These little foot supports are called Jump Start Bunnies. Anyone seen these before? Along with the low muscle tone, Ava has no arch support in her feet, thus part of the reason she has such difficulty bearing weight. These little supports should help her be able to start bearing weight and gaining strength in her legs. The problem I'm having is finding a pair of shoes wide enough to fit over them but not so big that she has to wear a shoe 4 sizes too big. Make sense? Has anyone used these before and how did you solve that problem? I took 5 kids shoe shopping for Ava yesterday, tried on several pairs of shoes on a squirmy "toddler" who wanted to crawl around and pull shoes off shelves and put them in her mouth. She even pulled a bar off the shelf and hit herself on the head. Pretty amazing how much she has changed though. I had to smile when her PT mentioned the other day how tired she gets from treating Ava, as she is so strong and squirmy. I wouldn't have expected to hear that report a few months ago!!!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Posted by The Urbans at 7:12 PM
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Maybe you could try shoes like Robeez or a softer slipper-shoe while she is just starting out? Those might fit around the Jump Start Bunnies and solve the shoe problem. While I've never used these before, I can commiserate with trying to find small but wide shoes. I have size 5/6 feet (tiny!) but my feet are wide (and also different sizes - one is a 5.5 and the other is a 6) which makes shoe shopping a little hard sometimes :-P
Cannot help as all of mine (except the one in Ethiopia where DH is now) have skinny feet. I do know that Target shoes run wide and then they have a 'wide' width too. Might do the trick. Did any of the 'end of season' sandals with velcro straps work? Maybe house shoes with rubber soles????
Good luck. My whole life I've had to search for skinny shoes. It really is bad for kids trying to find the correct width.
No suggestions to offer re. shoes, but wow, those little legs look so sturdy and strong! What a remarkable change from the thin, fragile-looking little girl you brought home. Ava is just blossoming and growing in so many ways.
And everyone looks quite studious and intellectually inquisitive. I hope their commendably scholarly mood lasts through the school year...:-)
Susan in Ky.
Alex just got a pair. He has very weak ankles, so he can't handle the weight of shoes on top of the Jump Starts. So, I asked them to put treads on the bottom of the Jump Starts so he can walk without slipping. It works for now. Hopefully he will gain strength before he has to start walking outside.
There is a company out there that makes shoes to go over orthodics...but when we ordered them they were way too heavy. I can't recall the name, but if you would like me to find out, just let me know.
DId you try Stride Right? I have heard they have really wide shoe widths available. When Kallie had inserts(for something different) for her shoes the actual company that made the inserts had shoes that worked. THey weren't the best looking shoes, but they worked. I hope you can find something
It would probably be too hot for the summer but you could try UGH Boots. Or, what about Crocs...they are really wide.
It helps if you pull the innersole out of the regular shoe - usually they are just glued in - give it a good yank - heaps more space then! Also helps if you can get a shoe that opens up really wide. I like the other suggestion of tread on the bottom - maybe you could get some of that stuff that you put on the bottom of the bathtub to stop kids slipping in the bath lol! I say call your handy PT and see what she suggests - and she's going to want to check out the fit of those things....you know about looking for red spots right? Rachel
Can hardly believe how quickly she is progressing! Loved talking w/ you today...miss you lots..sniff, sniff:(
Yippee for her jumpstarts! Tommy just got his a few weeks ago. We have received many handmedown shoes from family and friends and only had use a shoe that was one size bigger to get Tommy's jumpstarts to fit in.
Take the insole of the shoe out. It helps alot.
I was lucky to find a light weight shoe so evern tho it was a size larer, he walks around fine in it and it doesn't hamper his crawling.
I have heard from other moms that local Kiwanas or Elks clubs also help with the purchase of wide shoes to accomodate orthotics.
LOVE your blog. Enjoy your family!
Stride Rite!! My friend's little girl has the chunkiest feet ever and these are the ONLY shoes she can find that fit. Of course they are spendy but well worth it as they are also great quality. Yeah Ava!!
My son has similar custom AFO's and it took us quite a while to find shoes that were really easy. We finally found out that, at least for toddler size, Stride Rite makes 4 or 5 shoes that are extra wide and fit very easily and comfortably over the braces. We took him to the Stride Rite outlet store with his AFO's on and they measured his feet, braces and all and chose the right shoe size from those. Other possibilites are hatchback shoes and Step2, both are specially designed to go over orthodics, but both run over $50 a pair. Stride Rites were about $25, which for shoes that fit, we had to splurge on them. They have been a God-sent--not many places make the extra-wide width in toddler.
I'm going to Naolinco in Veracruz next week and could get her some Sting Ray or Lizard Skin shoes..
Maybe do a search for shoes that go over braces that kids with CP use? A little girl at therapy has some that are specially designed for that but I dont know what they are called, sorry.
I know New Balance makes an extra wide shoe. I have known people who have had to do that for their kids. My children's feet are the opposite, extremely narrow; equally hard to find. Have you tried Trippets at 31st/Harvard. They specialize in children's shoes.
Here's what I do with my daughter who has similar orthotics. I take the orthotics with me to the store (usually a store that sells more than one brand--like Kohl's or Sears). I don't take the kids! I test out whether I can wedge the orthotic into the shoe (test BOTH shoes--usually the orthotics are different sizes). You can completely eliminate any kind of velcro or bungee closure on the shoes. Not gonna work. I end up buying at least 3 pairs of shoes that I think will work. Then we try them out at home with the actual feet. Sometimes I've had to buy longer laces so I can tie them.
Definitely pull out the insoles once you decide. New Balance has worked for us consistently, but that's only in the past few years (daughter is 10 yrs old, in orthotics since she was 20 months).
The weight of the shoe will be a problem as well--so you don't want to go to a really cheap shoe unless it's lightweight. We have added soles to the orthotics some times, but generally we've found sneakers that work.
I think I saw that Brianna (Meredith's little girl) was wearing crocs with her orthotics. Those would be pretty easy to get on--not so much wedging!
Good luck!
Whoops, I forgot to mention that I return the other two pairs of shoes! You will find that Ava will wear out the sides of the shoes before she even walks. She'll be swishing her legs open and closed and the outside of the shoes get worn down in odd ways.
If she has toe beds (those pads near her toes--I can't see in the picture if she has them), let me know--I have some tips for those as well.
Hi. Chloe had the exact same orthotics. They were pink too. :) Chloe had a wide foot to start with so I had to buy wide shoes. She should have worn a size 3 shoe, but I bought her a size 5 and pulled the inner sole out. This worked and the extra length was mostly absorbed by the heel of the orthotic being so large and taking up more space in the length. It took her a couple of days to get used to the extra length (which wasn't much), but she walked fine with them. One pair of shoes I used was a leather walking shoe from Payless and the other couple were little tennis shoes from Wal-Mart. We had been buying her shoes from Stride-Rite before she got the orthotics, but our PT told us that the shoes didn't really matter because the orthotics would be doing the work. So we just bought cute little cheap shoes. She even wore them with sandals and I folded lace trimmed socks over the top of the orthotic to hide them a little bit. It just takes some testing and trying with shoes. Keep in mind that when you tear out the inner sole, she will have more room and probably won't need as big of a size as it may appear to start with.
They also make shoes that fit with these orthotics that come with mutiple layers of inner soles. As her feet grow you would remove a layer each time. They were around $40. If you want more info then I can call the place we got her orthotics from and find out other reatilers near you. They were cute and light up when walked in. I just couldn't justify the cost knowing that they would probably get worn out before all of the layers were removed.
I hope this helps!
Another thought, after looking at the picture again: you will want socks that cuff, so you can fold them over the top of the orthotic as Kristy said. Sometimes the top velcro strap digs into those little shins. Years ago the best ones were Gap or Old Navy, but I have no idea anymore. I know that the Target socks used to slide down and bunch up.
HTH
Beth
I didn't take the time to read everyone's comments, so I'm sorry if I repeated something. Once you find shoes wide enough, take the soles out of the to give you more room on top. She won't be getting support from the sole of the shoe anyway, but from the orthodic. DON'T waste money on expensive shoes because, again, she'll be getting the support from the orthodic. (payless shoes usually have soles you can pull out and check to see if the orthodic will fit before you buy them without damaging the shoe.)
Dennis has very flat feet too, with no arch at all. Do you think Ava will be walking within a year?
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