Learning to walk: better without rushing 2026

As a general rule, the beginning of autonomous walking usually occurs around 12-13 months and is considered normal until 15, or even 18. But when do you know that the time has come? Can we encourage their maturity? What are our main mistakes?

If you stand up, is it time?

Standing while holding on to furniture is something all babies do even before crawling. It is mere exercise. They love it: they feel the ground under their feet, they notice their own weight, they rise... They do it a thousand times and it doesn't mean that the baby starts walking, it's part of their exercise. They work the legs, the glutes...

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Babies should move at all times in the way they can do on their own. And it is not a punishment, but an opportunity, a vote of confidence. In reality, they don't need us to walk either. Studies carried out by pediatrician Emmi Pikler in Budapest reflect that the supposed help we offer turns out to be an obstacle and makes it difficult to achieve autonomy and correct posture.

Crawling, a formal stage?

Crawling, normally the stage before walking, usually seems like a dirty stage (“all day on the floor!”), dangerous even, a mere process towards an erect posture. That's why, at the slightest sign, we insist on him walking, instead of returning to the ground. But it is not a procedure at all, but rather a very beneficial stage. And walking on all fours stimulates the paravertebral muscles (in addition to the abdominals and lumbar muscles), two powerful bundles of fibers on both sides of the spine that will help you stay upright.

Crawling strengthens the legs, whose knees and hips suffer the consequences if the child walks without being prepared. In addition and, above all, the two cerebral hemispheres are explicitly connected for the first time thanks to the crossed movement of arms and legs typical of crawling.

With or without shoes?

Another big mistake is to think that the baby walks thanks to the shoes. Or to the reinforcement of the shoes! A great sole can keep you on your feet and if you grab your ankle, we think, it's safer. But that is not the case and today it is totally discouraged. In fact, it is recommended that the baby start walking barefoot with shoes that look like being barefoot, that is, that allow the foot to make the entire journey with each step (from the heel to the big toe), instead of having to take plank steps.

If the baby is not able to stand without shoes, on their supports, then he is not at all prepared to support himself. The reinforcement of the shoe is counterproductive on an immature foot: if the shoe supports the ankle, it weakens, it stops doing part of its function and later we will have a weak ankle, prone to sprains. Everything that the shoe does, the body stops doing.

And if the child wants to stand all the time

It will happen if in our family there is someone always ready to take him by the hand and accompany him. It will not happen if it is clear to the baby that, to get there, he has to do it on his own. In this way we help you build healthy self-esteem and we are giving you a vote of confidence.

Lidia García Fresneda is an expert in psychomotor development.