fighting for second opinion!

[nowthatyouremine]

i posted last week about my ds. he is 17months old and has not crawled/not yet walking/never pulled himself up, although he does cruise along furniture. he feet roll inwards which affects his balance.
we had an appointment with paediatritian 3 weeks ago, she said he was bendy, didnt watch him stamd/attempt to walk and told us to go back in september!
i wasnt happy with this and got some great advice about physio etc so i started the ball rolling by going back to gp. she basically accused me of stressing ds out! for the record he is desperate to walk, he is so frustrated etc. gp said to trust paediatrition and just wait it out although did say "yeah he does look unusual when he stands".
next stop health visitor-she was brilliant! had a long chat and she supported my concerns advising me to contact paediatritions secretary who could pass my concerns onto another doc.
chat with secretary started badly, ended well. my 6/7 minute appointment was scheduled to last 45 mins to provide full physical assesment- how is this possible in 6/7 mins without him being on the floor at any point?!? so she said she would pass my concerns to another doc and get back to me. she hasnt!
so now ive contcated the PALS team at the hospital who are going to chase this up for me. i recall one poster saying she had to become a lioness to get her dc some help- it seems i will too!
my hv said in this pct area hv's arent authorised to make physio referrals, although i know she will support me any way she can.
sorry for the rant/ramble- anyone any experience of asking for 2nd opinions??

how does he cruise if he doesn't pull himself up?

I could've written that first part of your post myself. Took DS to the gp when 15months because his feet rolled inwards and he hated standing up - I got told he was still within the normal age for walking and got sent packing. Grrr! Sooo, I decided a few weeks later to go to a different gp who I think would of sent me packing too if I had not showed him pics of DS's ankles (knew he wouldn't stand in the gps office). GP decided to refer him to an orthapaedic specialist - yippee!!

I think he was about 17mths when he saw the specialist and no further forward so felt sure something would be done (I was pretty sure he had hypermobility). But no, the appointment lasted about 15mins in which time she saw him stand flat on his feet for all of a split-second (not long enough for him to put his full weight on them) and decided that he was just a confirmed crawler and that she would see him again in 4mths when she was sure he would be walking. I felt pretty deflated afterwards and not happy with the outcome but DP convinced me to just wait and see what happened in the 4mths. 4mths came and went and not only had DS not made much progress but we didn't recieve our appointment through either. After much phoning and getting nowhere I eventually took him back to the gp and showed him the lack of progress so the gp chased up the appointment for us.

7mths (wtf) from the first appointment we finally got our next appointment through. This time she kinda ate her words and finally examined his flexibility (by this point, through a lot of research on our part and us buying him sturdy boots off our own steam, DS was walking holding on to our hands). She decided it wasn't her problem and signed him off but referred him to physio and a paediatrician (he had just turned 2 at this point). By the time he saw either he was at the point of walking holding one hand (again through our research and us doing specific things to strengthen him up). By the time he saw the physio the 2nd time he was walking (he walked at 2yr 2mths), but more because he was finally ready than from anything the physio did. Don't get me wrong, she was lovely, just wish we'd been referred to her at 16mths rather than after he had already turned 2. He still has to see the paed again because its so long between appointments.

Anyway, I think I'm saying yes, be a lioness about getting something done. I wasn't nearly assertive enough even though I was certain he had hypermobility and it turned into a very long process that didn't really benefit him in the end. If we hadn't done our homework, bought him the right shoes and encouraged him to do certain activities then I don't think he'd even be walking yet. On the other hand, if I'd forced the HCPs to do something more then he may have been walking a lot sooner than he was.

Good luck, it sounds like you're on the ball and getting things done. Its just so hard cos the NHS sends you round in circles.

EldonAve I was just about to ask that question too!