Anyone Experienced With Clubfoot In Toddlers?

[queenbee]

I have a dcb age 16mo who has been enrolled for around 3 months. When I first interview the family, they talked about the possiblility of him having one or both feet being diagnosed as clubfoot.

A month later at his check-up he was officially diagnosed with clubfoot on both feet. He had casts on both feet for 5 weeks and beside the obvious - him not walking - we had no other difficulties with the casts. Fast forward to now.... and I'm hoping someone with information can chime in.

Will dcb learn to walk just as an infant would? He is able to stand up for small periods of time without any help or assistance from furniture, but he will drop down and crawl everywhere. I try and have him walk during certain times of the day such as from the changing table to the play area after diaper changes, from the play area to the high chair for meals, ect., but I'm not completely sure this is helping. I can't find any information about when I should expect him to start walking and when I should be concerned if he isn't walking by a certain age.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

[daycare]

I dont have any experience with this, but dont the parents have him in physical therapy? You would think that with that all of the money they spent on the surgery, that they would follow it up with therapy.

If they are in therapy, I would just let them deal with it. Maybe ask the parents if there is anything that you can do to help the process move forward.

Good luck with this..

[e.j.]

My son was born with a severe case of bilateral club feet and was casted the day after he was born. Through casting and surgery, he eventually went from casts that went to the top of his thighs to ones that gradually went to just above his ankles by the time he was 12 mo. He did learn to stand and walk with the casts on but he was a little behind schedule because of them -- maybe by 2-3 months but not much longer than that. It may take your dc boy a little longer, though, since he was older when first casted and used to moving without casts for so long.

If he's not receiving physical therapy, I would think he's probably at least being seen regularly by an orthopedic specialist who should be able to give the parents a general idea of what to expect in terms of walking. If you're concerned and the parents haven't already asked, could they check with the dr. at their next appointment?

[smb757]

My son was born with club foot in just on foot. He was first casted around 3 months, then had surgery around 4 months, then had some braces and special shoes for a while after that. I'm surprised that it took this long for them to diagnose your DCB! When my son was born, I did a lot of research on club feet - it may take a little longer, but kids are resilient and figure out how to walk just fine. My son didn't walk until 14-15 months! In fact, our pediatrician told us that if you go to poorer countries you will find people who have adapted & walk on their club feet.

[queenbee]

Daycare - He never had surgery. His parents said according to the doctor, dcb's feet weren't drastic enough for surgery. The casts straightened them out a whole lot, but neither parent has ever mentioned therepy.

Also, I'm not sure why dcb hadn't gotten diagnosed earlier. His feet were very noticable when he first started.

Thanks ladies! I'm going to conduct some further research on this before I ask for information from the parents. It's not that I won't trust what they say......I'd just like to gather more information.