Keeping the shoes on at night

[Guest guest]

We desperately need help keeping the shoes on at night.

Brief history:

Left club foot. Right foot is normal. Treated for about 7 months

by non-Ponseti doctor. Casting, but not enough. Almost at surgery -

but we stopped before that. Went to three other doctors before

hitting on the right guy (Dr. Tuck). He did a few more casts

(the other casts had done some good), and then we did the shoes as

much as possible for a month or so, then just at night. He took his

first steps at about 17 months, walking big time at about 18

months. It's hard to keep up with him now, and his foot looks

pretty normal when he's walking, running, climbing, and driving us

crazy - wearing regular shoes, which he loves.

The problem is keeping his shoes with the bar on at night. The

current routine, which doesn't always work, is to let him fall

asleep, then we put on the shoes and then attach the bar (no way to

get his feet in while the bar is attached). If we try to get the

shoes on while he's awake, he fights too much. Some nights, I can

get him into his crib, still asleep. When he gets up in the

morning, at least the left foot is out, and often the right as

well. Other nights he won't even stay asleep when I attach the

bar. Or he'll wake up five minutes after I put him in the crib,

cries for a few minutes, then I check on him and his left foot is

out - probably about 2 seconds before he stopped crying.

I use the strap as tight as possible, double knotted, etc. But

it's just really hard to keep him in the shoes.

Any thoughts?