This question about the motor development of the baby until he or she can walk is a very popular one among parents. Like almost all questions regarding baby development, the answer starts by: “It depends.”
But it depends on what?
It depends on your baby’s motor development’s path which is influenced by internal and external factors. Internal factors can be related to genetics and external factors can be linked to stimulation.
Both nature and nurture have a role to play with motor development.
According to The Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential, there are 7 brain stages and we will put our emphasis on the mobility competence in the first 5 stages:
Stage 1 towards walking for your baby: Medulla and cord
In this stage, the baby is able to generate movement with his or her arms and his or her legs without moving the body and it is done as a reflex response.
For the motor development’s path in terms of speed here’s how it is:
Slow: Birth to 2 months
Average: Birth to 1 month
Superior: Birth to 0.5 month
To better illustrate this stage, here’s a week (7 days old) baby moving.
Stage 2 towards walking for your baby: Pons
In this stage, the baby can crawl in the prone position and it will culminate in cross pattern crawling and it is done as a vital response.
For the motor development’s path in terms of speed here’s how it is:
Slow: 5 months
Average: 2.5 months
Superior: 1 month
Stage 3 towards walking for your baby: Mid-brain
In this stage, the baby can creep on his or her hands and knees and it will culminate in cross pattern creeping and it is done as a meaningful response.
For the motor development’s path in terms of speed here’s how it is:
Slow: 14 months
Average: 7 months
Superior: 3.5 month
Stage 4 towards walking for your baby: Initial Cortex
In this stage, the baby can walk with arms used in a primary balance role most frequently at or above shoulder height and it is done as an initial human expression. This is the stage where the baby walks for the first time!
For the motor development’s path in terms of speed here’s how it is:
Slow: 24 months
Average: 12 months
Superior: 6 months
Stage 5 towards walking for your baby: Early Cortex
In this stage, the baby can walk with arms freed from the primary balance role and it is done as an early human expression.
For the motor development’s path in terms of speed here’s how it is:
Slow: 36 months
Average: 18 months
Superior: 9 months
There are still 2 other stages and the stages presented above answer pretty well at what have should your baby walk.
Stimulation will help your baby to accelerate the process and it must be done in a fun environment. Of course, stimulating your baby needs information and needs action.
To do so, parents can be proactive and one of our recommended read on the topic is “How to Teach Your Baby to Be Physically Superb”.
This book is full of information that will give you and your baby a lot of tools to bloom at his or her pace to reach his or her full physical potential. Moreover, physical activity with great cognitive stimulation will help your baby to sleep better.
Also, as parents, we have a tendency to outsource even the first steps of the baby’s motor development to coaches and/or physical education teachers or others while this is great to bound and develop a great relation of trust with your child. This might be especially the case for fathers that might want to deepen their relationship with their baby.
