Posting for traffic - my toddler’s feet, this can’t be ok?

[Derlei]

Apologies but I’m really worried about something and could do with advice from anybody who can relate to this.

My little boy is nearly 20 months old and is still not walking. He has been delayed in a lot of his developments - E.G. never crawled but has bum shuffled since about 11 months old.

He is pulling up on furniture competently, climbs stairs and pushes his walker to walk for minutes on end, and has been doing so for about 4 months. Just in the last week he has started to let go of the walker to clap for 10 seconds or so but as soon as he realises he’s standing freefall he clambers for the walker or drops onto his bum.

GP and HV just think he is being lazy and that he will do when he feels like it , however, I’m concerned at the obtuse angles of his feet. These pictures were taken today : they’re both almost 90 degrees. Surely that must be painful for him? He doesn’t give any impression he’s in pain when he’s on his walker or standing against furniture, but he is getting increasingly ratty and temperamental, which I thought may just be the usual toddler behaviour to expect

Is this likely to be why he’s not walking? We are seeing a paediatrician on the NHS but the earliest appointment was April. Is it concerning enough to warrant going private to get him assessed for hyper mobility?

This is really stressing me and DH out and Google is just so confusing

I have a rotated femur that I was born with, and stand like this - always have done. In fact, when my knees are facing straight forward one of my feet sticks out almost 90 degrees to the right. It wasn't picked up until I started learning ballet as a little girl as never caused me any problems - and I'm still completely fine, the only time it's caused me issues was when I was running half marathons, which I had to stop (WHAT a shame) due to getting inflamed calves from the impact of running on pavements. I'm sure he'll be fine, but you could always show your GP the pics if it's worrying you

My DS stood like this when cruising for a few weeks. It was to steady himself, toddlers have rubbish balance and it's a lot easier for them to spread their weight and 'lean' to move rather than stand up straight with feet side by side IYSWIM. The feet pointing outwards May well just be for extra confidence when holding himself up.

9 times out of 10 the 'slow' developers will just catch up in time and it's nothing to worry about at all (if fact I'd bet he is really good at something else - words, gestures etc). Some kids just simply cannot be bothered and are happy enough to sit and watch people instead of diving in and being centre of attention. My eldest was more than capable of walking but preferred to crawl to go to things, he had very little interest in walking to things for ages.

I hope your appointment goes well OP, and if this is any help at all, your DS has already made amazing progress with his physical movement just by standing and bum shuffling. If he made no effort at all to move for food or toys that's when I would be worried.

Thank you
I will wait until my appointment in April, it’s only 8 weeks away. If the paediatrician thinks it’s something to get checked out then fingers crossed we can help him get the treatment and physio he might benefit from.
I am definitely going to look into the high ankle boots and arch support, would people recommend Clarks or should I go somewhere more specialist?
Thank you all

Clarks or Start Rite are fine for now. If he needs more than High St supportive footwear, the paediatrician will refer.

If your pocket can stand it I'd go to an independent children's shoe shop and look at startrite shoes/boots. And def get someone to check re hypermobility.

Kickers are expensive but apparently very good.

I've got a 20 month old and he has 5 little friends the exact same age (antenatal friends) and none of them stand like that I instantly thought no definately not normal,sorry OP. I'm really surprised your HCW haven't expressed concern or caution that he isn't walking at 20 months,my son was late sitting up (8 months) and late crawling he didn't crawl until 11 months so I presumed he'd be late walking too but then cruised at 12 months and walked at 13.5 months.

It's the angle his actual feet are at on the floor too that seems not quite atypical to me rather than the angle his ankles are at

Insist you want a physio referral - appts are usually quicker than an appt to see the paediatricians as staff are community based (this is in addition to a referral to the paediatrician as well).

I just quickly scrolled through my camera roll with pics of my grandson at about the same age. Quite a few show the same stance and now that he's older he's standing and walking straight. So it may just be a normal deviation in some young'uns.

He also went straight from bum to standing, didn't really crawl at all.