need a bit of advice - DD and hypermobility

[MrsShrekTheThird]

dd couldn't walk when she wanted to - she tried desperately from 10mo or so, it took her til 18mo, long story short is that I took her for a physio assessment and she has flat feet, in-toeing and hypermobility (everywhere). She's worn Piedro boots ever since :) Now she's 5, I'm trying to wean her off using a buggy so much, so I'm trying occasional trips round town when we can 'opt out' and get back to the car at the drop of a hat (generally when she starts falling over or complaining of sore legs/knees/feet) without a buggy. She's a mini shopaholic, incidentally, so a bit of time shopping is likely to motivate her rather than cause her to moan!

The help I need is advice - how far do I push it without the buggy (or do I surrender and stop putting her through it?) and should I be looking into the lower end of mobility or something? I still carry her quite a bit, which I wouldn't have dreamed of doing with her brothers, and she's not that heavy (yet). Just thinking in another year or two when this is not an option any more. Ohhh, her turning five seems to have brought this all into a sharp focus - somehow a small-for-her-age 4yo didn't make me worry that she went all over the place with a pram, but all of a sudden it's become an issue. To me at any rate :(

How about getting a 3 wheeled scooter that you carry when she's fine and at regular intervals, just before you think she's getting tired, she stands on that and you pull her along (we use a dog lead attached to our DCs scooters) and she'll still be using some muscle strength to balance but not as much as actually walking. It will help to build her up in all sorts of ways. Also - lots of sit downs and going for a coffee too will help!

Do you still see a physio for her boots? I'd be inclined to ask their advice on how far to make her walk and when to stop.

We had a very good physio years ago who explained to my DS2's teachers that for him, his poor muscle tone made walking like he was walking thro treacle, so extra tiring.. they really got that analogy!

We also went down the Maclaren Major buggy route.. my son couldn't walk long distances (still doesn't) was too tall for a regular buggy..the physio simply ordered one from WCS for us. (They also come up very regularly on ebay and there is nothing wrong in getting one yourself.. it's your back that will suffer if you are still carrying her!)

I'd definitely look into mobility now she's 5.. she may well qualify!

we were told by dd2 physio the other week (dd2 is 3.3years and has HM joints) that let her walk as much as possible but dont push it, if she gets tired legs let her get back in the buggy.
She also suggested swimming and lots of soft play to build up stregth.

thank you all, some great stuff, will definitely give the scooter idea a go, and yes I'll ask the physio (we go every few months re the boots) about how far and what to do. The treacle analogy's a good one. DD simply falls over all the time so it's really easy to see when she's finding things hard. She still fits in the urban detour, as it's big and I only got it when she was two realising that we'd need something a decent size for her. The thing is, I really feel for her when tots much younger than her refer to her as "baby" because she's in the pram and they're not, she's only usually got in through her own choice because she hurts too much to walk.
Will do a bit of research about the mobility, or even if we could get the badges to park nearer to stuff for her. I feel a bit ashamed to be considering it in a way, we're in the midst of applying for dla for ds1 who's on the autistic spectrum, have never claimed any of this stuff and now all of a sudden things are unmanageable with two of them, for entirely different reasons.

Going through the same MrsShrek! DD is 3.5 with low tone and hypermobility. I'm going with what lisad123 was advised and trying to get DD to walk as much as possible. It depends on the day though - some days she has much more strength than others. She is really tall for her age too so we get the raised eyebrows when she's in her pushchair!

Definitely go for LRM if you are still carrying her around..

hello 1percent! poor you too?! Sometimes we have days when a good bit of walking can get done, half an hour or more, other days it's shocking. We're obviously not alone tho and there's good advice here :)

Nit sure how you feel about this but my little boy also 5yrs old has HMS, clubfeet and hypotonia. He can walk and run but tires easily and like your daughter ends up in pain ( often much later and in the night) and falls over alot when he tires.

He has a self-propelling wheelchair, which allows him still to be independent ( well as uch as he can be, even if he's too tired to walk.

To be fair, our neighbours raised the money to buy his chair which is a fabby, super light one which is easy for him to self propel. The NHS one is much heavier and he struggles with it.

This may be worth a consideration for shopping trips, long walks etc. Luuk can't even make it right round the super market. We couldn't go anywhere without his chair.

We were worried when he first got it that he would get lazy, but he hasn't. He only uses it when he needs to. We encourage him to do hwat he can and if he needs to use his chair, it's there.

xxx

Hi I to have a ds with hypermbolity/low muscle tone.he has a wheelchair nhs one plus like shazz we also have our own lightweight one

I try to encourage ds to walk as much as possiable but he tires very easily to and have found and physio agrees that ds does need a chair

He walks though his gait is intresting but is very slow ,runs after a fasion think toddlers stumble

there's a thread further down where you are welcome to join us eds/hypermoblity

oooo, any chance of a linky please? would love to join you.