How to Encourage Your Baby’s First Steps

Learning to walk is a fun and sometimes scary time (for the parents). Your little one is gaining confidence and starting to show that they’re ready to be on the move with you. They might be trying to pull up to stand using furniture or might be taking one or two wobbly steps. There are a few things you can do to help your little one get more confident and start walking. All you’ll need is some sturdy and babyproofed furniture to get started!

Here are our tips to help support your little one to take their first steps:

1. Encourage your baby with lots of praise and cuddles for all their attempts to stand and walk, whether they’re successful or not.
    
2. Tempt them with an interesting toy placed on a coffee table or sofa. This will encourage them to pull themselves up using the furniture and get confident on their feet.
    
3. When they are learning to stand it’s often followed by a sudden plonk back down on their bottom, so make sure you stay close by. Luckily nappies provide a bit of padding too!
    
4. Once they’re pulling to stand well, you can place the toy further down the piece of furniture so that they are tempted to cruise the furniture. Cruising is when they use the furniture to help them walk.
    
5. When your baby is standing confidently holding onto furniture, you can hold their hand to see if they’d like to try walking with you.
    
6. A push-along toy might help them start to move away from furniture.
    
7. When you think they’re ready, you can kneel a short distance away from your baby and call them to you, holding out your arms and see if they try and walk to you.
    
8. Once they’re walking fairly confidently, make sure you re-check your baby proofing in your home to make sure it’s safe from obstacles, as well as things that were not in reach before.

For ideas to keep them active now they’re mobile, check out our toddler activities.