Children's Feet: An Overview

Our Podiatrists are trained to assess children's gait at every stage of their development, so we can provide you with the reassurance that your child is progressing normally or offer the necessary help and advice to deal with any problems we might identify.

Newborn Babies

In the newborn baby the feet are made up of flexible cartilage that gradually changes into the complex 26 working bones of the foot. During this period of development care must be taken to ensure that the feet are free from any chance of deformity, due to ill fitting footwear and at no risk of trauma or damage.

4 Months +

By around 4 months babies will start to rock onto their side, then onto their back and will eventually learn to sit supported by one or both hands and then by themselves. This will in turn change to a crawl or ‘bottom shuffling’. ‘Cruising’ typically follows, this is a stage between crawling and walking where babies will pull themselves up on items of furniture in an attempt to stand.

9 Months +

Most children eventually learn to walk between 9 - 18 months, however all children are unique and some will take longer than this, it all depends on their development, confidence and muscular strength. At this stage they will be ready for their first pair of walking shoes and it is very important to have their feet measured accurately to prevent related problems.

Children's Feet: The Appointment

A typical appointment to assess a child's gait progression lasts around 30 minutes with you present. There are a number of natural disturbances that we'll be looking for including:

• In-toeing
• Out-toeing
• Feet appearing particularly flat
• Tip-toe walking
• Frequent falling or tripping

All of these issues should disappear naturally over time, however if they do not show any sign of decreasing or they seem particularly excessive then we will be able to take the appropriate, corrective action.

It is important that you bring your child in the shoes they wear most often so that we're able to assess their suitability and in some cases Insoles or Orthotics may be required to correct a problem. We'd encourage you not to self diagnose Insole requirements as long term damage can be caused if they are used incorrectly and at the wrong age groups.

In most cases we'd recommend checkups no more frequently than every 6 months - this will allow us to identify their natural progression, but please do not hesitate to contact us sooner if you feel their behaviour requires further assessment.

Book an Appointment

If you'd like to book a Child's Podiatry appointment with Walk Right Podiatry just get in touch. Our location on Drake Street in Rochdale means we're easily accessible from the whole of the Greater Manchester area.  We can usually offer appointments within 24-48 hours and we'll always try to accommodate emergency appointments where possible.