Conference moira::parenting

    All I can say is on of my boys had something similar, with him he
    always looked left, head leaned left somewhat, a result of the way he
    was carried im sure. It wasnt terrible, and nobody was over concerned,
    but we noticed it and mentioned ot to the pediatrician.
    At 6 months (i think) he saw a therapist, she was not very concerned,
    said things like that most often dont straighten out until the body
    part is being used (for example when he walks and develops muscles
    and control). At 7 months yours isnt applying much force or using it in
    a way to help it straighten. I wouldnt worry, but see the therapist.
    (we were given exoercise to do, missed them more often than not, but
    time and development and it went away. I suspect the foot will
    straighten too, when he walks and it develops. Time works wonders, but
    make him use it to help strengthen it.
    	FWIW my 3.5 year old watches TV in a kneeling like position. but
    hes not kneeling... he turns his feet out and sits with his legs out
    to the side perfectly flat on the floor :):)  absolutely amazes me :)
    and he is so comfortable, Id be screaming :):)
    
    Steve

    admit it.... youre just jealous of his flexibility :):)  I am....
    kids are amazing...

    I had a similar problem when I was a kid.  My feet turned completely
    out.  I had to wear braces on my feet/legs with a bar attaching the
    shoes so that my feet would turn in.  My brothers also had it, but not
    as badly as I did so they didnt need braces.  My brothers feet do turn
    out quite a bit (I can track them at the beach) so mine must have been
    really bad.
    
    Good luck...Rhonda

    My son, Christopher, has an ankle problem.  When he began to
    walk, I noticed he would lean into his right ankle.  It became 
    more pronounced as the day went on to the point by the end of 
    the day he was walking on his ankle.  He pediatrician explained 
    due to positioning in the womb some ligaments do not develop
    fully.  To strengthen and stretch the ligaments Christopher
    wears a very stiff high top.  The extra support keeps his
    ankle from bending.  His pediatrician has asked that we keep
    him in this type of shoe until his third birthday.  It has
    worked wonders.
    
    Terry
    

    Don't assume it will go away as he goes older .  My now 12-yr old had
    feet that turned in -- at 9 months  I mentioned it to the pedi and he
    said they'd straighten out by themselves.  Well at 15 months they still
    hadn't, so we went to an orthopedist, who called it "spiral torsion" and
    said it had to do with the way the legs were attached at the hips, so
    it wasn't just the feet, but the whole leg.  We did the Brown bar at
    night and nap times for 6 months, and straight-last shoes  till he was
    4.  Nothing changed, he still has times when he complains because he's
    tripping and kicking his ankles with the other foot.  I've had him
    checked out and no orthopedist can give any more suggestions, except
    major surgery (NOT!), so we've learned to live with it.  Didn't slow
    him down one bit, however, he walked at 11 months and hasn't stopped
    running since!
    
    sandy
    

    
    My daughter also has a turned in leg (the right one). She was always
    tripping over her right foot when walking. It's most noticably
    pronounced when she goes down stairs. She's now almost 5 and we have to
    make her practice going down the stairs with alternating feet. When she
    does this her foot really turns in. Other than that she's had no
    problems. She runs really great and fast for her age. She did she an
    orthepedic surgeon when she was ~18 months who checked her out and said 
    that the only way to correct it was through surgery and he didn't 
    recommend it. He said that as she got older she would learn to
    compensate for it. I only notice the turn now when she goes down the
    stairs or if she's getting really tired while we're walking. I would
    definitely get your son checked cause if there is something that can be
    done for him via the boots/bar, that would be great.
    
    Patty

    
    Jonathan's legs are turned out.  Mostly noticed by his duck-footed
    walk.  To me, his left leg is much worse than his right, but the doc
    says that physically they're about the same, and that the left is more
    noticeable is just a personal preference, or perhaps a muscle-strength
    issue.
    
    I've always noticed it.  Can't keep the kids legs together, to save the
    world - he must've had them wrapped behind his head the whole time he
    was in utero (and he still can!).  I talked to the pedi when he was ~a
    year old, she checked his hips, and said wait till he's walking
    COMFORTABLY for several months before they'd do any more.  We went back
    several months later (it was making him fall down a lot), and she sent
    him to a neurologist (since he always seemed to fall to the same side),
    that came back clean, and then sent him off to a pediatric orthopedic
    Dr.  We had to go all the way to Lebanon to find one that she felt was
    worth anything (in spite of there being many Drs, MUCH closer).  
    
    The visit was pretty interesting, and they examined each section of his
    leg, to determine where the problem really was.  His feet are aligned
    with his calves, his hips are aligned with his thighs, but his thighs
    aren't aligned with his calves.  From this, the Dr determined that his
    thigh bones are actually twisted, which in turn twists his whole foot
    out.  The only way to fix it, is to actually break the thigh bone,
    reset it, and move on.  However, since it's not drastic, they wouldn't
    even *DREAM* of doing it on him.  All of his "flexibility" is outward,
    and he has very little inward.  
    
    The sitting described earlier, is called "W Sitting", where their legs
    essentially make a "W".  Because Jonathan's flexibility is outward, and
    not inward, he will never be able to w-sit.  From "straight and
    center", your legs should be able to pivot 50% out and 50% in.  his
    pivot about 30% in and 70% out.
    
    So, the long-term consequences?  Since his feet are facing out more, it
    makes him a slower runner.  It's faster to run if you're toed-in, and
    actually toed-in is a *MUCH* more common occurance.  And that's about
    it.  
    
    If the orthopedic Dr found no problems at all, he would next have gone
    to a physical therapist.  
    
    He wants to see him again when he's 5 (about 3 yrs from when we last
    saw him), to make sure things haven't gone drastically wrong.  In the
    meantime, I just make sure he has *REAL* good shoes, because he seems
    to fall more frequently in "cheap" shoes.  Can't explain that, nor
    could the Dr.
    
    Hopefully you got good news today!  If you'd like the name of the Dr
    that we saw in Lebanon, I can round it up ... it was a real weird name,
    at the Mary-Hitchcock clinic.  FWIW - my pedi felt that there wasn't a
    lot more that an "average" ortho doc would find, than she could find. 
    She was very adamant that I see THIS DOCTOR - even though it took 4 mos
    to get the appt.  So, if you're unhappy with their diagnosis, try
    someone else.  This certainly set my mind at ease!!
    
    Good luck!
    Patty

    Well, we had our first ortho visit, and I must say, I was surprised
    with the speed with which the Dr. acted.
    
    After waiting an interminably long 3 weeks for the appointment, and 1.5
    hours in the doc's office, he comes in, does some reflex tests and bend
    Jake's legs this way and that.  He asked me a couple of developmental
    questions (does he crawl/sit/stand assisted yet, which were all Yes). 
    Then he tells me he wants x-rays.  I decide to be ladylike and not
    point out that the HMO referral requested x-rays, and they could have
    done THAT while I was trying to keep a 7 month old amused for 90
    minutes without many toys!!  (grrrr)
    
    Anyway, the x-rays cam back showing that Jake has (2) problems.  One is
    (gee, what a surprise!) that his left calf bones bow outward, making
    him look like he's seriously bow-legged.  Right leg is developing
    normally or perhaps a shade above normal.  His left foot, however,
    curves in.  He gave me the medical names for these conditions, but I'll
    be d****d if I can remember them!  Anyway, after telling me that the
    leg would probably correct itself with time, he said we could treat the
    foot with either the Forrest Gump-style shoe for 4-6 weeks or a plaster
    cast for 3 weeks.  I asked a couple of questions re: effectiveness,
    etc., and which the Doc prefers, and voted for the cast.  If nothing
    else, I figured my little genius can't untie a cast and whip it off. 
    He figured out how to undo those Stride Rite shoe laces before we got
    out of the STORE!!  Anyway, the Doc said that he could try to correct a
    little of the leg thing with the cast, too, but wouldn't promise
    effectiveness, whereas the shoe would only work on the foot thing.  If
    the cast is not effective in three weeks, he may have to have a second
    one for another three weeks, but the shoe would have been the same
    thing, so no loss there.
    
    So now he has a cast, and he looks quite pitiful, or would if he'd sit
    still long enough!  The cast doesn't seem to be getting in his way too
    much, and may actually help him with the furniture cruising thing,
    which he just started to attempt over last weekend.  
    
    More later, updates as they happen.
    
    M.
    

    This is another one of my areas of medical expertise (heh, heh)!
    
    Our now 8-year-old had both feet and lower legs curved inward
    (severely) at birth. At four months the ortho put her in two casts,
    which were changed every two weeks for up to eight weeks. The casts
    helped a lot but didn't fully fixed the problem, so next she went into
    the backwards shoes for a few months. Again, that helped but didn't
    fully fix the problem, so then she spent another few months in the
    backwards shoes with the bar (during sleep and nap times only). The
    whole process took a year or so but it worked! I think it was more
    painful for me than for Jamie because we got it done with before she
    was 18 months old. If your son is only seven months old, it's probably
    better to do it now too.
    
    BTW, our almost five-year-old son had the same problem with one foot
    (no leg or hip problems, like his sister) when he was born, but not
    nearly as bad as our daughter's condition. The ortho just kept an eye on
    it for two or three years and he did outgrow it. Also, both the pedi
    and the ortho said it's not unusual for these lower body problems to
    happen to kids whose parents had these problems in infancy (and I did).
    Luckily, it seems to be treatable early and in a fairly painless way.
    
    Good luck!
    
    Nancy-