Any Mums out there whose baby was born with a club foot

glimmerofhope

We have just had our 20 week scan and they have said it is most likely our son will have a club right foot.
the internet is full of info but just wondered if there were any mums on the forum that have experienced this
Thanks

Glimmer

Air_Cooled_75

Yep, our little boy. It was his right foot too, although it wasn't picked up on the 20 week scan. However, no one was concerned about it when he was born as they were convinced it was a positional issue (in the womb) and to be fair it did completely sort itself out and now (he's 17 months old), in fact I struggle to remember which foot it was. Can they tell how affected it will be? IIRC physio can help a lot. Sorry I can't be more helpful! Hugs x

glimmerofhope

Air_Cooled_75 wrote: »

Yep, our little boy. It was his right foot too, although it wasn't picked up on the 20 week scan. However, no one was concerned about it when he was born as they were convinced it was a positional issue (in the womb) and to be fair it did completely sort itself out and now (he's 17 months old), in fact I struggle to remember which foot it was. Can they tell how affected it will be? IIRC physio can help a lot. Sorry I can't be more helpful! Hugs x

Hi
Thankyou for the quick response, the sonographer didn't know how affected but said it was pointed inwards. We have another scan in a couple of weeks and then may get referred.
Is IIRC a type of physio or a body
Thanks Glimmer

ruralruth

Hello there!
Like the above poster our son was born with a club foot. It was detected in hospital - i think they call it something very weird like 'positional talipes' which made no sense until the midwife saw our totally horrified faces and said 'clubfoot'. Not that it made us feel better but at least we knew what it meant then!
They recommended a series of treatments with a specialist paed physiologist so we went for 6 weeks and she stretched his arch out gently & gave us exercises to do on his foot several times a day. I did it when he was on the changing table. I think if they catch it early you may be able to find some relevant treatment.
He is now 13 and is a sports mad active boy so just make sure you talk through options and what they mean. I suspect they may not be able to tell the extent of it when yr baby is in vitro - altho scans are 3D these days arent they?!!
I just wanted to give you some reassurance and will keep my fingers crossed for you.
X

Nicki

Oh, I didn't know that was what talipes meant! When my youngest was born, his feet turned inwards and his knees knocked and we were told this was talipes. We did some baby massage and exercises with him and it sorted itself out without us even noticing to be honest. He's 2 now and a fantastic little footballer!

I suspect though if it showed on a 20 week anomoly scan, that OP's baby has something more pronounced. Was the midwife or sonographer not any help, OP?

concerned43

Don't have a child with club foot - but i was born with two club feet which was over 40 years ago and I was made to wear these horrible boots for years - but they worked and I have never had a problem since.

Air_Cooled_75

IIRC - if I recall correctly.
The midwife said "talipes" to me and I didn't have a clue what she was on about either I think there are a lot of treatments available and the boys of the two ladies above have done just fine. BTW, is it more common in boys as we all have them?!
The hospital seem to be taking it seriously which is good, the sooner they offer treatment (if it's needed) the better.

Gillyx

My cousins baby, both his feet were severely inverted, to the point they were almost backwards, and the doctors sorted that out. He had to wear splints on both legs from quite a young age until he was around 18 months I think. No further problems though and he's a healthy active little boy.

vervin

All thoese nice Mum ,hope you feel better now xxxxx

esmy

My daughter had one foot that was pointed downwards as the tendons at the back of the heel hadn't stretched. We were shown massage and physio excercises, mainly some quite firm manipulation of her foot, which we had to do at each nappy change. We were also advised not to rush her into shoes once she could walk and allow her to go barefoot as long as possible. She walked just before her first birthday and had no further problems (Though she still loves to be barefoot at 16!)

shar46y

Glimmer, one of my twin daughters had a left clubfoot (fixed talipes) detected at the 20 week scan.

It depends where you are located, but see if you can find a practitioner who uses the Ponseti method (a Google search will probably bring up a list of UK treatment centres)

We were living in London when she was born, she started Ponseti treatment at the Royal Free Hospital at 4 weeks (some babies start earlier but her birth hospital was a bit slow with the referral paperwork).

It consists of a series of 3-4 weekly plaster casts to correct the talipes, then (in many cases) a very mini surgical procedure (tenotomy) to loosen the Achilles tendon which for our DD was done with local anaesthetic in a few minutes, then a final plaster cast for 3 weeks. After this, the baby wears an orthopaedic brace consisting of boots and bar - first full-time for 3 months, then nights and nap times until the age of 3-5 years (depending on the practitioner).

Our DD is 2 and a half now, her foot is beautifully corrected and she walks, runs and climbs even better than her twin sister. No lay person (and few medical professionals even!) can tell she was born with a clubfoot.

If you need more info, please ask. Also look on the STEPS charity website, they have loads of resources and a discussion forum.

http://www.steps-charity.org.uk/