Club Foot Update

Well, this is an update because we have been going through the process of correction for many months but I hadn't yet posted about Austin's condition so I will quickly bring this to the present.

We discovered Austin had a possible clubfoot at a 28 week ultrasound.  We were pretty sure his left foot was affected but we could not get a good shot of his right foot so we were unclear if it was bilateral.  When he was born, it was clear that something was awry as both feet turned in significantly but the left one was definitely tighter.

Just minutes old!

When we went to the pediatric orthopedist at about 10 days old, he was not convinced that the left foot was not just turned through positional means so he instructed us to stretch his foot to a normal position at every diaper change for the next six weeks.  I can't promise you that we were very diligent in doing this during this period as we ended up discovering we had a little lad that also had milk intolerance and was also going through quite a bit during that period as well.

At his checkup, the doctor determined that although very mild, he did in fact have a true club foot on his left and we were beginning the corrective casting right away.  This is where a cast holds his foot in a certain position for a period of several weeks with weekly changings of the cast that eventually over-corrected his left foot to where it was pointing down as normal and beyond his shin by 70 degrees, using the Ponsetti method nonsurgical technique.  Each cast change he got better at adjusting and after 4 weeks he was ready to move to the brace.

Cast went up to his mid thigh

He started doing reverse crunches within a month and has very strong abs!

He was to wear the brace for 3 months for 23/7, with an hour to bath and do what I called "free foot time" that I spread out through the day to give him a break.  The brace ended up becoming an extension of him and although it has inhibited his ability roll over at this point, he is progressing on all other fronts normally, even sitting up pretty much unassisted a month early!

Holding onto his brace - very smart!

As of today, we have reached the 3 month mark and Austin can now wear his brace for night time only and his days will be free to work on the roll over, build his sit up skills without the weight of the brace and enjoy some breathing room in this Georgia heat!  We will put the brace back on as part of his night time routine and perhaps nap time and will be relishing in perhaps some new developments since he will have all of his facilities to get moving on his next phase of crawling and eventually walking!

Yeah!