walking on tip toes

[december]

Hi DS 18 mnths, walks on his tippy toes now and again, any ideas why? is this normal. he has bene walking for 4 mnths now, so its quite weird.

At 18 mtnh check up last week, MCHN said that he was developing how he should, and she would pick up if anything was out of sorts. (oh but he didnt tip toe in front of her, and i dint mention it)

I was a little concerned, as he only has about 6words or so, which he doesnt alway suse. Hypo. go go go.
& MCHN claimed all normal.. she also mentioned if they think something is wrong at 18 mnths they will let u know.. so i guess we need to trust on mchn..

[Pandora]

does he walk on his toes all the time, or just now and again? Is it more often than not?

It's important they they walk on their feet for muscle and tendon development.

When DS does it we tell him to 'use his walking feet', which is the same thing that the staff at his daycare say to all the kids if they are walking on their toes.
Also does he go barefoot or socks only for long periods? My MCHN told me to keep him out of shoes as long as possible as its better for foot development.

You dont have to believe everything your MCHN (or me for that matter, or anyone!) tells you. Its true that if they have any concerns they will tell you, however without you mentioning it to her she had no way of knowing, and if your DS didnt do it in front of her then she'd have no idea - though it does suggest he doesnt do it all the time.

If you are concerned then ring up the MCHN, or go to her, or a different one if you prefer any others in your area - i.e. maybe you have friends that see a different health nurse?

[becky]

Hi! My DS does this too and I am quite concerned.
My nephew has walked on his tip toes for quite some time (he is now 7), and we recently found out that because of it, his calf muscles have not developed properly. He therefrore had to wear casts on both legs from above the knee, all the way down, for 8 weeks. He got them off last week. Apparantly there is only a 30% chance that this will work too. Otherwise it will mean surgery.
Since hearing all this, everytime I see my son walking on his toes I tell him "Liam, Flat Feet!!" I have explained what he is doing wrong too. I am very concious about this now because apparantly walking on tip toes all the time can quite often result in the calf muscle not growing properly.

Hope that helped!!

[Lewis's Mummy]

I've heard lots of kids do this to start with... I'm not a pro but I'd be worried about it shortening/tightening the achilies (sp?) tendons - from the bottom of the calf muscle into the heel - that's what happens to us over time if we wear nothing but high heels all the time. If you're really worried, you could check with your pead and talk to a physio - if they think there's a problem they'd be able to give you some exercises, probably disguised as a game, to help rectify the problem, and they'd probably know what was normal range of motion etc for that age.

In the meantime, you could try putting on some music he really likes and playing with him - if you've got enough space, get him walking in a circle, changing the volume of the music and asking him if he can walk different ways depending on the volume or the rhythm eg: soft music 'can you walk on your tippy toes?', loud music 'can you stomp your feet like a giant?' big base sound 'can you stomp and bend your knees really low?' etc

Another one to get him to practise the heel-toe thing specifically might be to use a picture of a fly or other bug on the floor, you have a fly swat and tell him it's a race to see if he can 'swat' it faster with his foot than you can with the swat. Get him to show you how he can put his heel on the floor and point his toes to the sky first and then tell him now his foot's a fly swat, but that he has to keep his heel down or you win... you could keep a score and then give him a sticker or something else he likes when he wins - you could swap hands when you want him to swap feet...make sure you keep it a game with lots of laughs along the way.

Just some silly ideas, and you can probably come up with others too but hth

[Mollygirl]

Hi

I used to walk on my toes when young, there are pictures of me at about 7 I think at putt putt golf, I still did it at that age. I am a twin and my sister had low muscle tone and I had high muscle tone and I ended up having to do exercises to stretch the calf muscles - she had exercises to do too.

I don't know how or why this happened or why I don't have any effects from it now.

I think if you are worried, see your GP, about the speech too, so if they are worried they can refer you to a paediatrician to check it out. Much better to check it sooner rather then later and you know your child better than any nurse who only sees them for a little while (I am not having a dig at MCHN, just being factual).

My nephew has suddenly started talking alot more, now he is 20-21 months so it could be normal with the speech.

Goodluck, and go with your instincts.

[Beatrix]

My DD is 18mths and she like to walk on her toes.

i havent thought of it as much as a problem, just though she like to be taller.

She doesnt do it all the time and i see alot of children who do it.

If you are at all concerned have a word with you GP but I dont think is such a big deal. my DD also like to crawl still every now and then and she has been walking since 9 mths.

Kids just like to do different things and experiment. They could just like the feeling of walking on there toes.

[Hoody]

I am a tip toer ! I only do it when i am tired and dont even realise i am doing it I get lots of comments from ppl though asking me why i am doing it. I have done it forever alot worse when i was younger but the older i have gotten the less as i said mainly when i am tired. DH says its cos i'm lazy and dont want to use my muscles but aparantly he thinks its 'cute' My DD1 is 2 and i have noticed her doing it too. I never thought it was a problem but after reading some of these posts i will try to encourage her to walk properly when i notice it.

Any other Adult tip toers out there or am i the only strange one