Baby walks at 6 months

CAMBRIDGE, England, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Doctors said the case of a British baby who learned to walk unaided at just 6 months is "extremely uncommon."

Mary King, 30, and her husband David, 27, of Cambridge, England, said their first child, Xavier, amazed them when he began sitting up on his own at 3 months and only further shocked them when he stood up and started walking distances of up to 6 feet on his own in January, when he was 6 months old, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

"Xavier is more advanced than most babies his age. It was just amazing when he got up and started putting one leg in front of the other," King said. "The only problem now is that I can't leave him alone so have had to buy a play pen so he doesn't get into any mischief."

Dr. Martin Ward Platt, consultant pediatrician at Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, England, said it is rare for babies to start walking so young.

"To be quite so precocious with your walking is extremely uncommon, but ... it will happen from time to time," he said. "For his parents, having to cope with a much more mobile child much earlier than expected simply brings forward the moment you need eyes in the back of your head."