if it correlates for us, really. The earliest walkers both had reflux, though, and were the most likely to push themselves around in the bed with their legs while they slept on their backs.

RE: early walking + 'seeks activities without regard to safety' - my kids have sensory integration issues, mainly in the borderline zone. Nothing severe, just past the margin of diagnostic. The 'seeking activities without regard to safety' is a sensory processing issue, per our PTs. It's actually on the list of questions they ask. Such a nice way of putting it. Better than 'crazy monkey child' or 'speed demon' or 'accident prone' (I like 'risk taker' too).

Mr G was an early walker (10.5 months or so? I forget), but was cautious and careful. Mr B was bad (another of the ran-one-week-after-walking, though he was the latest walker, I think), with the careening into walls and corners... but he didn't walk until 12 months. Miss R walked around 12 months as well, and was reasonably normal about her crash-and-burns - we vote with the 'boom!' or 'oops!' noise if you have to comment on falls, btw.

And Miss M pulled up at 9 months, and walked around 10 months. She was one SCARY child on the walking, because she learned to walk, then climb and jump off, then run - which led to run-climb-jump-off... no clear sense of balance, and no fear of heights or falling. BAD combo. And of course, she's a twin, so she'd pick the moment I was attending to Miss R to go climb something and leap off it. I toyed briefly with the idea of removing all chairs from the house, because she was up on the dining room table so often. ARGH. (Plus she was a tool using animal and problem-solver - the girl has the engineer gene, no foolin - so she'd find a way to get up there, stack things precariously, get boosts from Miss R, anything to be UP! UP! UP!... hmm, by the way, UP! was her first word, and it came out as a command... right at 9 months. We called her Rocket for a while, too - she's also the one when asked if she wanted to be a rocket scientist, she said No, because she was gonna be the rocket.)

Baby proofing is the only bet, IMHO, when their judgement is that off and their skills are that ON. We gated off one end of the living room just for their space (Miss M still tried to scale the fence/gate, though). OT/PT did help. She's a lot better than she was. But she still is a risk-taker with a thirst for knowledge and experience. And heights and speed. These will be fine traits later, especially if she grows up to be a rocket (heh). Meanwhile, there's only one kid I'm really scared of when it comes to learning to drive, and it ain't the boys! Miss Racecar (as they call her at school) has the most dangerous head-smacks, too (staples in her scalp, that sort of thing).

In other words, I feel your pain. Anything we can do to improve her motor skills, coordination, and so forth usually helps - she won't stop climbing and running, but she's less likely to crash when she does.

[pnuts mama]

@meggiemoo- the physical therapist we had for pnut said the same thing- barefoot is best, then soft shoes when they are crawling, just pulling up/cruising.

she did say that when you do get actual shoes for your kid, make sure they have good arch support as many kids have low arches, and they are formed early on (who knew?)- the pnut has lousy arches so i always feel inside the shoes i buy her to make sure there are some in there.

the pnut didn't walk til she was almost two! she also never had the 'instinct' to break her fall and she is still a cautious mover. i have had to train myself to not say "be careful!" every time she does something that she could get hurt doing.

the bean, meanwhile, is pulling up on anything that is near him, stable or not. i have also tried to train myself to go "oopsie! with a smile" instead of gasping audibly when he falls down. b/c y'all are right- 9 times out of ten when he falls he's ok and i need to know when he's *not* ok!

this baby moving himself and doing all the things the book says he should be doing at a certain age is crazy! it's like a whole new world for us!

[EmJay]

Both my kids walked at 9 months. They learn the physics of the world quickly enough. My second has no fear, even at two years old. She just has amazing balance which is not to say she has not had here share of bruises and scraps. We have had more than one nervous nellies at public play areas ask me or my husband if we were concerned about the risks our daughter was taking. She is also very small for her age, so her feats do challenge conventional wisdom. I have tried not to limit her curiosity though I do try to stay close enough to make a save if I need to. It is a delicate balance.

Also, I found myself just asking "Are you okay?" after most falls. Now when my kids fall (they are 5 and 2) the first thing out of their mouths is "I'm okay" If I don't hear that immediately then I know some attention is needed. Kisses or otherwise.

[caramama]

@meggiemoo - My girl started doing the "army crawl" I think right at 4 months. Up until then, she HATED belly time with a passion. We barely ever did any belly time because she would flip out.

She's never been a good sleeper, and early on she had to be in the swing or be held to sleep. We did get her to sleep on her back I think at 3.5 months, but by 4.5 months she figured out how to flip over on her stomach. Doctor said it would be an exercise in futility to try to flip her back over all night, so we just let her flip or put her on her side at night or for naps. Like yours, she had amazing neck and head strength, so the doctor wasn't really worried about her.

So when she was 4 months old, any time we put her down on her back when awake, she would flip over and start doing her army crawl, which then became regular crawling, which then quickly progressed to pulling up and cruising. Right at 10 months, it was full on walking and then climbing.

[pretty baby names]

My baby started to crawl at 7 months, which is late, but the she started walking right after at 8 months, which was early. I am not sure what that means, but it was weird to me!

[Jill in Atlanta]

I heard once that they get their clinginess and fear of strangers just at the same age they get their ability to get far away from mom. Grand plan, that.

Mine were late walkers- 15-16 months. In hindsight it was great but it bothered me at the time.

[mom2boys]

I had a longer post but I don't know where it went.

For the survey - T was a tummy sleeper (when sleeping), normal crawler, walked at 12 months and at 20 months is still working out the running thing. He gets more busted lips than head bumps. He trips and falls forward a lot.

Add another to the no coffee table group also for the more room, less sharp corners reasons (both for the older boy who is more active and accident prone than the baby).

[Charisse]

No experience with early walking--Mouse was 16 months--but I will say the shortness is good design. As we discovered, a tall 3-year-old can trip on the edge of a carpet and hit the hardwood with enough force to split their chin pretty effectively. Yow.