Moving (gross motor)
Cruising (walking along furniture)
Many babies — 9–13 months
Stepping sideways while holding furniture — practicing the balance and weight-shift that walking needs.
What’s happening
Cruising — stepping sideways while holding onto furniture — is real walking practice: the same balance and weight-shift, just with a hand always in reach.
How to support it
- Arrange stable furniture in a loose path so they can cruise from one piece to the next.
- Offer a weighted push toy (not a seated walker) for supported steps in open space.
- Hold both hands and let them take steps toward you — never force it.
- A gap of a few inches between two stable pieces of furniture invites the first real 'letting go' moment, on their own terms.
Worth knowing
- Skip seated/mobile 'baby walkers' — the AAP advises against them (fall and tip risk). A push-behind walker is the safe kind.
Often comes after pulling to stand
Often leads to first independent steps / walking
Where this comes from
- Getting Mobile: Movement MilestonesZero to Three
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