Baby was born with her feel a little curled in

amother

Mauve

Thu, May 03 2018, 1:26 pm

hi, my baby was born with the bottom of her feet and curled in. we went to the doctor and the doctor said she can either have a cast or a night brace. we decided not to do the cast as that would be the whole day and we said we'll do the night brace. The thing is we don't know if we should do it. The doctor said it may or may not help. it could straighten out by itself. Do you think we should deal with the hassle of the appointments and putting it on every night or we should just ignore which the doctor said we don't have to take care of it..?

pesek zman

Thu, May 03 2018, 1:45 pm

Get the cast and get it fixed!!!!

Ignore the doctor? At your baby's expense!?

amother

Mauve

Thu, May 03 2018, 1:49 pm

pesek zman wrote:

Get the cast and get it fixed!!!!

Ignore the doctor? At your baby's expense!?

as I said the doctor said it can go away on it's own as she gets older and we could ignore it.

pesek zman

Thu, May 03 2018, 1:51 pm

It may go away, but it may not.

If it doesn't , you'll need the surgery/brace then.

Much easier with an infant (who is already dependent on you. A cast won't be a decline in his functioning)

amother

Honeydew

Thu, May 03 2018, 1:51 pm

I have a sibling like this. My parents opted not to do anything. It did not correct itself. She suffered her whole childhood from it (kids made fun of her, she couldn't do any sports, issues with walking, etc...)

amother

Goldenrod

Thu, May 03 2018, 1:52 pm

amother wrote:

Perhaps get a second, or third opinion and see what the consensus is? Or maybe approach an expert in this particular field?

amother

Mauve

Thu, May 03 2018, 1:53 pm

he said if it doesn't go away, she will just walk in a little bit just a cosmetic thing but the brace is not going to cure it totally anyway

amother

Mauve

Thu, May 03 2018, 1:54 pm

amother wrote:

how bad was it when she was born?

amother

Emerald

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:03 pm

I would do the cast. It wont make much of a difference to her life right now but it will make a major difference later on. Being a teenager with a disability( even a slight one) is very tough. This is a gift you can give ur dtr

amother

Puce

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:04 pm

Definitely get a second opinion from a top pediatric orthopedic doctor

Chana Miriam S

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:09 pm

When my daughter was born, you could roll her back up so to speak and see how she had been ‘inside.’ Her feet curled in a bit of an interesting way when in that position but otherwise seemed ok. If they hadn’t been ok when she wasn’t rolled up, I’d have done something about it mainly because if I could do something about it and didn’t, I’d feel horrible if it didn’t resolve. If you do something and it doesn’t resolve then you’ll know at least you did what you needed to.

amother

Honeydew

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:16 pm

amother wrote:

how bad was it when she was born?

I don't know. I was two years old.

I only know what it was like when she was in grade school. she walked funny, toed in. Kids imitated her, kids didn't want to be her friend....

amother

Khaki

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:24 pm

Does she have club feet? Definitely do whatever you could to get it fixed. If it doesn't work, at least you'll know you did whatever you could.

amother

Sapphire

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:37 pm

Please go for a second opinion, this usually doesn't go away on its own! Do the casts rather than brace & do it now when she's a newborn, it won't effect her in any way & it fixes it permanently. Braces are much more uncomfortable & takes longer to fix.

observer

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:39 pm

Get a second opinion from a highly recommended doctor. Call a medical referral agency such as echo.

And then follow the dr's advice.

amother

Puce

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:44 pm

I had opposite problem with DC, feet pointed outwards, went to ortho was told DC will outgrow it, at about year n half went to top pediatric orthopedic and DC ended up needing casting n braces afterwards...Bh DC perfect now. Get a second opinion by top doctor pls

amother

Purple

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:46 pm

My son was born with club foot (what you are describing) if you don't take care of it there will be issues. You need to take your baby to a pediatric orthopedist ASAP!! My baby was cast within 24 hours of birth. He wore corrective shoes with a bar turning his feet out for a year and slept in them for 4 years. And now has NO additional surgeries. I sit in the office with parents who either didn't follow through and use the corrective shoes or decided it would "correct it self" they hate themselves. I have seen mothers sobbing because they are now operating on their 4 year old when they could have taken care of this at birth. Get a TOP 2nd opinion on this one!! Don't regret it later.

pizzapie

Thu, May 03 2018, 2:51 pm

Another vote for a referral to a pediatric orthopedist. I don't think that your pediatrician should be advising you regarding treatment without a referral.

amother

Oak

Thu, May 03 2018, 3:11 pm

Please do some research and go for a second opinion. It is so much easier to treat when they are newborn. I have two children with clubfoot. We went thru the casting for six weeks and shoes for 4 yrs. It was worth all the hassle bec they walk perfectly now bh. Noone even knows that they had clubfoot as babies. Good Luck!!

amother

Aubergine

Thu, May 03 2018, 3:52 pm

Please get a second opinion from an expert.

Treating when it's not needed can be just as damaging as not treating when it is needed. My feet were treated when I was a baby, but they actually didn't need to be, and over treatment has caused me significant problems with various bones and joints in my legs as a result.

My daughter also had something like this, though different than what I had, and they didn't treat it with any braces/casts, and it resolved itself with special exercises. Our pediatrician didn't want to treat it yet, but I was unsure, so we saw 2 or 3 pediatric orthopedists and a physical therapist - they all thought it would likely resolve itself and we should try the exercises for some period of time and re-evaluate. It did completely resolve eventually.

I was told that whether to treat it or not depends on whether the curling is flexbile or not (not something you can necessarily determine on your own) - usually, if it's muscular with no othe underlying muscular problems it resolves, but if it's bone structure than it doesn't usually resolve - but this isn't always 100%. If it is, and the feet can be uncurled with a little gentle pressure (again, never try to force it on your own!), then it usually will resolve itself, often stretching exercises are given to help this or help determine whether something more drastic is needed. Most of the time, it doesn't really start to resolve until they spend a lot time on their feet - cruising/standing - because weight-bearing helps give the foot muscles their proper form/tone. So it can take several months or even over a year to resolve, but this is usually enough if it is flexible. If it is club foot or not flexible, often something stronger (like braces or casting) will need to be done, but sometimes it is important to know what the underlying cause is in order to know the best way to treat it (braces, casts, something else, etc.). If it does need to be treated with braces or casts, that's usually time-sensitive (though that doesn't necessarily mean earlier is better, it depends on the problem and cause). Please don't take what I've written as a medical opinion or advice, it's just what I learned with myself and my daughter.

Essentially, treating when you don't need to can be harmful, and not treating if you do need to can also be harmful - so please see a specialist