Learning to Walk
A few pointers that will help you when your baby makes their first steps.
 monster toddler!
This means no more carrying them around absolutely everywhere, as they will want to walk around and investigate everything in sight. This can make your life as a parent more comfortable in some ways, but also brings with it a whole load more challenges. Regardless, it’s an exciting time for both child and parents.
Babies all develop at different times and a baby taking their first steps could be as early as 9months or as late as fifteen or sixteen months, all of which is normal.
Babies will begin to start pulling themselves up with the aid of furniture and stand there, but after a few weeks they will usually start to move along the side of the furniture using it to aid their movement. This is often known as ‘Cruising’.
To encourage a baby to try and start walking independently it is a good idea to get them a sturdy baby walker. This will enable them to pull themselves up, and they can hold onto it just like they would the fixed piece of furniture, but they will be able to slowly walk around whilst leaning against the walker.
It is a good idea to hold off buying shoes for your baby until they are walking outside, as walking barefoot in and around the house will develop strength and co-ordination in their feet, it will also give them the grip that they need to stand up properly and begin walking.
You may need to get them some grippy socks if you have tiled/wooden floors as the floor may be cold, and you don’t want your little cherubs to have chilly feet now!
At this stage in their development you will need to have a thorough baby proofing session of your home, as there are many objects around the average house that is not a danger to most adults, but can be very dangerous if a child were to grab/put into their mouth/fall on.
The most important thing though is giving your child the encouragement and confidence for them to really want to get up onto their feet, walk about the house, and explore.
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