When Do Babies Usually Start to Stand?

Pulling up and standing are fun and exciting milestones for babies. Standing is usually a prelude to cruising and walking and means that your baby is about to become a lot more mobile.

According to the Denver II Developmental Assessment milestone's chart, infants can usually:

• Stand, holding on to things between 6 1/2 to 8 1/2 months
• Pull to a standing position between 8 to 10 months
• Stand for about 2 seconds between 9 to 11 1/2 months
• Stand alone between 10 1/2 to 14 months

That isn't the range when all infants meet these milestones, though.

It is simply when 25-90% of infants could stand, holding on or stand alone, etc. So, about 10% of toddlers could take a little longer and eventually meet the milestone a few weeks or months later.

Why isn't your baby standing yet?

Especially if your child met most other developmental milestones a little later than usual, but did eventually catch up, then he just may need more time with this one too.

Some medical conditions that might cause a delay in standing or walking might include:

• Cerebral palsy
• Congenital orthopedic problems
• Down syndrome
• Muscular dystrophy

By 18 months, your pediatrician should make sure that your toddler can "sit, stand, and walk independently."

In addition to these tips, other things to know about standing include that:

• Most younger infants are able to stand up with support and bear weight on their legs between 2 and 4 1/2 months, and no, it won't cause them to have bow-legs.
• Most toddlers can walk backward between 13 and 17 months.
• Most toddlers begin running and walking up steps at 14 months.
• Toddlers with undiagnosed developmental hip dysplasia can probably stand and will likely learn to walk with a limp or waddling gait.

Talk to your pediatricians or consider a referral to ECI or a developmental specialist if you have concerns that your baby isn't standing on time or is a late walker.