I was completely ignorant as to what balance bikes actually were until I had a baby. The concept of a bike without pedals didn’t make sense to me. It wasn’t until I saw a toddler scooting about on one, to then move gracefully (and easily) to a bike without stabilisers that I realised balance bikes were the way forward.

I’ve always been a big fan of wooden toys so, initially, when looking at potential balance bikes for my three year old, I was drawn to the wooden ones. But then I saw this review of a Boomer Bike at Not Another Mummy Blog.

The Boomer Bike from Paul’s Yard comes with removable pedals. So, once your tot learns to whizz around and gets the hang of the balancing part of riding a bike, you simply add the pedals and (the idea is) they’re away. No stabilisers, just straight to the pedals.

It’s no secret that Frog is a bit behind when it comes to physical stuff. Her recent development appraisal noted that while she’s advanced in areas like speech and language, her locomotive skills are around the 18 month mark. Her hypermobile joints mean she has problems balancing, gets sore joints if she has to walk too far and is, generally, a lot more wobbly than her peers.

She has only recently mastered the confidence and ability to start scooting, which is a joy to see, so I thought she may be ready to try wheels of a different variety. When Frog was having physiotherapy we were told there were two activities we needed to encourage. Swimming and cycling are a great way to build strength without putting stress on the joints.

Enter the Boomer Bike.

The Boomer comes in red, pink, green or blue. We opted for red because it’s vibrant, dashing and rather beautiful. It’s practical, with a brake, proper rubber tyres and a hardy metal frame. It’s also lightweight enough for a three year old to manoeuvre.

At nearly three and a half and with a dad who is 6ft 5″, Frog is not on the short side. But the seat on the Boomer Bike is still that tiny bit too high for her to comfortably sit on and reach the floor. That said, in the beginning it’s all about getting used to the concept of walking with the bike. By the time she is confident enough to scoot along and pick her feet up from the floor it’s likely she’ll have a few month’s growth in her anyway.

I love the fact that, once she does get used to cruising around, we won’t have to invest in a brand new bike with pedals. Bikes don’t come cheap, so to have a balance bike with removable pedals is a very clever (and economical) idea.

If you want to see the Boomer Bike in action then check out the video below. Frog and the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine had some Daddy – daughter bonding time getting to grips with the bike earlier today. You can totally tell from the NLM’s face that he wishes he was 4 ft shorter so could have a go on it himself…

You can buy a Boomer 2 in 1 Balance Bike online from Paul’s Yard, for £130. In my humble opinion, it will be money well spent.

***

Disclosure: We were sent a Boomer 2 in 1 Balance Bike for the purpose of this review. All opinions remain my own, as ever. They really are as good as they look. 

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I still find it hard to believe that Frog only started walking a little over a year ago, aged two years old. When I look at her now, I realise just how far she has come.

Moving to a new area has meant joining a completely new hospital system. Frog still has ongoing issues with her hypermobile joints – issues that may never go away completely. For example, she needs hospital-issue insoles in her shoes to correct her lack of instep and relieve the pressure on her knees and hips. In the future, she may need more physiotherapy treatment and – if she still suffers from hyper lax joints when she’s older – she may experience added discomfort during pregnancy. People with hypermobility are also sometimes prone to early arthritis, which is a bit of a bummer. (There’s more information about hypermobility and some of the symptoms on the NHS Choices website.)

The thing is, every day my 3 year old diva gets a little stronger and her past battles with those bendy joints are almost forgotten. This week we’ve ditched the buggy on the way home from pre-school, opting for a mixture of walking and mum piggy-backs instead. That wasn’t even a choice we could have considered back in September.

And then, the other day on our walk, Frog found a huge hill (Dartmoor is good at hills) and ran towards it like a bee to a hive. That’s when this happened:

At the bottom, she turned around and ran right back up it again. And again. And Again. I even got the opportunity to film it:

You might watch that video and think, “So what’s the big deal? It’s just a kid running down a hill.” But it isn’t. It’s a kid who, this time last year, could barely walk. It’s a kid who, 18 months ago, we feared would never run – let alone run down hills.

On the umpteenth hill run, Frog asked if I’d join her. I’m not a fan of running, but there’s something kind of tempting about watching a child belt it down a hill with such wild abandon.

Of course we both ended up falling over and half rolling into a muddy, squelchy bog at the bottom. But we laughed, and then laughed some more.  My guffaws turned to wimpy sniffles when my formerly non-walking tot turned to me and said, “Mummy, I like running down hills.”

And that made me happy.

***

A side note: I get quite a lot of emails, tweets and Facebook messages from parents who are at the beginning of their journey with hypermobility. I’m not an expert, but I’ve picked up a few things in the 18 months since Frog was diagnosed. There is a difference between having hypermobile joints and having hypermobility syndrome. Lots of people have hypermobile joints and it causes them no problems at all. Hypermobility syndrome is often diagnosed when pain is added to the equation. Some sufferers also experience dislocation. We are still unclear to the degree of Frog’s hypermobility and, indeed, it may be something she grows out of. If you are looking for more information about hypermobility then The Hypermobility Syndrome Association is a good place to start. And, of course, speak to your doctor. 

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This is my daughter just before her second birthday. At nearly two years old, she couldn’t walk.

She has hypermobile joints – although we didn’t know it when this photo was taken. We had yet to go through physio and find out that insoles in her shoes would help her. We had yet to see her run or jump in puddles. We had yet to know that she would face the battle to walk so valiantly and come out the other side grinning.

When faced with a puddle, all she could do was sit in it. She was frustrated, we were frustrated and, generally, life was tough.

For Frog’s second birthday we bought her a scooter. It was one of those snazzy Microscooter ones with the seat attached. We thought it would help strengthen her joints and aid her balance. We thought she would find it fun. We thought wrong.

The thing is, Frog has never been particularly confident when it comes to physical stuff. Because it took her so long to walk, she got used to hanging back, watching other kids her age run and jump and climb. She could never join in and, at approaching three and a half, she still carries that sense of caution.

It’s taken nearly eighteen months of gentle persuasion to get to today.

This afternoon, something amazing happened. My three year old, hypermobile little girl put two fingers up to her wonky feet and over-flexible limbs and got on her scooter. She stood on it for the first time and… well, you can see what happened. (Watch for the bit where she shouts at a nearby dog minding his own business, “LOOK DOGGY! I’M DOING IT!”)

Hypermobility – you’ve lost again….

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My daughter climbed a hill today. Not just any old hill, but a really long, really steep one.

This is a big deal because, just over a year ago, she couldn’t walk.

In May last year we found out my toddler had hypermobile joints. Put simply, we were told her joints were too flexible to support her weight. Imagine a pipe cleaner or elastic band trying to hold up a marble, and you get the picture. 

At nearly two years old my daughter still couldn’t walk and would be left sitting on the floor watching on helplessly as other children played around her, running and jumping. It was painful to watch the side effects of her delayed walking: withdrawal from play, intense shyness in new surroundings and an obvious hesitance to use her very chatty vocabulary the more she became aware of her difference to other kids.

Once physio treatment started we noticed a marked improvement. Her little feet – with no in-step and turned out at right angles to her body – started to move inwards. She was given special Piedro boots to do the job of her bendy ankles and to help strengthen her knees and hips.

Once she was up on her feet and walking, these were replaced with hospital-issue insoles which slotted into normal shoes. She still has these and, we’re told, probably always will. High heels and wedges look unlikely in the future, although our doctor won’t rule out the possibility that her feet will correct themselves at some point.

Just over a year on and I often forget the battles we went through to get Frog up on her feet. The nights where I would worry myself to sleep, afraid to imagine what could be wrong with her, are a distant memory.

I can barely remember the lump in my throat as I watched my baby be held down, screaming, under an X-Ray machine, as doctors worked to rule out hip dysplasia. I have brushed aside the image of my girl clinging to me terrified while a needle was jabbed into her soft skin and blood was drawn, as consultants checked her intense fatigue wasn’t caused by anaemia – or anything more sinister.

The truth is, just over a year on and Frog is OK. She can walk and run and jump with the best of them. Her hypermobility is only really evident when she gets excited – especially if she’s sitting down. That’s because her little body tenses with glee and her legs bend the wrong way towards the ceiling, like a double-jointed picture of happiness. (Incidentally, she also flaps her arms about as if she’d take off, but that’s nothing to do with her hypermobility.)

When I look back on where we were in April and May 2012, I can barely believe what my three year old is now capable of. Although she still often needs a buggy and asks to be carried after a while, she is a determined little person – and strong willed to boot. Today she decided she was going to walk up the huge hill to our house all by herself, and she did.

Who knows, tomorrow she might run up it.

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I laughed at the physiotherapist back then, unable to dream of my non-walking toddler having the physical ability to even stand unaided, let alone scoot herself around on a Micro Scooter. But, today, I was taken right back to that room in the hospital one year ago, vividly reliving the memory of my bendy daughter trying to pull herself onto her feet like a gangly baby giraffe.

She is scooting! Not just gingerly standing on her Micro Scooter and waiting for it to move, but actually pushing herself along all on her own.

Although I’ve noticed Frog has turned a real corner with her walking, running, jumping and climbing recently, I’m sure much of her new-found Micro Scooter love can be put down to the rather snazzy accessories she has to go with it.

We were sent a gorgeous spotty bag (that easily clips on and off the main frame), bell and pull along lead. At first, the lead was useful for helping my nearly-three year old gain scooter confidence, but it later became a handy carrying tool, as it attaches to the wheel to create a useful carry strap.

The bag is perfect toddler size and is a welcome addition for a little girl who’s aqcuired a recent love of handbags, rucksacks and purses – she now insists on taking her own purse in her own bag whenever we go to the shop, regardless of whether it contains cash or not.

It would appear that, after a year, my bendy child is finally falling in love with her Micro Scooter.

Is it too soon to expect some tricks, do you think?!

***

You can find out more about Micro Scooter Accessories at micro-scooters.co.uk. The products featured in this post are: Neon Spotty Bag, £14.95, Scoot ‘N’ Pull in pink, £6.99. We were also sent an XLC Alloy Mini Bell, £5.50.

Disclosure: These products were provided free of charge, for the purpose of this review.

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The picture above was taken around a year ago. Frog’s feet naturally fell at right angles to her body. Her ankle joints were so flexible that her feet caved in, so she was trying to balance on the side of each foot. It’s not surprising she couldn’t stand up on her own.

At the time, it was heartbreaking to see my determined tot trying to catch up with her peers. She visibly withdrew into herself because she couldn’t join in with the games of the other toddlers running around her. People often assumed she had developmental issues or was at least eight months younger than she was. I was angry a lot of the time and became an expert at biting my tongue.

We had three months to wait for an appointment between our initial GP visit and our referral. Once we’d had our referral at the hospital, we had another two months to wait for the first physiotherapist session. By that time, my daughter was almost two years old – and still not walking.

Looking back, the six months between January to June last year were ones of constant frustration. I was a frustrated mum, battling to get information and find a cause to something I KNEW had a cause. Every day saw me bat away well meant advice from other parents whose children “hadn’t walked until they were two” etc. Although these words were meant as a kindness, in my paranoid, ill informed state, I assumed they were trying to tell me nothing was the matter. I knew something was the matter though – just not exactly what.

A year on, and we are smiling. Our toddler eventually got up on her feet and walked all by herself just before her second birthday. She was given special boots (like Piedro boots, but a different brand) just after this, to help strengthen her knees and hips. These boots did the job her ankles were supposed to be doing, helping her gain in confidence.

Once she was properly, confidently up and about, the boots were ditched. We put Frog in hi-top trainers which supported the ankle, or boots from Next. Clarkes were no good, as she wasn’t deemed “ready” for the “big girl shoes” but the soft soled ones provided no support to her ankles. Equally, her tiny feet were too small for the boots recommended to us – Kickers or Timberland. So we opted for a brand called Ricosta. They were perfect at the time.

While I worried about her future footwear and the inevitable battles we’d have over high heels, I was relieved to see my daughter finally blossom into the little girl I knew at home; confident, chatty and playful. The panic in new situations and her habit of covering her face and whispering “scared” stopped almost as soon as the walking started.

Then came October and a final physio appointment, in which we were signed off, with the warning to come back if Frog complained of pain at any point down the line. And we had an orthotics appointment in December, which saw my two and a half year old issued with special hospital issue insoles, to support her ankles and give an arch to her foot which is completely lacking. This means she can finally wear “big girl” shoes.

Today, we received a letter from the Paediatric Orthopaedic clinic at the hospital. It was following up our most recent check up, just over a week ago, confirming that we won’t need to go back. Another department has officially signed my daughter off, stating a “marked improvement” and noticing she is now “walking with an entirely normal gait”. Now it’s just the orthotics team we need to keep seeing, who’ll evaluate her progress with the insoles.

Last year was a tough one. We didn’t know what we were dealing with and there were times when it felt like there’d never be a moment when I’d see my toddler stand up and walk on her own. She has hypermobile joints, possibly hypermobility syndrome. Her joints are so bendy that we’ve been warned it’s unlikely the issue will ever just go away. Although it might.

That’s the thing with hypermobility. You just don’t know. Doctors are hesitant to diagnose hypermobility syndrome until a child complains of joint pain and fatigue. We have the fatigue, but Frog isn’t yet old enough to tell us if her joints actually hurt. All we know is that an active day or a morning at nursery needs to be followed by a rest, or she’ll ask for Calpol and end up sleeping as much as 15 or 16 hours the following the night. As nice as that is for parents who enjoy a lie-in, we’re aware it’s not “normal”.

During the past 12 months I’ve learned lots; how to trust my child, how to be patient, where to search for information and how to shout if I need to. I’ve written articles about what it’s like to be the mum of a toddler with hypermobility and I’ve given a presentation to a room of students training in childcare.

My answer is always the same: it’s not easy, but you get there. You get there, because you have to.

If your child has recently been diagnosed with hypermobility, please know that it WILL get better. There IS light at the end of the non-walking tunnel, however far off it may seem.

And if you need any more information, you’d do well to contact the Hypermobility Syndrome Association.

The post Living with a hypermobile toddler – a year on appeared first on Mother's Always Right.

One little girl was diagnosed with hip dysplasia, the other with hypermobility. While one was in a spica cast, the other was still mastering the art of crawling as her peers toddled around her.

It’s fair to say, both little girls have had a couple of obstacles thrown their way in the walking department. But both have overcome each hurdle to become funny, feisty, affectionate toddlers.

It was around 9 months ago that I wrote a post about my frustrations at my daughter’s inability to walk. I was tired and emotional about her constant attempts to get up and join in with others her age. I watched as she withdrew into herself, refusing to play, hiding her face in situations with more than one child.

When I wrote that post my friend told me, “Just wait until our girls can walk together, hand in hand.” I couldn’t really see a time when that would happen. I was so used to the image of one little girl sitting firmly on her backside while the other pulled herself around in a spica cast, that the thought of them running, jumping and dancing together seemed unattainable.

But this weekend it happened.

I watched, howling with laughter, with my friend Northern Mum, as our girls bent their knees in unison, crouching into a deep squat before rising a millimetre in the air, beaming with pride.

I watched as each girl chased the other around the room, trying to catch a kiss and a toddler bear hug.

I watched as they ran hand in hand around the living room, before ending in a pile of bendy limbs and snotty noses.

Our girls, walking, running, jumping (sort of).

Bendy friends together.

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It wasn’t huge on the scale of things, but it’s been niggling in the pit of my stomach for a week now.

After being told back in February that Frog’s walking delay was NOT due to hip dysplasia, we had a letter telling us otherwise. After the countless appointments we’ve been to and the blood tests and the physio sessions, this was a setback. And a confusing one at that.

The letter was written by a pediatrician we have yet to see, after he thought that we had failed to turn up to an appointment (we hadn’t, but that’s another story). It was a very pleasant letter, forwarded by our GP, but the sentence at the top of the letter had me in tears.

Problem: Mild hip dysplasia, joint hyper-laxity, mild developmental delay

Lack of sleep combined with confusion just opened the flood gates. And then the tears turned to anger. I went through all the possibilities in my mind, constantly coming back to the one that I most feared. There’s been a mistake. I misunderstood. My two year old does, actually, have a dislocated hip.

The thing is, we have never actually been sat down and told what she is constantly being referred for. The GP originally referred her for suspected hip dysplasia. Given that she was 19 months at the time and still not walking, it seemed like the most obvious answer.

But she was x-rayed and examined and – although a bit clicky – the hip was given the all clear.

So then she was referred to a physio for the flexibility (or hyper-laxity, hypermobility, bendiness – whatever you want to call it). But the specialist nurse requested to see us again, to check progress. By this time (I lose track amongst all the appointments) Frog was actually up on her feet. She’d just turned two and was a wonky walker, but a walker all the same.

But she was sleeping lots. Some nights, there would be up to 17 hours of deep sleep. This concerned the nurse and she ordered blood tests.

Blood tests came back negative of anything scary and again we heaved a sigh of relief. But still the nurse was concerned. And because she’s thorough and wanted to erase all questions, we were referred to a pediatrician.

Or so we thought.

It was then that we received this letter out of the blue. And I started to wonder if the initial x-ray had been re-examined and a problem had been found. I asked my buddies Jane and Emma if they knew what “mild” hip dysplasia meant. I vented steam by writing cryptic, angry posts on Facebook.

I made lots of phone calls, was put through to various different people and was kept on the line waiting a fair few times.

And then, after a week, I got the call I’d been waiting for.

“She doesn’t have hip dysplasia. It was a mistake. You shouldn’t have had that letter. We got our wires crossed. Really sorry.”

I’m too relieved to be cross at the admin error – or whatever it was.

My bendy girl has jumped through yet another hoop. Which is quite fitting really, considering she’s recently learned how to jump and actually take off from the ground, even if it is only a millimetre.

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Honesty and the ability to give it to someone straight. Talking around a subject, fluffing it up with watery phrases like, “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” or “Everything’s fine… really”, do not help. Not when everything might not be fine.

As a parent, if there’s even the tiniest thing wrong with your child you want to know about it straight away. You want to know the exact cause of whatever the problem is – whether it’s a rash or a limp, a temperature or a delay in walking.

Whatever the problem, you want to sit in a room with a trusted professional “magician” who can soothe all your fears away with clear, no nonsense facts. You want it to be like exam results day, one quick pull of the plaster and Ta-Da! the bottom line is THIS.

Or maybe that’s just me.

What you don’t want is to be told that, “Everything is fine, but you still need to come back in a couple of months, because everything might not be fine after all.”

What you don’t want is to receive a letter, detailing some facts in black and white, with the assumption that you knew this information, that it’s been told to you verbally in one of your many appointments, only to find that it hasn’t.

What you don’t want is to be fobbed off with sentences that don’t actually mean anything, with the assumption that you wouldn’t understand the technical jargon anyway, because you’re just the child’s mother. And everyone knows mothers are paranoid.

Enough.

Just give it to me straight.

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Nothing unusual about that for August – except the toddler isn’t actually naked. She wears not a stitch all over her body, but her feet are adorned with a pair of socks and some heavy duty boots.

A good look, I’m sure you’ll agree.

The thing is, my two year old is still wobbly when it comes to walking. At 26 months, she only fully mastered the craft of getting up on two feet before her recent birthday. She has hypermobility issues, which means she is very bendy, making it hard for her to balance properly.

Added to the bendiness are her wonky flat feet, punctuated by a complete lack of instep, meaning she walks with her feet splayed out, putting a huge strain on her ankles. With no shoes to keep them in place, her ankles touch the floor.

So it was with a huge smile that I let her remove her clumpy hospital Piedro Boots this weekend. These beauties may keep her stable, but they do nothing to keep little toes cool in the heat. And they certainly don’t complement nudity.

Every day that Frog is up on her wonky feet, her ankles grow stronger. Every day that she takes another step and runs to chase something, her hips gain strength and she increases in confidence. In the last couple of days she’s started jumping and it’s hilarious to see her attempt to take off, only reaching the dizzy heights of success (about 1 centimetre off the ground) on some occasions.

Frog’s physiotherapist has advised us to keep her in the Piedro boots for a little while each day, to take the strain off her ankles and give her hips and knees the chance to get stronger. But it’s also important she doesn’t rely on these boots to walk all the time.

So toes out on the grass and in the paddling pool occasionally are encouraged. As are other types of shoes with a bit less ankle support.

We’ve found these Skeanies boots good for days relaxing at home, when Frog’s ankles are ready to do a bit more work on their own, but not quite in the mood to go solo completely.

Plus, they’re really rather pretty and go with a lot of her more girly outfits. (Although, obviously, not the long socks with shorts. I have no idea why my toddler continues to rock this look.)

Frog also has a pair of hi-top trainers from Next, which she LOVES. The bargain price of under £20 means I also love them. The support is just about right for her hypermobile ankles when she’s ready for a break from the hospital boots – plus, they look utterly cool.

And the trusty faithfuls – bought nearly 6 months ago but which STILL fit – are these purple Ricoste Boots. After an entire evening searching every corner of the internet I finally found a pair in a minuscule size 4.

With her tiny feet, Frog has had to forego many of the mainstream boot brands on the high street up until now, but I literally cheered when I came across these beauties. They’re the boots that eventually saw her get up on her two feet and, for that, I’ll forever have a soft spot for them.

Unfortunately for my diva child, it’s likely she may struggle to walk in heels when she’s older. We’re told her flat feet are so extremely pronounced that she may have to wear special insoles right through adulthood. It’s not clear yet if it’s something she’ll grow out of. But, for now, her favourite boots (mine) are still out of bounds.

***

This is not a review post as such, but I was given the Skeanies Boots for the purpose of a previous review.

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