Raising a child with special needs...

[frenchie08]

When my 13 month old son was born, he had biliateral (both feet) clubfoot, I was devastated. His feet were turned in so bad it looked as if the bottom of his feet were the top. I wondered if he would ever walk or would it be difficult for him. He had to wear cast on both his legs for about three months. After that he had to wear special shoes with a bar in the middle everyday for 23 hours for 6 months and now he only wears them at night.  He does not like them at all and sometimes I feel like giving in after watching him cry for so long after I try to put them on...but then I quickly remember "this is for his own good". About a week ago I seen a little girl about 6 or 7 years old walking down my street holding her mothers hand and she also had clubfoot but it had apparently not been taken care of because her foot was turned in pretty bad and it looked like it was painful and difficult for her to walk, but her mother was dragging her along (literally) and it saddened me so much. The podiatrist says my little boy may have to wear the braces until he is 3 or 4 and it hurts me, but I have to do it so that he can have a normal life when he is older. The reason I am writing this is because in the last week my son has went from standing on his own to taking steps (he's up to about 4 at a time now). He has been pulling himself up on furniture since 8 months but we were told he could be over 2 yrs. old before he even starts to walk. I am blessed and he is determined.  

This is a pic of AIden in his casts at about a  8 weeks.                                                                                                                                                

   

Here is a pic of Aiden a week ago standing on my sisters bfs foot:

[twinsplus2more]

Apr. 3, 2009 at 10:26 AM

He's doing great!!!  He's a cutie! 

My daughter has a friend that had a bad club foot.  He's now 13 and wearing no braces,etc.  If you didn't know him when he was an infant and toddler, you would never know he had a club foot.