anyone have any experience with flat feet in a toddler

[pramsgalore4]

my dd has flat feet all her shoes rub her feet even her clarks do, i took her to the doc ages ago and got sent to see someone and they just put little wedges in her shoes (which did work for a while however she is walking alot more now)and said they were not that bad and to come back when 3 she is not 3 until oct and her little feet are so sore she cries when i put her shoes on so she is living in her slippers, she also walks on her tiptoes alot but not when she wears shoes, i am going to phone them again but think i will be fobed off, anyone elses child have this problem and if so what was done, many thanks

just to add i first noticed her feet when i caught sight of her stood with her back to me looks like her ankles have fallen if you get what i mean, hard to explain her feet look like they have rolled on the insde so her ankles look alot lower and fallen, forgot to say she does trip alot

I would try to get her seen by a physio if possible-ask for a referral through your GP.
My ds is very flat footed, this is however as a result of a more complicated condition (talipes). He has 'heel cups' in his shoes which are a type of insert to form arches and prevent the 'rolling' which you describe. He had casts taken of his feet and the inserts were 'made to measure'. He has only had them in his shoes for a month and already we are noticing a huge difference in how he walks including less tripping. We cannot however see a difference yet when looking at his feet. DS is 4. All of his treatment since birth has been through a physio (not paed surgeons, gp etc), they are experts at dealing with flat feet!

i have managed to get an appointment with who saw her last time , was not easy did try to fob me off but as i pointed out yes is common at her age but she is in pain!!!! i will see what they say this time and if no joy will go back to my gp and request i see someone else a bit higher and will mention physio and am not going to let them fob me off something needs to be done now. many thanks

Glad you got an appointment, both my dd's have flat feet, dd2's are also very wide and we struggle with shoes, she wears kickers and her sister wears birkenstocks which seem to fit well without rubbing. I hope you can get something sorted, my dd's are now 5 and 7 and we are having a lot of problems.

dd2 has very flat feet, and her ankles roll in. She has been seen by a physio, and an orthopaedic surgeon, who recommended insoles - but its been months since she had the fitting, and nothing has materialized. We're going to try Scholls to get her some privately, given up on NHS providing any before she grows another two shoe sizes

What I would say, is that her feet are a lot lot better than they were when she was 3 (she's 4.5 now) and the ortho consultant did say they would improve: he was right. Doctors are reluctant to assess or treat too early, and told us to come back when she was 4, which we did.

BUT her feet were not that sore in shoes. She couldn't walk far without her feet hurting, we still use a buggy to get to nursery, but normal running around doesn't hurt. In your dd's case, I'd keep pestering for a referral - its not ok for her to be in pain like that

Good luck, and hope the appointment goes well.

Glad she is being seen again, definately push for her to be seen by a physio as they see this so often I'm sure they will sort it quickly and easilly.
marne, we were told by ds's physio team that Birkenstocks are actually very good for flat feet as they have a raised bit at the arch that most sandals don't.

Forgot to say, my ds has been given excercises to help form the arch. These are simple- he has to walk on tip-toes, walk on heels, reach for things in high places (i.e. really tall tip-toes!), and pick up lego bits with his toes

Much as all babies/toddlers have no/not v pronounced arches (normal for pudgy baby feet), if it is sore there is clearly something not right.

I'd second/third/fourth the assessment by an experienced paediatric physio or, even better, by somebody experience in biomechanical assessment of children. Is there access to paediatric orthopaedics in your area?

i will look into getting her some birkenstocks, she already walks on her tiptoes alot but will encourage her to pick up some lego with her toes, have just bought her some really soft slippers (while her feet heal) as she was very upset she could not get out of her pushchair at school, so shes a bit happier now, she just cryed this morning because her feet were so sore where her shoes had rubbed and that she could not get out of her pushchair as could not wear her shoes.

i was referred to the clinic which deals with feet problems young and old by the gp and they gave her little wedges in her shoes to try to stop the rubbing, this has helped but back then she was not walking that much, now she wants to walk everywhere and now the wedges are not working, short of keeping her in slippers and not letting her walk that often i dont know what to do, when i phoned them up they just said to take the wedges out, but as i pointed out her shoes made her feet sore before the wedges so what good would that do, she can not wear sandles as the sole ends up at the side of her foot and her walking on the side of the sandle if you get what i mean (she walks out of them), i could not get an appointment for a month, but better than nothing, i think i will have to see what they are prepared to do first, but i am not going to let it rest until her feet are sorted and will ask if she can see a consultant as i can not see how this can just be because of flat feet.