Very clumsy 3 year old - should I be worried?

[Mo2]

DS1, aged 3 yrs 4 months just seems SO clumsy I'm beginning to wonder if I should be worried...

He's always seemed a bit less 'physical' than some of his peers, but we've always dismissed it on the basis of any of the following:

• kids develop at different rates
• he was/is VERY tall and big for his age and was perhaps finding it difficult to manage the extra bulk
• he's had some eye problems (squint, now more of less corrected by surgery, but wears glasses)

However in the last week I've begun to get more worried about his clumsiness/seeming lack of co-ordination.
We went to a party at the weekend, and while all the other kids were bouncing relatively successfully DS1 just seemed to be hurling himself all over the place, and ended up coming off in tears four or five times.
In the last couple of days he's also fallen backwards and banged his head really badly on his bedroom wall; hit the side of his face on a fence post at nursery, and run into the outer corner of the wall in our hallway - so all places with which in theory he's familiar.
At his recent eye tests the hospital have said that his vision is OK.
It really seems as if he simply doesn't look ahead where he's going - just seems to get excited, distracted and then smash into things.

Does anyone else's toddler do the same, or should I be worried? Is there anything I can do to help. We're always telling him to 'slow down, and look where you're going...', but of course he doesn't listen!

hi mo2 my dd nearly 3 is exactly the same,she keeps falling over,even walking down the street she cant go more than 5 steps without tripping over,i also was famous for it and have over 7 scars on my forehead and back of my head those wounds always needed stitches they were that bad,so maybe were just a clumsy mother and daughter,try not to worry about it,has he had his feet checked?

Mo2, dd2, aged 3.10 is very clumsy - just not very aware of her body, I think. There's an ongoing joke in the family that her head is heavier than the rest of her body. She can't be trusted to run anywhere, and certainly NEVER down a slope (no matter how gentle).
So, your ds is not the only one.

I have a 5 year old ds who, if he ever falls over he always hits his head first. He's not particularly big for his age, but his head is larger than average and I always thought he just overbalanced. When he was about 18 months/2 years, he also used to bang his head on the floor in anger/frustration whenever we used to tell him off or stop him doing something. Mo2, I don't know how you feel about complementary therapies, but I've been intending to take my son to a cranial osteopath for many years - particularly good for head/skeletal 'imbalances'. I've finally started taking him and the doctor said that ds's skull does need fine tuning but that his pelvis needs to be realigned too - he's advised that the treatment should resolve his clumsiness and hand-to-eye co-ordination.

The doctor said that ds, possibly, started walking too soon.

Cranial osteopathy might not be for you but I've had many successful treatments myself and it's completely painless and non-invasive.

It will, however, involve a total of 6 visits over three months at about £30 a go. But I would like to see ds more confident physically.

Mo2funny you should start this thread. Ds is almost exactly the same age as yours. And a few weeks ago the principal of his nursery school called me aside to say that she and the teachers were worried about his clumsiness and lack of coordination, and that I should take him to the gp. I did. The gp did a number of informal testslike having him run down the hall as fast as he could; having him slap gp's hand first w/ one hand then the other in quick succession. He then asked me a number of questions, some to do with how he relates to others (for I gather there can be links between clumsiness/dyspraxia and other disorders) and other q's to do with his fine motor schools, which are perfectly good. It was determined that ds is not 'dyspraxic,' just naturally unathletic and sluggish (like dh!)

How are your ds's fine motor skills? If they're fine, that's apparently a very good thing.

Don't you remember those clumsy boys from school, who took a little longer to get themselves sorted? I trust our ds's will, like them, be OK in the long term. But for now we just have to keep them in one piece.

If you suspect your child could be headng for dyspraxia then give them fish oils. Efalex is a good brand- you can get it in boots. It has been shown to help a lot woth develomental disorders- especially dyspraxia. EyeQ is similar although the ratio of the oils is different- and Efalex has some research backing it up.

You would expect to see a difference in about 6 weeks or so.

You could be talking about my dd who has just turned 3. She seems to spend her life bouncing around, falling over, bumping into things. She is also tall for her age and has lots of energy so I think it's all a bad combination. Her nursery mentioned her clumsiness to me some time ago (following several accident reports a day!) and I discussed it with the health visitor. We both agreed that her energetic nature and large size are a recipe for disaster. It's hard though, when out with other children as she often knocks them over too. Try not to worry and hopefully it will improve with age. This is my plan ....

My DS, now nearly four, is also very clumsy and uncoordinated. All his gross motor development has been slow - didn't walk until nearly 22 months. He's just started jumping (and is very pleased with himself!). We saw a paediatrician at 3, who thought he suffered from loose joints in his legs, which make him loose and floppy. Again she felt that his fine motor skills were good, so he probably wouldn't be dyspraxic. He is a very dreamy and thoughtful boy, and I wonder whether this isn't just an expression of his general personality!