[kellid]

my 3 day old baby girl has double hip dysplasia. she was fitted for harness today. i have some questions.

does anyone have experience with this?
how do you put them in the carseat?
what do they wear that's easy?
easier way to diaper change?
can you wear them in any way?
breastfeeding isn't so easy......advice?
how do you hold them?

any other advice is greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance!

 

[emaye_to_2]

I really want to give you a hug! I'm sorry your brand newborn was diagnosed with hip dysplasia. Did she already get the harness? Do you know how long she will have to wear it?

Our niece had severe hip dysplasia but was not treated until about one year old and she had a cast that went around her pelvis and down both legs. Not fun.

My DS had a harness at two months for about two weeks. It was really really really difficult to have a newborn in the harness. It will change everything you do. Changing a million newborn diapers will be difficult. Changing clothes, etc. We kept him in a newborn shirt and diapers often but it was the summertime. The carseat wasn't so bad tho. I hope you can make your little girl feel comfortable and that the harness resolves her hip dysplasia problems!

 

[urchin_grey]

Well, DS had bilateral hip dysplasia, but he had surgery at 15mo and didn't wear a harness until after that, and even then it was only at night (he also has clubbed feet, so we kinda had to prioritize and keep the leg braces on during the day). I'll answer as best as I can though.

how do you put them in the carseat?
We just never put him in the car seat with the hip brace on. He would have never fit properly.

what do they wear that's easy?
T-shirts and babylegs.

easier way to diaper change?
Sorry, I got nothing... Take off brace, change diaper, replace brace. Rinse and repeat.

can you wear them in any way?
Like I said, he only wore the hip brace during the day, but we did have casts/braces/shoes to deal with for his feet and legs. The only thing that really worked was a mei tai. A wrap might work too though, I never tried one.

breastfeeding isn't so easy......advice?
I had a boppy and that helped. But sometimes I just cheated and took the damn thing off for a bit.

how do you hold them?
We generally had to just hold him flat against us. Cradle hold doesn't really work.

By the way, did your ortho give you a specific amount of time per day that she needs to wear it? Or is it just all day?

 

[urchin_grey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by emaye_to_2 Our niece had severe hip dysplasia but was not treated until about one year old and she had a cast that went around her pelvis and down both legs. Not fun.

Spica casts. The epitome of ebils.

Bram wore one for 8 weeks after his hip surgery, it went from his arm pits to his toes.

 

[SAHDS]

I know this is a bit old and you may already have all of your answers. DS was in a harness for a month. After that didn't work, he had surgery and was casted (UGH) for 3 months. He wore his brace for a while after that (when sleeping, if I remember correctly).

How is she?

 

[kellid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAHDS I know this is a bit old and you may already have all of your answers. DS was in a harness for a month. After that didn't work, he had surgery and was casted (UGH) for 3 months. He wore his brace for a while after that (when sleeping, if I remember correctly). How is she?

thank you so much for asking! she is doing great! her last ultrasound she was showing great improvement, so the harness is working so far and we hope to be out of it in a couple of months.

: she is to keep it on 24/7 - taking only a strap at a time off only to bathe and i have been following this because i really wanted the harness to work. the spika cast sounds like a nightmare.........so there is poop on her harness (yuck!) and her creases are really hard to keep clean.

it is hard finding info on this so i appreciate everyones feedback. here is what i have found out so far with help from here and otherwise.

how do you put them in the carseat? i asked about this and the orthopedic said it should not be a problem.........however i am here to tell you all, as you know i'm sure....this is very unsafe and something that i think they should address and consider. it would not suit the carseat standards that are set.

what do they wear that's easy? onsies with the snaps cut off, dresses, and the sleepers with the elastic dress bottoms on them. those are the best.

easier way to diaper change? just get used to it. i did find that after i got the hang of it, my cloth diapers were the best, the ones with the snaps. velcro really messes with the harness. tears it up a bit.

can you wear them in any way? ERGO! holds her legs in the perfect position. and ring sling works well too. both are great.

breastfeeding isn't so easy......advice? it is still difficult with her legs frogged, but we've gotten used to it.

how do you hold them? facing in on my tummy or out, with her back to my tummy, but not cradle. pp was right....it doesn't work well.

i just wanted to answer my own questions in case anyone searched this for info in the future.

thanks for your alls advice!

 

[abemom2]

Thanks for the info.

My sister just gave birth, and her daughter was Frank breech, c-section. (Totally not what she was hoping for - Birthing Center;

She is very small, and a big baby. They really tried to turn the baby - 3 different doctors, and different positions, but there wasn't space, and it didn't work.

Her baby needs a harness. For 23/7. She's going to have her fitted on Friday, when the baby is only a few days old. She feels horrible from the surgery, and has to be on the move for the baby. Doctors, fitting.... (Why would someone want elective c-section?)

What other information do we need to know?

Thanks so much, Ana

 

[kellid]

i don't know really what other info you need, but i will be happy to answer any other questions for you. we have been very diligent with our brace, we do not remove it ever.......for no reason what so ever. i have bathed her only 1 time since dec 1st (exept for when she was in the hospital after birth). she got her brace at 4 days old. she will have another ultrasound in 2 weeks and we are very hopeful and optimistic that she will get her brace off at that time. 2.5 months is not bad for a full recovery. we'll see.

 

[abemom2]

Thanks Kellid.

She'll probably be able to bathe the baby, unless the orthopedic will tell her to have the baby 24/7. She didn't see the orthopedic yet, but the ped. told her 23/7. The orthopedic she's going to be seeing, is the ped. ortho. head in a few hospitals. Every day of the week he's at another hospital, and they say he's great.

She's going to ask the ortho. about car seat use. She's going to be BF exclusively. Because of her CS, she's nursing her in a different position already.

My mother went shopping today and got 2 pairs of leg warmers, a few side snap undershirts, 2 dresses, 1 kimono, 1 sleep-sack, and a few t-shirts in the 3-6 month range, and the udershirts were newborn. And of course the extras, bibs...

Once she gets the brace on Friday, she'll see what works, and then get more of it.

She was considering CD, but she's not looking for any more work now, so she'll stick to sposies. Would getting some fleece diaper covers for over the diaper - look good? Matching to the shirt and leg warmers, or dress. To have her baby look as cute as possible. It's her first child.

Tomorrow she comes home without a brace, so she'll be able to dress her up!

2.5 months is enough? That sounds encouraging. My sister was told a few months.

Thanks again, Ana

 

[kellid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by abemom2 Thanks Kellid. She'll probably be able to bathe the baby, unless the orthopedic will tell her to have the baby 24/7. She didn't see the orthopedic yet, but the ped. told her 23/7. The orthopedic she's going to be seeing, is the ped. ortho. head in a few hospitals. Every day of the week he's at another hospital, and they say he's great. She's going to ask the ortho. about car seat use. She's going to be BF exclusively. Because of her CS, she's nursing her in a different position already. My mother went shopping today and got 2 pairs of leg warmers, a few side snap undershirts, 2 dresses, 1 kimono, 1 sleep-sack, and a few t-shirts in the 3-6 month range, and the udershirts were newborn. And of course the extras, bibs... Once she gets the brace on Friday, she'll see what works, and then get more of it. She was considering CD, but she's not looking for any more work now, so she'll stick to sposies. Would getting some fleece diaper covers for over the diaper - look good? Matching to the shirt and leg warmers, or dress. To have her baby look as cute as possible. It's her first child. Tomorrow she comes home without a brace, so she'll be able to dress her up! 2.5 months is enough? That sounds encouraging. My sister was told a few months. Thanks again, Ana

we hope it's 2.5 mos. she had double hip dyspacia. all times are different. just depends on how they heal.......ya just never know. we expected longer, but hope it's not. we have an easier time with cloth diapers because they are snaps and the velcro does snag on the brace. and we could not get leggins of any kind to work because of the brace, it expands at the hips. and you can't put it under effects the brace. so dresses and the sleeper gowns were the only thing that worked for us.

 

[abemom2]

Has anyone read this book: The Parents' Guide to Hip Dysplasia?

Is it worth getting?

http://www.amazon.com/Parents-Guide-...ecc_rvi_cart_1

Thanks again, Ana

 

[islandcreation]

We just got the final word that our daughter has hip dsyplsia. She was put on a harness when she was born then we saw a specialist (Well known child care facility in Oakland CA) and he said it looks fine. Lets give it sometime and we'll check back. He couldn't hear the click nor could the ped that we were seeing. And they tried it numerous times! After 2 or 3 diffrent ultrasounds all at diffrent times, he finally told his that she has dysplasia. He was telling his % and that our daughter was at 30% with 40% being okay but a 50% was normal. I guess this is where the ball is halfed by some point of the hip.

My girlfriend and I were used to the harness and our baby was too when she was born. After a month and a half of being free and stretching she has never cried this hard in her life. We are so sad for her to go through all of this. We know it could be worst but its difficult.

Can anyone tell me the degree's of what their child had?

Any real successes they heard of with the harness?

Obviously, I feel the more minor the dysplasia the great % of it getting healed with a brace. Just want to know where we stood as far as being if its severe or not. Thank you for having this thread. Its really helping me but at the sametime scare me.

Jason

 

[kellid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by islandcreation We just got the final word that our daughter has hip dsyplsia. She was put on a harness when she was born then we saw a specialist (Well known child care facility in Oakland CA) and he said it looks fine. Lets give it sometime and we'll check back. He couldn't hear the click nor could the ped that we were seeing. And they tried it numerous times! After 2 or 3 diffrent ultrasounds all at diffrent times, he finally told his that she has dysplasia. He was telling his % and that our daughter was at 30% with 40% being okay but a 50% was normal. I guess this is where the ball is halfed by some point of the hip. My girlfriend and I were used to the harness and our baby was too when she was born. After a month and a half of being free and stretching she has never cried this hard in her life. We are so sad for her to go through all of this. We know it could be worst but its difficult. Can anyone tell me the degree's of what their child had? Any real successes they heard of with the harness? Obviously, I feel the more minor the dysplasia the great % of it getting healed with a brace. Just want to know where we stood as far as being if its severe or not. Thank you for having this thread. Its really helping me but at the sametime scare me. Jason

sorry you have to go through harness after she was out for so long. i don't know about the percentage, my dr. never used those terms when she was being evaluated. it was very hard for them to detect her dysplacia, but when they did the ultrasound she had bilateral h.d. and it was completely out of socket on both sides. she was put in the harness at 4 days old and now she is 9 weeks and 2 days and she just got out of it today!!! so i really think it depends on alot of different factors, but i think those were great and fast results with the pavlik. it's better than the alternatives, and not as invasive.

good luck to you!

 

[PeanutsMommy620]

My daughter was born with hip dysplasia- I would say it was "moderate" if I had to assign a degree to it. It was not the easiest thing in the world to get through, but I just kept reminding myself that there are a lot worse problems she could have! She was put in the Pavlek harness at 2 weeks old and wore it full time until 10 weeks. Then she wore it at night only for another 6 weeks (I believe, amazing how quickly you forget!). We did not have any problems getting her in and out of the Graco car seat that we had. The harness never bothered her, and I didn't see any problems with her after she was free of it. I think one of the biggest problems we encountered though was that being in the harness, they do not get any tummy time. So she did not roll over for the first time until she was 6.5 months old. With weekly physical therapy (also kind of a pain), she finally sat up until at 10 months, crawled at 13 months, and walked at 17 months. But she's 20 months old now, and is running around like a crazy girl! She had her last appointment in December with the orthopedist and they said her hips looked great and will not have any lingering affects from her hip dysplasia.

We had one day when she was still in the harness full time and she had urinated all over the harness when we were changing her. So my husband washed the harness in the sink with soap and water and we laid it in front of our dehumidifier! It was dry in about 3hours. Yes, she was out of the harness for 3 hours that day. She's fine now. But we only cleaned it once in a 4-5 month period. We also did not have any problems with changing her diaper. We used disposable diapers and LOTS and LOTS of onesies. Anything with a snap was really easy. Thankfully she was born in June, where only a onesie was perfectly acceptable for the hot summer. If we were going somewhere cool, we threw a heavy blanket on her and kept her in the car seat.

We were also told not to wear the baby while they were in the harness. And not to ever put them in jumpers (whether they are the kind that hang in the doorway or are freestanding). They are terrible for kids who have had hip dysplasia. In fact, our orthopedist said they were terrible for all kids and really didn't help them build muscle too much and just angled their legs in an odd way. (I never noticed... I thought it looked fine to me, but that's what he said).

Hope this helps! I don't miss the days of the Pavlik!!!! Good luck!

 

[selkiewoman]

I'm really glad to have found this thread. My daughter was found to have a hip-click when she was a day old. That doctor wanted her to be checked out by ultrasound, also said that it might fix itself within a few days. By that time, the click was still there, which he now explained was hip dysplasia. The ultrasound was done on Friday and it showed her left hip is still dislocated. So now I'm waiting for a referral to an orthopedic pediatrician, and then she will be fitted.

I'm reading what I can about all this... my only remaining question is how long can one usually wait to treat this before it becomes untreatable by a harness? She's over three weeks now, and still not in a harness.

I also don't understand how a dislocated hip can look and move normal and not hurt her at all, but still be dislocated.

 

[selkiewoman]

Just thought I'd update... the ultrasound showed my daughter's left hip was completely dislocated, and her right partially. Her first few days in the harness were pretty tough. She was incredibly frustrated, screamed and cried if she was put down at all, and wouldn't sleep unless she was on my chest, and I was happy to oblige. But after four days, we went back to the ortho for follow up and were told that the ultrasound shows her hips are in the sockets. Yay! Now we wait. 3-4 months. She has to be in the harness 7/24 for now. They were able to loosen the straps a little and her legs are more comfy, and she's sleeping well and in a great mood since.

For anyone who might find this information useful, this is what I've learned in my daughter's first week of being in the Pavlik harness.

I was told she cannot wear pants or shorts or any kind of onesies with pants or shorts attached. But I did find this site which sells clothes just for hip-babies.

http://www.babyhipwear.com/

They have pants that are supposed to not interfere with the harness, as well as onesies that are cut nice and high at the hips.

My sister who is a doula and soon a midwife found a website for parents of babies with hip dysplasia and their Yahoo group:

http://www.hip-baby.org/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hipbaby/

I've found that the two kinds of Eco-Diapers I've tried so far won't work with the harness because of their shape and her thighs being bent up all the time, but that might just be my baby's shape and size- she's tiny even at almost ten pounds, but I'm small too so it's normal for her. 7th Generation and Naturcare aren't working for us. I'm stuck for now using Pampers Swaddlers because the way they're designed makes them work really well with the position her thighs are in. I can't buy anymore eco-diapers until I find out the shape first, because I can't be wasting money on diapers that won't work. (If anyone knows of eco-diapers that have a Swaddlers-like shape or have worked with the harness, please let me know!)

I want to switch to cloth diapers as soon as I move next week, but I cannot imagine them working with the harness because of the position her thighs are in not allowing much room... has anyone used cloth with the harness? What kind of cloth diaper?

The doc said a car seat would not be an issue, and indeed it wasn't. We have an Evenflo infant seat and she's fine in it.

As for carriers, I haven't tried any yet. But I'm looking at some today. I can't afford the Ergo or the Bjorn, but I see Infantino makes similar albeit less expensive carriers I'm going to look at. I hope they make one with lumbar support for me. My lower back hasn't been the same since my daughter was born. ETA- neither the Bjorn or Infantino carriers work because the leg holes are too small. I bought an Ergo, since that what I've seen recommended, and it has open sides. Looks like it will actually work.