Can Pushing Your Baby to Walk Early Be Harmful?

When Babies Walk

• Early walking for one baby could equate to walking late or right on time for another. Babies start walking anywhere between 9 and 16 months of age, explains pediatrician and author Dr. William Sears, and around 50 percent of all babies are walking by 1 year. Many things can influence walking, including your child's personality, his physical development and whether he has opportunities to practice.

Pushing a Child to Walk

• Parents often watch in amazement as their new baby makes stepping motions or their 3-month-old holds himself up on his legs when they hold him upright, convinced that it means he'll be an early walker. Some spend the next seven or eight months leaning him up against the couch and grasping his hands and pulling him along as soon as he appears physically capable. And for all their efforts, the baby walks exactly when he would have walked anyway. All healthy babies step reflexively and bear weight on their legs when you hold them up, the American Academy of Pediatrics states; it's part of normal development and doesn't mean he's going to walk early.

Encouraging Walking

• Encouraging a child to walk is a completely different thing than pushing them. You can encourage your baby to walk by letting him develop his muscles in a normal fashion, from the core outward -- sitting first, then crawling, then finally, walking. Keep your baby out of a walker -- it does all the work for him and may actually delay physical milestones like walking, MayoClinic.com warns. Give him room to explore, furniture to pull himself up on and to cruise along, holding on as he goes. It takes around 1,000 hours of practice time for a baby to go from pulling up to walking, according to "Parenting" magazine, so give him time to master walking on his own.

Results of Pushing

• If you push your baby too hard to walk, he might become discouraged and end up walking later rather than earlier. He might also realize that you're disappointed in him, which can shake his confidence in himself and in his world, which could make him less willing to try walking even when he's physically ready for it. Praise him, encourage him -- these things build his confidence -- but don't push him. All you'll get out of it is a sore back from bending over and holding his hands.