Anyone else have a "knee walker"?

My 15mo DS crawled (late-ish) for yonks. He then progressed to... "walking on his knees", kinda like an upright crawl. He'll do 4-5 proper steps (max) but then drops back to the knees. I haven't been too fussed, I figure he'll get up when he's ready. My nephew was a bottom-scooter and didn't walk till 19mths.

But, in the last few days a few people have questioned it. My FDC carer commented that she's never seen it in 20 years. A random stranger at the pool informed me that he MUST see a chiro as his brain won't develop properly (gee thanks!).

So... it's just got me wondering if others have done it, and if anyone else thinks it would be cause for concern?

My first son did this for ages! I am sorry I can't recall how long but I am pretty sure it was at least 3-4 months or so. People used to look at him like he was disabled or a midget baby (you know the look, kind of sideways!) and my stepdad was really worried. He did a similar thing with walking a few steps then dropping - I remember I was worried he would damage his kneecaps! If its any consolation, he went straight from knee-walking to running. He never went through that uncertain on his feet stage - I figure the months of knee walking strengthened his core muscles and gave him good balance, so he wasn't unsteady once he walked. But Flynn was just a really cautious baby, and is now a cautious child. He just doesn't like taking risks, prefers to work within his known limits and isn't really fussed by "pushing" himself (in contrast to his younger brother who is more typical and likes to be challenged). He is now 3 and a half and runs, jumps and climbs with the best of them.

So personally I would not stress about the knee walking - other than wearing out one-too-many pairs of pants it hasn't affected Flynn at all long-term. Unless there is something else that you are worried about I wouldn't bother seeking medical advice.

My friend's little girl did this for ages and she turned out just fine. She was just to unsure of her footing and very cautious and found it easier to get around this way.

My DD who is 16 months alternates between walking and knee walking. I think she likes knee walking because it leaves her hands free to hold stuff and she gets around quicker than walking. IKWIM? I used to look after some children who did the same thing when I walked in child care.

As Rory said I wouldn't be too concerned about unless you are worried about it

DD1 did this for ages - we called it Kneely walking :D

She crawled at 9m, kneely walked from abou 12m and walked at 14/15m - she turned out just fine. I have seen lots of kids do it at childcare so it isn't uncommon.

Don't they look funny when they do it though? :) I can still remember seeing my DS from a distance outside the Melbourne Museum - he was a little half-boy moving around in a sea of giants LOL!

My DD1 did this from about 5.5mths. She had already been crawling for a month and out of the blue she started doing this. I think it was spured on by wanting to carry things around, but obviously she couldn't do that while crawling and she was too small to walk so this was the next best thing. She was so tiny too so we got loads of comments about it and a lot of them said they had never seen a baby do that before. She started walking properly at 9mths old.

You would assume they would do damage to their knees, but I figured that crawling puts more stress on the knee than shuffling upright on them kwim? Like Rory said, if you don't have any other concerns about him then I wouldn't worry about it.

ETA - Rory, my DD was the opposite, she did it because she wanted to be on the go and just wasn't content with being still. The most stubborn and headstrong child you ever met LOL

hey ladies,

Thanks heaps for the replies! I must admit I wasn't concerned until I got what felt like LOTS of queries and "we've never seen this before's" over the last few days. It's great to hear that all the others went on to walk just fine. I agree, too that it must do wonders for their core strength, I couldn't even fathom trying to kneely walk (love that phrase - thanks Nai!). So far he's been doing it from about 10-11 months through till now. I also noticed tonight that he's started to move on his feet between furniture a bit more. Plus he's just started 2 days FDC so mebbe monkey see, monkey do when surrounded by other walkers!

Oh and yes he does it because he wants to carry stuff too. Funnily enough he had an extended patch of rolling before he crawled too - he rolled EVERYWHERE. I think he just likes to be different!

Someone suggested we need to make him some fake "knee shoes" lol.

Cheers,
Belfie & her little Kneely Walker