Talipes/clubfoot at 10 weeks- am I being ridiculous?

[laurenlhthompson]

Hello, this is my first post here so hope you don't mind!

Generally I'm pretty a rational person but I have been worrying all day since a private scan I had done yesterday.

Went for the scan as had a small bleed over the weekend and baby was fine measuring 10+5 and wiggling around with a strong heartbeat.

But I couldn't help but notice it looked like the baby had clubfeet. I'm not even sure if something like this can develop at this point and if it was the case it would be fine but it's more the other associated problems like spina bifida that I can't stop worrying about.

Has anyone else had experience of this? I have a pic but not sure how to upload

I was born with a club foot and know several other people who had this condition too. It's very treatable. You'd never know now (I'm nearly 50!).

I'm not sure if it can be seen in a scan at 10 weeks. I think it develops later on in pregnancy but I might be wrong. From being in an awkward position in the womb?

Have this rechecked after 16 weeks. Club foot cannot be diagnosed beforehand. IIRC babies features are nowhere near fully formed at 10 weeks. It might help to google ultrasound pictures of babies at your gestation age and compare the features.

If the person doing the scan said nothing, I think you can assume that it's just that you don't know what you are looking at :) In the nicest possible way!!

10 weeks is way too early to diagnose club foot. Babies keep their feet in the position (turned) as they develop in the womb and many are born with a perfectly easily correctable positional talipes (corrects with stretches and time)

Structural club foot can in some cases be diagnosed in utero. But not at 10 weeks.

I would call the place where you had the scan and ask them directly about your concerns they should be able to answer you questions and hopefully put your mind at ease.

At 10/11 weeks, the foetus is only about 5cm so I wouldn't have thought that this would be picked up, or the bones even formed enough to have developed either of these conditions.

My daughter was born with talipes that had been caused by her leg being stuck at an awkward ankle. We had to do physio at home on her for 6 weeks and her hips were scanned at 6 weeks, but after this she was absolutely fine. Now 17 months and running around like any other 17month old - I'd even forgotten about it until reading this post! (terrible mummy!)

I would be v surprised if your baby had recognisable talipes at this stage. My son was born with bilateral talipes and it was not spotted on scan until I was about 34wks (had lots of scans due to obstetric cholestasis). I would definitely call clinic and have your fears allayed. If you are correct then do not worry. My DS is now 7 and is fine. He has regular outpatient appts with orthopaedics. Treatments have massively approved in the last 10 years. He needed casts and braces for a short while. He was walking at 11 months and has not held him back at all athletically.

So yes I'm probably being totally ridiculous!!

Thanks for all of your messages, it's reassuring to know that it's very treatable. I was just worried about the congenital problems as I only found out 2 weeks ago and wasn't popping any folic acid until 7 weeks.

Anyway here's the picture if anyone can make it out, also SoupDragon you're absolutely right I have no idea which bit is which haha. Oops...

Bless you! In the nicest way, you are being daft! Baby is no where near in its final shape at this stage (for example the head is more than 1/3 of its total length!). The legs always look a bit curled up at this point in my experience and I really think it's way too early to worry about talipes. Try to relax (absolutely impossible in pg but maybe you'll be better at it than me!). Good luck for the rest of your pg and a heathy baby.

Haha, well it's reassuring to know I'm just an idiot and the baby is fine!

Thanks again x