For parents of 3yos..

[MilkAndSevenSugars]

I've got another thread in child's health relating to my DD in particular, but I wanted to ask this more generally.

My DD is 3.5, and she trips over nearly every day, whilst we're walking down the road (havent really noticed it at home). Even when I'm holding her hand, she almost trips. All the time.

I think because this is normal whilst they're a young toddler, this hasn't really caused me much concern. But coninciding with another issue, I'm now wondering if this is normal?

Does your 3yo still trip over regularly?

My nearly 5 year old tripped over a lot when she was 3. My current 3 year old barely trips at all, she’s much steadier on her feet than her sister was.

Interesting. Maybe she's just clumsy, I am too. Think I'm just reading too much into things; driving myself crazy before I can get a GP appt.

I’m pretty sure my elder DD is just clumsy. She’s actually improved a lot in the past 18 months or so. I’m clumsy too!

Has she had a growth spurt/due a growth spurt? I know when my oldest is growing suddenly because she starts falling over her own feet. She is usually takes a few months for her brain to catch up with everything each time.

Or if she's always like it may be some degree of hypermobility? quite common in younger children, and many grow out of it but if it's causing issues or you are concerned would be worth checking with your gp.

My 3 year old trips over at least 3 times whenever we walk somewhere.

Does she need new shoes?

My near 4 year old still trips over occasionally. He's not a walker though. Always begs to be carried.

My little one does this during a growth spurt!

My two trip over a lot if they're tired, in new shoes, or distracted and not looking where they are going (ie chasing each other, dd2 will almost always fall over) but if they are just walking sensibly they don't trip.

My now 5 year old did (and still does fall but a bit less now). He has additional needs, and is hypermobile.

My 3 year old falls, but not anywhere near his brothers falls.

My daughter could trip over fresh air when she was 3, literally all the time and it would send me nuts, especially when her poor knees got cut up. I found getting her feet remeasured and some good trainers really helped. She has grown out of it though and is now 4 so fingers crossed for you x

Yes! Mine does this. He is covered in bruises and scrapes!

*Has she had a growth spurt/due a growth spurt? I know when my oldest is growing suddenly because she starts falling over her own feet. She is usually takes a few months for her brain to catch up with everything each time.

Or if she's always like it may be some degree of hypermobility? quite common in younger children, and many grow out of it but if it's causing issues or you are concerned would be worth checking with your gp.*

Always been like it. And has come up with this weird stretch mark type line on the top of her leg, which is why I'm worrying. As one of the things it could be a symptom of is Ehlers-Danlos syndrome - where the main symptom is hypermobility. But then she's not particularly flexible, and has never fractured/ dislocated anything.

My 4.5 yo has always been clumsy. He's improved in the last 6 months but he still has accidents. He was always covered in bruises and even injured himself on his health visitor two year check (2.5) running into a doorframe My 2yo has been steady on her feet since she was running at 10.5 months and rarely trips/has an accident.

She does this in all her shoes, and has been measured recently, so not sure it's that. Seems some other kids are like it too, though the few mentions of hypermobility have worried me even more.

Mine does, I am watching out for dyspraxia with her. I am dyspraxic, as is my eldest child - we are both clumsy and trip over our own feet. Obviously, there are other issues not just the clumsiness - although dyspraxia was known as clumsy child syndrome once upon a time.

Mine doesn’t do that and nor did her sister. I’m sure some do more than others, but I’d get it checked out.

My 3yr old DD does this a lot even when holding her hand too. I haven’t been concerned but now reading this thread I will be keeping an eye on it.

Yes! At least once every day. I thought it was just her :D

My son was so clumsy at this age nursery asked me to get his eyes tested. He triped over everything, even now at 6 he is still really clumsy more so than his 18 month old sister. But for him his eyesight and everything else is fine. That said a mothers instinct is very strong so I would still get it checked especially if there is more than one concern.

Is she lifting her feet high enough when she walks, or is she dragging her feet?

If she’s always been like that, it may be worth getting her checked out.

I have 1 DC very prone to tripping. I thought it was just toddler clumsiness at first, even though he was a lot clumsier than his big brother.
But we went to the GP about it, and the GP referred us to a physiotherapist. Turned out he was clumsy because his joints were verging on hypermobile. The physiotherapist said that this wasn’t uncommon in young kids and many outgrow it, and recommended exercises to help.

The DC in question is almost 5 and doesn’t fall over as often now, but he still falls over more often than his 21 month old younger sibling does.

Has she had an eye test? When dd1 was about 3.5 She had an eye test and got referred to the hospital because one of her eyes was much weaker than the other. We had to do patching for a few years.