There was a story on the news a couple of days ago that a lady and her son saw a child holding onto the railing of a third story balcony, after several seconds realized it was a child, ran over to it, sent the son upstairs, and then a bit later, the mom caught the falling baby. The skeptic in me wonders if it is possible for a child that young to hold onto a railing for what had to be at minimum a minute, probably more, based on the description of events. Do they have the strength, or even the mindset, to do this?
I would seriously doubt it. I don’t know about the strength part, but definitely the mindset. It would take a fair amount of effort, and considering that a 9-month-old probably has no conception of the danger it is in, would not be motivated to withstand the discomfort. This sounds kind of fishy to me.
I experimented with a two year old yesterday, and could only get her to hold onto some monkey bars for maybe ten or fifteen seconds.
Use superglue for a longer hanging time 
Pre-walking-age children can have relatively short legs, which might help decrease their weight relative to an older child. This is based on observations of my own kids. I tried googling “infant leg length” for a cite, but nothing jumped out at me.
Unless the story said “dangling by one hand,” I would have presumed that the child was standing on the balcony outside the rail, holding on (one- or two-handed). Most nine-month-olds can stand with support, (some walk), and crawling out to the balcony would be well within their range if the adult’s attention lapsed.
WAG: I have not seen the story.
Maybe the kid was on the outside of the railing hanging onto it like they would be hanging onto the side of their crib? (i.e. not dangling from it but more like standing on it and gripping the bars)
I could see how that could be described as hanging from the railing, and is also physically possible for a 9 month old to do.
tomndebb & e_c_g, you are right…I hadn’t though of it from that perspective, but I think a 9-month-old could definitely do what you guys described.
Here’s one link-
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1002FallenBaby01-ON.html
The first line of link states “holding one hand, feet dangling”.
I remember reading, years ago, that a newborn human has enough strength in their hands and arms to support their own body weight. (Though it didn’t say for how long.) The article suggested that this was an evolutionary hold-over from a time when our ancestors clung to their mothers’ body hair.
If this is true, it might be that the infant’s arms are sufficiently muscular but because people today hold and cradle their children instead of making them cling on, the child loses that strength. It could be that the baby in the OP is one of those who retained that strength. (Maybe his mother encouraged him to use his arms more than most babies.)
Anybody know anything about this? Am I remembering incorrectly?
If it’s the news story from the Seattle area, I think you might be confused. I couldn’t find an on-line source, sorry.
There was a story of a 3 year old hanging from a railing caught by a mother, who sent her son to the third floor. That was, IIRC, in Everett.
The same day there was another story of a 9 month old killed by his father, in White Center.
Are you maybe mixing up the two stories?
When my oldest was still crawling, he climbed up the baby gate (horizontal and vertical intersecting rod gate), hands and feet, a couple rungs up. Then, after about 10 seconds he began crying (not sure if it hurt or if he didn’t know what to do next).
While it’s not hanging from one hand, it certainly demonstrates a strength you wouldn’t expect at that age.