Although sitting up, crawling and talking are fun milestones, nothing brings your baby more freedom than walking. All parents look forward to that day when their little one takes his first steps toward toddlerhood. But when those steps don't come around 12 months of age, many parents start to worry.

"Walking is a common concern for young parents because they feel walking is related to intelligence," says Brenda Nixon, parenting expert and author of The Birth to Five Book (Revell, 2009). "It's the old, 'My baby is smarter because he walked at 10 months,' thinking. Walking is related to a tot's temperament and opportunity, not intelligence."

Most parents expect their child to start walking around her first birthday, but the normal age range actually varies from as young as 9 months up to 18 months. Within this normal range, a child may be closer to the 18-month end for a couple of reasons – mainly lack of opportunity, genetics and temperament.

"Often parents tell me their 13-month-old isn't walking, and my question is, 'Do you give her the opportunity?'"  Nixon says. "I advise parents not to whisk up their tot and walk out the door; rather, hold her hand and let her walk herself. Also, I encourage parents to hold their child's hand and slowly walk through the house, outdoors and to the car, or allow their tot to hold the side of a grocery cart and toddle along with them in the store. This is the opportunity and practice tots need."

Other times, babies are content just to take their time. Judy Nichols, a mom from Wilmington, N.C., worried when her daughter wasn't walking at 18 months. Her daughter developed normally otherwise – she was happy and said more than 35 words – and her pediatrician assured her she had nothing to worry about.

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