4 year old with walking and running difficulties- how worried should I be

[georgesmum007]

My son has had problem with tripping over and walking strangly for a while- he kind of twists his left leg in front of the other- it is much more pronounced when he runs. I mentioned it to his health visitor a few times to be told- 'he'll grow out of it'.
When we had some shoes fitted recently they said he seemed to have some problems with feet and maybe knees and hips. Our GP has refered us to orthopedic consultant. He is flat footed and seems to have problems with some of the bones in his foot and maybe other joint problems. I am so worried about this. He also seems to be having some speech problems and has been refered to speech therapy- his vocab is good but his pronoucation is awful- could this be related to his walking problems in some way. He was invitro-growth retardation (stopped growing in last 4 weeks of pregnancy and was induced early). I am just being paranoid mother.

No, you're not being paranoid.

My nearly 4-year-old daughter has dyspraxia. She also has coordination problems and delayed speech acquisition and is in therapy for both.

I would ask you GP to refer your child to a paediatrician.

He deserves to at least be assessed by a paed.

I think an assessment by a paediatrian is a good idea. My son had orthopedic problems and everyone told me not to worry. In the end he had 18 months of physio to sort it out. My son also had speech problems and I was worried it was related to his walking. The paediatrian was able to rule out neurlogical problems and arranged a hearing test.

It turned out my son had glue ear. He had grommets and his adenoids taken out. The grommets fell out really quickly, but the removal of adenoids really improved his hearing and speech. My son now has temporary hearing aids to help him hear and he is doing really well. Deafness due to glue ear is not always obvious. A bright child can be very good at compenstating.

I think that maternal instinct is often right. If you think there is a problem you should ask for a referal to a community paediatian. You can get a referal by right even if the GP or health visitor disagrees with you. If I was you I would also ask for a referal to audiology as it can often take several months.