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HYPERMOBILITY

Aug 12, 2020

Bending the milestones

I really want to share our story of late walking due to hypermobility, as first I knew absolutely nothing about it until my son was diagnosed but also because it is not a bad thing once you know. I feel I should say, if you are worried at all that your baby is not meeting milestones etc always get it checked out and don’t self-diagnose. But as a Mum that went through an uncertain time with a physically delayed baby I really want to share our story in the hope it raises awareness, as well as realisation that every baby is different and that baby milestones aren’t set in stone and there are exceptions to the rule, in this case: hypermobility. 

We all look at milestones, it is helpful to have a rough guide. But what if your baby doesn’t fit into those milestones? Is something seriously wrong? Am I being paranoid? 

For me, it was when he was still not weight bearing on his feet at 1 year that didn’t sit well with me. He never did it, if we tried to get him to stand he would just lift his legs in the air. I had mentioned it both to the GP and Health Visitor and was told to see how it goes.

This carried on, and well past a year old he was still not keen to be on his feet. He did start pulling himself up around 14 months but did not like it and wasn’t a confident cruiser. 

We got 16 months and no progress had been made, We were going to baby groups and it was becoming more and more evident that he was not at the same level physically as most of the babies we were interacting with. 

I happened to mention it to one of the wonderful ladies at the children’s centre we went to weekly, and she mentioned hypermobility to me. 

I googled it (never google! It is not helpful) but I went back to the doctor again and he was put on a list to see a physio. 

At the time the ‘cut off’ If you like, was 18 months, if your child isn’t walking by 18 months it should be investigated. 

But the waiting list for physio was long and we were worried. He was at nursery and being kept back a room as he was not physically at the level of the other children. He was still predominantly crawling up to 20 months. 

At 21 months, we decided to pay for a private appointment with a child physiotherapist. She came to our house, I will never forget it. I was 4 months pregnant with my second baby and so sick and struggling to carry my heavy toddler around. My Mum was with me and we were really quite worried. The physio walked into my lounge, took one look at my boy sitting on the floor and said ‘well he’s a bendy boy isn’t it?’ 

She diagnosed hypermobility in his hips and ankles within 5 minutes. She advised us to buy him some supportive ankle boots, which we did the next day, he was walking 2 weeks later on Brighton beach. 

Hypermobility is not a negative thing in general. It can mean you might be nimble, dancing and gymnastics might be easier and you don’t get as many wrinkles as you get older! 

That said, for a wee baby, it is challenging to learn to sit, crawl and walk when you are bendy and have less strength in your joints than the average. 

It has become apparent again at pre school with pencil holding. He is struggling so we believe his wrists are hyper mobile too. 

BUT, he does athletics class every Saturday, he runs, he jumps he does everything! It just happened later and for a very good reason. 

We had no knowledge of it, we were scared, we were obsessed by milestones. 

But sometimes a boy comes along that bends the milestones in his own special way and walking for the first time at 21 months shapes a little human being that does things in his very own special and beautiful way.

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