BOW LEGS AND WALKING
Do not attempt to hasten nature in aiding the child to walk. Let him creep, roll, slide, or even hunch along the floor—wait until he pulls himself to his feet and gradually acquires the art of standing alone. If he is overpersuaded to take "those cute little steps" it may result in bow legs, and then—pity on him when he grows up. Sometimes flat foot is the result of early urging the child to rest the weight of the body upon the undeveloped arch. A defect in the gait or a pigeon toe is hard to bear later on in life. A certain amount of pigeon-toeing is natural and normal. If the baby is heavy he will not attempt to walk at twelve months. He will very likely wait until fourteen or fifteen months. The lighter-weight children sometimes walk as early as eleven months, but they should all be walking at eighteen months, and if not, it is usually indicative of backward mentality.
If the training of the bowels and bladder will replace the diapers with drawers, the baby will attempt to walk sooner than when encumbered with a bunglesome bunch of diaper between the thighs. The little fellow runs alone at sixteen months and thoroughly enjoys it, and the wise mother will pay no attention to the small bumps which are going to come plentifully at this particular time.