Not walking at 17m - referred to physio

[WeightoftheWorld]

Just looking to hear anyone else's experiences please. My 17m DS is not yet walking and has just been referred to physiotherapy by the health visiting team. It's not just that he's not walking yet though that is making me somewhat concerned, he can't really stand yet either, his feet are extremely turned out a lot of the time when he is cruising/walking with both hands held, he's still very unsteady even with both hands held so he's nowhere close to walking. He is my second child, DD walked at 16m but that was mostly confidence issue as she was walking confidently and stably holding one hand/a finger for months before that. So I can see a big difference between the two.

What does the physio actually do? When did your child start walking? Was there a 'reason' found for the delayed walking or not? He was born with positional talipes that midwife and GP thought was so minor it didn't require physio (checked at birth, 6 week check, and 12 months again). I do wonder whether that is part of the reason.

My little boy has just started walking at 21 months corrected - he was diagnosed with low tone due to 7 week prematurity and had been referred to physio at 9 months. The physio did a full assessment and gave us lots of exercises to do - it really helped us focus on helping him gain strength.

Is your little one pulling to stand much? We focused on that before he was taking steps at all. We bought a little table that he could pull himself up from sitting down. Took the couch cushions off and put toys there to encourage him etc. You’re probably doing things like this already but Im a first time mum so really had nothing to go by

My little boys feet also turned out a lot at the beginning but now that he’s more steady it’s not all the time. Supportive orthopaedic boots have really helped us too.

Hi, thanks for sharing your experience.

Yes, my DS pulls up a lot, and he cruises fairly confidently. He has started wanting to walk holding both of our hands now a lot too. However is still very unsteady like this and walks with his feet super turned out. He can stand on his own for a couple of seconds.

We had a physio referral at 19 months - my DD barely crawled by 16 months, and didn’t walk until 22 months. She was diagnosed as hyper mobile in hips knees and ankles, which basically meant all gross motor skills were behind by at least 6 months, as she was just too wobbly. They did lots of exercises with her to build confidence and were really clever at getting her to try things without realising. We were signed off after 4 months, but can go back if needed. DD is nearly 3 - she is basically consistently about 8 months behind normal gross motor milestones (eg jumping) but we don’t worry too much now.

Thank you, that is interesting. I've always felt DS is 'wobbly' as you describe hmm. Although oddly he has started climbing, which DD never did.

Just an update. DS is now just over 18m. He has a physio appt booked for about 3 weeks' time. He has also seen the GP - well, it was actually an F2 doctor - who advises they will make a routine referral to orthopaedics but the waiting list is currently at 12m! I have pushed for an urgent referral, as I think the NICE guidelines imply that should be done, but got some push back although they did agree to go back and speak to their seniors about it again. Have asked for a copy of the referral as we may try to go private, thankfully have a wealthy relative who has offered to pay for that. DS is making progress but has a very unnatural, wobbly gait, his feet are extremely turned out, he walks only on the inner sides of his feet too - and I feel both of those things are actually getting worse as time goes on. The doctor also felt there was some issue with his hips too.

@WeightoftheWorld Sorry to jump on old post - how is your DS now?
I'm in a similar position to your OP 😊

Hi, no problem at all.

So after a bunch of appointments it turned out DS has joint hypermobility in most of his joints and he also has a hip condition called femoral retroversion. He started walking at 21 months. He is over 2 now and still a wobbly walker, he can't really run as he waddles essentially so it's not a proper run, he can't jump, he can't do large steps over things, he can't do stairs yet unassisted and so on. We have not been offered any treatment except for orthotics at the hospital so he wears orthotic boots which do help him to keep him stable and lessen falling over. He will have another orthopedic review in the summer.

Hi @WeightoftheWorld, how is your DS doing now? I hope he is doing well and that the orthotic boots helped his gait.

My 2.5 year old has just been diagnosed with femoral retroversion and we were told by the NHS physiotherapist that there wasn't much to do and sent away with a piece of paper with some exercises to do at home.

Everything you described is the exact same for my DS: he walks with his feet pointed outwards (the right one in particular) and is not as agile as other children his age. He can't really run or jump and trips over and falls quite often.

As a baby, he had right-sided torticollis (he could not turn his neck to one side) and received physio for this on the NHS. When he started crawling, he would drag his right leg and never did a 4 point crawl. He then received further physio on the NHS just after he started walking at 1.5 years old due to his abnormal gait, which we were told would likely correct by the age of 2.

I want to explore private treatment but don't know where to start or what kind of specialist I should be trying to get an appointment with. Any insights would be enormously appreciated.

Thank you