What helped your low tone/hypermobile LO to walk/cruise

[DebsCee]

I would really appreciate any insight or tips wth this one as me and DH are struggling!
My DS, 22 months, has hypermobility and low tone in his legs. We have been seeing a physio and Orthotics consultant since he was 13 months old and he has progressed massively in a lot of areas. We have piedro boots and inserts and he will now walk (albeit very wobbly) if you hold his hands. The Orthotics specialist says his hypermobility is severe, and is actually a greater problem than his muscle tone - DS can practically turn his foot around to face the opposite way, his ankles are also pronated.
We are stuggling to enourage DS to cruise at all - he has done it perhaps 3 times now in the last 3 months, a few steps along a sofa, but no amount of encouragement works - not even chocolate:) He is a persistent bottom shuffler and has never 4 point crawled. Our physio is now on mat. leave and we have no physio support - though all the physio's we have seen have been pretty useless TBH. We continue with his exercises, which DS is more than happy to do, but nothing seems geared to helping him establish the confidence or ability to move independently whilst holding on to furniture.
DS is happy to stand so long as he can cling on to something but refuses to budge. He wears his boots all day every day and when you hold his hands, will walk happily all about the house, in fact he insists on walking often as opposed to bottom shuffling. I have trawled many of the previous threads on hypermobility but I'm struggling to find help on what we can actually do to encourage him and let him know that he can actually do it himself if he uses furniture to support him.
Can you tell me what worked to encourage your DC to cruise furniture? Any insight on what worked for you or what helped in terms of confidence to cruise would really help. He seems sooo wobbly, though he is more than happy to be upright as opposed to sitting. Thanks.

You've just described my DD exactly!

It's getting late so just a quick reply for now - have you been offered a posture walker (which is a bit like a zimmer frame) by the physio? Hydrotherapy has really been excellent for strengthening my DD.

Sorry rather brief last night but I was sooooo tired.
As I said we have very similar problems here and one thing we have learned is that she gets there in her own time. I know it's frustrating but perhaps he's just not strong enough or ready for the next stage?
You say you have no physio but surely there is someone covering maternity leave? It seems crazy that you have no support at present.

Hydrotherapy/swimming has made the greatest difference to DD and she is so much stronger as a result. Her consultant recommended the use of ride-on toys (no pedals) too so she is supported & upright but using her legs to propel herself along which helps to further strengthen things. We have a plastic type one plus a large wheely bug (expensive but worth it) and she loves zooming around on those.

Hi DebsCee!

Can't really offer any help - as you can see from the thread I just posted, (before I saw yours spookily), I'm looking for help with getting mine to crawl lol!

My feeling is though if you can get one of those walker thingies (Kaye walkers?), that might help build his confidence in walking independently of mummy or daddy?

xx

Thanks Reiver and ntt

Reiver - nope, no physio cover for mat, leave. Apparently the Head of Dept requested the funding and it was declined so they are running with 2 physios till/if she comes back to work. They have said we can call if we require urgent/emergency assistance, and I have done, and no call back yet :( but I don't suppose they would cassify it as urgent, more general support! DS does have a couple of ride arounds that he loves and he whizzes merrily all around the house and the garden and it has really helped him. We have also started swimming too. I know that he will get there in his own time, but was curious to see if anything particuarly worked for others in a similar situation.

ntt - just about to read your post! Thanks for the reply, I am going to look into getting a special walker, if I wait for the NHS he'll be graduating before he gets anything If your DS is anything like mine he'll do a great impression of looking like he's going to crawl for ages - he is such a tease!

Hi DebsCee.
My DS1 also suffers with low tone and hypermobility and is now 3yrs 4mnths. He took his first tentative steps at 28 months. He never cruised at all and in fact could not even stand at 20 mnths. One of the things that I find most frustrating is his extreme physical caution - he will not try anything until he is sure he can do it, however much he is encouraged. Nor can he be tempted by a favourtie toy / treat. My local NHS will only give him physio for 4 weeks on and then 4 months off (very annoying) but I find it does really help - do fight as hard as you can for this. My DS is now walking and we are now working on helping him do steps (kerbs etc) - I feel that he will get there in his own good time, which is very slowly. Back to your original question (sorry to babble) - I borrowed a push along walker that came around him, a bit like a zimmer frame does. It was a train and he held it by his sides rather than out in front of him, this did seem to give him the extra confidence to use the walker and I'm sure helped. I haven't seen any like it in the shops, think it was pretty old.