walking on tip toes, is this normal or because we used a walker?

[princessdaisyboo]

my ds is 11 months old and has just started pulling himself up and walking with a push along walker, but he walks on his tip toes and rarely goes down on the flat of his feet and im worried its because we have had a baby walker which he loves and has used quite a bit as he can zoom around on the wooden floors and he is out of the way of our two dogs, but never more than 10 - 15 mins at a time. i am putting him in it only for a few mins at a time now just while i nip to the loo etc so im hoping he will start using all of his foot but do you think this is why he walks on this tip toes or do all babies start off like this? im feeling guilty that its my fault and ive stunted his progress because of the walker????????

Normal.

DD did this and never had a sniff of a baby walker. DS didn't but he's a plodder. It all works out in the end.

May I suggest a playpen though.

Walking on toes could be a sign of a hip problem.

Feet problems don't always work themselves out.

Yes but the first few weeks of walking are a bit odd aren't they FAB and you can't really tell anything at that point.

OP - wait a few weeks and if you are still worried, go see the HV.

we had a 'tiptoer'.. i would see gp for advice (and don't be fobbed off!)

dd, tiptoed and i was assured by health visitor it is normal.. eventually she was referred to physio at age 3 (when gp got fed up of my moaning!)

she had very tight tendo achilles by this time, and had to do daily stretches and excersises to strenghten her muscles (low muscle tone was cause of the tiptoing)

when stretching turned out to not be enough she had both legs in plaster of paris (with foot at an angle to stretch ta) this was our only option to prevent surgery

don't want to be alarmist.. she is FINE now.. it may not be the same for your ds, but i wish i had been more insistent on getting this checked earlier and saved dd a lot of discomfort (guilty emoticon)

wmmc, we will have to disagree as I knew with mine.

Okay, I'm going to agree with these two - go to the GP. I was obviously just lucky to have a tiptoer who walked normally after a week. I'm happy to be wrong if it helps stop someone's kid being in pain obviously!

I do know quite a few kids who started off on tiptoes and were walking with flat feet within a few months. However would agree that it can be a sign of problems so for your own piece of mind get it checked out. The main thing is that your ds CAN put his feet flat - if he can't do it at all this would ring more alarm bells.

It has nothing to do with using a walker so really don't feel guilty

yes, forgot to say walker can't be to blame as we never had one!

dd could put feet flat at begining, but gradually got tighter till she couldn't..

she also complained of hip pain, but gp suggested she was 'being lazy'

we never had a baby walker and my son was an extreme toe walker. He had physio for 18 months which consisted of stretching exercises and orthoric inserts. My son is fine now, although he still walks on tiptpes when barefoot at the age of seven.

Can he get his heels flat? There is little that you can do to stop a child choosing to toewalk. The important thing is that they have a choice.

recently had v similar concerns for my 10mo dd. hv pointed it out at her 9 month check with the obligatory "it's not necs. anything to worry about" but needs to be kept an eye on, may need a bit of physio to sort out. that panicked me but friends said their LO's same and another friend pointed out the other day that she was actually now using the ball of her foot and she has high insteps.

I thought it was because she loved her bouncer and bouncing in general. We stopped using it quite a while ago as she would just bounce on her toes whenever we stood her up!- v similar to you i felt so guilty that i'd totally given her the wrong idea about what standing up was for and wrecking her developing tiny feet! i was worried that when i tried to get her feet flat she would sort of sag at the knee and sit down -she didn't seem to want to stand. also at the time she seemed to have her toes pointed alot rather than just relaxed. i'm less worried about it now as she is starting to pull herself up more so i think she's getting the idea of standing, but it's not flat foot.

all of these things have improved so i feel less guilty - i think we worry too much that they should be doing things by a certain time - i'm hoping she's just getting there in her own way, but if she does need physio then at least it can be sorted when she's v young and hopefully mean no lasting problems.

I'm going to take her to clinic soon for general check so will mention it to them and see what they think.

sorry such a long post! i really just wanted tto say i don't think you should feel guilty - when they're so little and you find something they really enjoy you don't want to deny them the pleasure - and i'm sure walkers wouldn't be so popular and readily available if they were proven as foot wreckers!

hi, yes he can get his feet flat and sometimes he does relax down and stand flat footed for 30 sec so he can do it, he was born with both feet slightly turned in from being such a big baby (10lb3) squashed up inside which we corrected with massage and tickleing his instep to make him stretch his foot straight and this is all fine now, I think i will give him a couple of weeks and then go see the doctor just in case.

herladyship : feel for you being fobbed off all that time, we had similar situation when getting ds diagnosed with lactose intolerance, they just fobbed me off every week for 4 months!

snoozalot: im sure dd is just the same as my ds and they will get it eventually and there will be no lasting problems from us letting them bounce and whizz around in walkers!!

thanks for all posts feel much better about it this morning x

I have heard that using walkers can make them walk on tiptoes to start off with but that it usually resolves itself as they realise they can balance better with their feet flat. And that it is rare to cause long term problems.

princessdaisy - with what you have said about having turned in feet and being squashed in the womb I would go for a referral sooner rather than later ime.

ok fab i will take him next week to be safe
thanks