Question on how your child stood (before walking).

[Tjej]

My 10mo stands up on the inside of her ankles and has some funny things about her "gait" (if it can be called a "gait" when it is cruising and pushing the little car thing).  I'm not sure if I am over analyzing this or if I should really have it looked into.  So I'm doing a poll. :)

Thanks for your help.

[luckiest]

The insides of her ankles?  So the soles of her feet point out, away from each other?  I'm having a hard time picturing that.  My rudimentary knowledge of anatomy would tell me that her fibula should prevent her feet from rolling outwards, but I have no idea if baby anatomy would be different.  

DS curled his toes under in a way that looked painful; his toe nails were always chipped and cracked.  I've seen lots of babies who start standing be super bow-legged, I've seen some balance on the outsides of their feet (so their soles are facing), and my niece's legs turned outward quite a bit so she walked like a ballerina for a while...so there's definitely a lot of bizarre looking stuff that rights itself on its own.  But by all means, if you're concerned, bring it up with your pedi!

[Tjej]

Yes, it is the INSIDES.  It's almost hard to watch because it looks so painful and difficult.  But she does it over and over again, and is happy about it, so it must not hurt.  Once she is up she puts her feet down, but stands on her toes mostly (but IIRC my other two did some toe standing for a while too - testing things out).  

[sassyfirechick]

DD walks on her toes, well not as much any more, she's 14mos started walking at 11mos and has finally begun walking flat footed but def look like she's got a load in her diaperr at all times with her legs swinging out as she goes!  I think they do what works and as they walk more they straighten out.  Do you use a chiropractor at all?  We've been going since she was 6wks and it's been awesome to know I'm preventing the issues I had as a kid with mild scoliosis and a ped who insisted I had one leg longer than the other but in fact the way my spine twisted it only make it look lopsided!  Our chiro focused on her lower back while crawling and transitioning to walking to make sure she was properly aligned and we both go monthly for maintenance.

[Tjej]

A chiro appointment might be a good idea - no harm in it, anyways. :)  I hadn't thought of that.

[P.J.]

Honestly, that sounds very odd to me. I would make a video of it and show your pediatrician.
 

[~Adorkable~]

its called pronation and can be from a number of things, my son has it and in his case it is a combo of a week arch and actually pushing his heals out. we saw it right way when he stood up and walked (for him he did both of these thing very close together and a tad on the late side.  we asked the ped and at first we took a wait and see as is usually suggested. the toddler arch is covered with a fat pad and is hard to see, that does not mean it is flat, its just "filled in" and it can take till 3 or 4 before that fat is totally gone. that being said it can also mask a flat arch and a good pediatric orthopedists can usually tell the deference. 

anyway my son just turned 2 and we had him seen again because while it got better a little in the first few months we stabilized his walking, it stop getting better and i see it trip him up when he started to wear shoes and cause bad calluses and some deformation on his big toes that he now uses to counter balance. 

two things we heard, first of all it does usually self correct to a large degree and most will talk a wait and see till at least 4ish. and that while there is some disagreement as to is shoe inserts help, most say they dont actually change the foot but rather just hold it a better why when you are actually wearing them.  one thing they all looked for and were happy to find in my son was that everything was super flexible and cold be easily moved into the right alignment, if this is not the case, i get the feeling it is not a self correction issue and so this is important thing to know.

that being said it depends a lot of the severity, so you should have her seen by the right people.  

in my case we in combo with a few doctors and physical therapists decided to do inserts, not because we think it will magically correct the main issue but that he complains about his big toes and we want to reduce the amount of secondary damage that is done to his toes or other joints that might be getting disproportionate pressure placed on them.  so for his toes, ankles and knees we are addressing his feet, hope that makes sense.

i would have her seen and talk to a few folks if the first one is JUST in the wait and see camp

[Tjej]

Originally Posted by ~Adorkable~ 

its called pronation and can be from a number of things, my son has it and in his case it is a combo of a week arch and actually pushing his heals out. we saw it right way when he stood up and walked (for him he did both of these thing very close together and a tad on the late side.  we asked the ped and at first we took a wait and see as is usually suggested. the toddler arch is covered with a fat pad and is hard to see, that does not mean it is flat, its just "filled in" and it can take till 3 or 4 before that fat is totally gone. that being said it can also mask a flat arch and a good pediatric orthopedists can usually tell the deference. 

anyway my son just turned 2 and we had him seen again because while it got better a little in the first few months we stabilized his walking, it stop getting better and i see it trip him up when he started to wear shoes and cause bad calluses and some deformation on his big toes that he now uses to counter balance. 

two things we heard, first of all it does usually self correct to a large degree and most will talk a wait and see till at least 4ish. and that while there is some disagreement as to is shoe inserts help, most say they dont actually change the foot but rather just hold it a better why when you are actually wearing them.  one thing they all looked for and were happy to find in my son was that everything was super flexible and cold be easily moved into the right alignment, if this is not the case, i get the feeling it is not a self correction issue and so this is important thing to know.

that being said it depends a lot of the severity, so you should have her seen by the right people.  

in my case we in combo with a few doctors and physical therapists decided to do inserts, not because we think it will magically correct the main issue but that he complains about his big toes and we want to reduce the amount of secondary damage that is done to his toes or other joints that might be getting disproportionate pressure placed on them.  so for his toes, ankles and knees we are addressing his feet, hope that makes sense.

i would have her seen and talk to a few folks if the first one is JUST in the wait and see camp

It's nice to run into someone who has dealt with this.  We'll be doing her well-baby visit sometime in the next month or so - I'll bring it up there and see where it goes.  I'll also see if googling "pronation" helps in my search. :)