Re: reassurance?

[Guest guest]

Kaci-

Welcome-glad you aren't lurking anymore. The toes curling under can

be normal-basically, once your son becomes weight bearing on his

feet-this helps stretch them out and flatten them. Just make sure

when you put his shoes on, you try to " uncurl " them-although he may

just like to curl his toes. The shoes to me were stressful at first-

so much so that I convinced my husband not to remove the shoes for 2

days for fear of putting them on wrong(big mistake as our son

developed a nasty blister). Now its a piece of cake and I can do it

in my sleep(1 year later). Have you read the pdf tips file? If not,

check it out-Kori and Naomi did a great job on it and it should help

reassure you with the shoes. may be a little upset over the

fact that he can no longer move his feet independently-I do hope you

have checked to make sure his feet are not developing blisters/red

spots etc. If things look good feet wise and you have them on nice

and tight, then your little man will/should be a happy camper in no

time-it took david a couple of days and a lot of snuggling to get

used to how the shoes worked. Once he figured out how much more he

can do in his shoes/bar, he was rolling rolling around in no time! I

hope this has helped reassure you a little bit!

take care,

kathleen

mom to david bcf 8/28/04 fab 12/7

>

> I have only posted once before but read a lot of messages and have

> feel like I've learned so much from everyone. If possible I just

> need some reassurance - our son's doctor seems to know what he's

> doing, he has all the " right " answers to our questions, and I can

> see a difference in 's feet from one cast to the next. We

> have completed the casting phase and he now has a DBB. Is it

normal

> to find this much more stressful than the casting? I worry that

we

> aren't putting his feet in the shoes correctly and somehow that

> leads me to worry that his feet haven't been fully corrected. Is

> this just something I have to suck up and get over? I guess I

just

> worry and wonder how we know that we are doing the right thing,

with

> the right doctor.

>

> I've noticed that his toes want to curl under - is this normal?

On

> his left foot especially, his pinky toe goes under his other

toes.

> Is this unrelated to the cf treatment?

>

> One last question, how long does it normally take for the child to

> adjust to the bar and shoes? is usually a happy baby but

> since Friday he cries out for no obvious reason. I think it's

> because he's adjusting to the bar/shoes. How long should I expect

> this to last?

>

> Sorry this got long, thanks for any advice or reassurance if you

> made it this far

>

> Kaci

>

[Guest guest]

Kaci,

What you are experiencing is normal, although I would like to ask you

a few questions to be sure. Can you tell us more about 's

correction? If you stand him in a weight bearing position will he put

his foot flat on the floor? Does his foot have good dorsiflexion?

Was the last cast set at about 70 degrees of outward rotation? If the

answers to all of these are yes, then his correction is likely good.

It is common for it to take a few days for the babies to adjust to the

FAB but if you feel he is crying out in pain there is likely something

amiss. I would check the following to make sure he is as comfortable

as possible. 1 - Are the heels of his feet seated fully into the

bottom of the shoe? 2 - Has he been pulling his feet out of the shoes

at all? 3 - Have you been checking for sores or blisters every 4-5

hours? 4 - Are the heels of his shoes mounted on the bar

approximately shoulder width apart? The easiest way to measure this

is to hold the shoes on the bar up to his shoulders (on his back) and

see if his shoulders fit comfortably inside the heels of the shoes.

As for his toes, I think sometimes the toes get a little bit squished

from casting and they should straighten out as his feet grow. You'll

want to be sure his toes are not curling under each other when he is

in the shoes. You can begin by applying the shoes, making sure to get

his heel way down into the heel pocket and fastening the strap snugly.

Then run your finger under the toes, pull on the toes of his socks

too, this will help get the toes to lie flat. Then lace the shoes up

tightly, and tighten the strap down well. You may then also be able

to tighten the laces a bit more. I would check out the tips document

- there is a link to it here:

http://members.tripod.com/ponseti_links-ivil/id9.html

Let us know more and we'll be glad to help in any way we can!

Mom to Jenna (4/7/01) & Sammy (9/25/04, RCF, Dobbs' brace, 14hrs/day)

>

> I have only posted once before but read a lot of messages and have

> feel like I've learned so much from everyone. If possible I just

> need some reassurance - our son's doctor seems to know what he's

> doing, he has all the " right " answers to our questions, and I can

> see a difference in 's feet from one cast to the next. We

> have completed the casting phase and he now has a DBB. Is it normal

> to find this much more stressful than the casting? I worry that we

> aren't putting his feet in the shoes correctly and somehow that

> leads me to worry that his feet haven't been fully corrected. Is

> this just something I have to suck up and get over? I guess I just

> worry and wonder how we know that we are doing the right thing, with

> the right doctor.

>

> I've noticed that his toes want to curl under - is this normal? On

> his left foot especially, his pinky toe goes under his other toes.

> Is this unrelated to the cf treatment?

>

> One last question, how long does it normally take for the child to

> adjust to the bar and shoes? is usually a happy baby but

> since Friday he cries out for no obvious reason. I think it's

> because he's adjusting to the bar/shoes. How long should I expect

> this to last?

>

> Sorry this got long, thanks for any advice or reassurance if you

> made it this far

>

> Kaci

>