concerns about bulky nappies affecting walking

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I've just heard that my sister's worrying that her 15-month-old daughter has been adversely affected by wearing bulky cloth nappies - apparently she's a bit bow-legged and flat-footed, and the people at her nursery have expressed concern that she walks a bit funny and seems to fall down a lot more than the other kids (who presumably wear disposables). I'm sure this is nothing to do with the nappies - I remember being concerned about the bulk between his legs making it more difficult for my Bumble-wearing ds to walk, but he never showed any problems and he's not at all bow-legged now!

I think she's made an appointment with some sort of doctor to look into the potential problem, but she's convinced it's down to the nappies and I'm worried the doc will say 'oh yes, no doubt it's that' (though of course s/he shouldn't jump on the 'easy' answer!). I've been trying to do some research but am having trouble coming up with anything concrete - I've seen lots of vague references to cloth being beneficial for babies with hip problems but nothing I feel is worth passing on to her. Has anyone looked into this issue? I'd appreciate some pointers to articles or something that I could show my sister, so I have evidence to back me up.

Likewise, if anyone knows of evidence that bulky nappies can be harmful to some babies, I'd be interested to hear about it. Thanks!

I'll hunt some out for you

am interested to see what people say - my ds is 16 mo, very wobby (started walking at 14 mo), flat footed and bow legged and been in reusables since 11 wks but he went to chiropractor from birth for mainly cranial work but I asked her to check his hips and asked about reusables and she said it wouldn't be a problem - only anicdotal I know so would be nice to see research thats its ok - I was in reusables tho and I walk fine...

modern washables are much less bulky that the ones most of us had when we were young. How many of us are bow-legged and flat footed?

Many children are not yet walking by 15 months. Its far too early to tell

DS has been in cloth from birth, walked at 9 months.

here lots of people trying to help you

Thanks for the quick responses and the link to the other thread, I'll keep an eye on both and see what turns up! I don't know yet if they're looking into actual hip problems or just completely overreacting...

this page shows the link between "swaddling" and poor hip development, a cloth nappy actual;y holds the hips in the optimum position to aid correct development

we use reusables. boy walking at 9mths like previous poster. he has plenty of nappy off time too though.
shoes still slow him down though and he's a year!

my mainly sposie daughter walked at 17 month - my son in reusables is about to walk imminently (god help me)! i have also read that it aids good development of hips as curly our resident midwife says.

Part of my work involves scanning babies in a paediatric hip clinic. One of the first line treatments for immature hips is to put baby in double disposable nappies or ideally terry nappies to hold the hips in a more optimal position. If there is a more complicated problem, the baby may be put into a cloth harness which holds the hips at far more any extreme angle than cloth nappies ever would- IYSWIM

My daughter has been in cloth nappies since 10 weeks old (and she was a prem - only weighing 5lbs when I first put her in them- so as you can imagine they were enormous on her!) she walked at 12 months and runs everywhere now at 19 months.

Sorry mainly anecdotal evidence but obviously a smattering of professional advice- cloth nappies are beneficial to babies hip development not harmful- toherwise we'd all be walking round bow legged!

HTH

I've passed on my/others' opinions and she seemed quite relieved - I think just was getting worried about having made the wrong choice (nah!). Thanks for all the input!