hip brace

Replies

• jennmcluskey

  Feb 17, 2010 6:36AM

  Hi Shell
  
  Please don't be too upset! My wee girl had a harness from when she was 3 weeks for 8 weeks. She is now an extremely active and happy 6 month old a we have all but forgotten the harness ever existed! It IS difficult when it's on but the results make it well worth it. I am trying to find an old post that I did about this and will try to post the link.

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• jennmcluskey

  Feb 17, 2010 7:03AM

  http://www.babyexpert.com/chatroom/topic/131575
  
  hth! Jenn x

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• Angel00

  Feb 17, 2010 4:42PM

  My friend from baby group's little girl had her hips in a brace from birth. I cant remember exactly how long she had it on for but I think it was 5/6 months. Having said that she is the most physically advanced baby I know!! She was rolling over first, crawling first, and walking ages ago. My friend is convinced that it was because she had a brace on, when she got it off everything was such a adventure!

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• piggypops

  Feb 17, 2010 4:44PM

  i had one of these as a newborn for 6 months and my mum loves showing off pics of me in it (weird) i apparently was very advanced when it came off guess i was making up for lost time x

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• Pomki08

  Feb 17, 2010 6:31PM

  Hi,
  
  My dd had one of these too (Pavlik Harness). She was undiagnosed breech and all breech babies have a scan I believe at 6 weeks old. This is where her dislocatable hips were picked up. We didn't think there were any problems as she was kicking and wriggling fine and didn't seem to have any pain. One was worse than the other but both had problems.
  
  I too was devastated. I burst into tears as soon as I saw the harness. To be honest it didn't bother Dd at all. We were a mess to start with but it really is amazing how quickly you and they adapt. Nappy changing was interesting to say the least but actually looking back it was probably easier than now as she couldn't kick her legs about.
  
  I think the hardest part was how restrictive it was to hold her as we weren't supposed to squash her knees in but we just had lovely cuddles up against our chests.
  
  It was also very hard not being able to bath her for 10 weeks (that's how long she had it for) as we couldn't take the thing off but my goodness she makes up for it now. She rolled from front to back at 4.5 months (2 weeks after the harness came off) and then from back to front a couple of weeks ago. It doesn't seem to have stopped her at all (touch wood).
  
  She loves her baths now - we get a soaking at just about every bath time. we have also started to take her swimming and she kicks like mad!!
  
  It is so hard and it seems like it will be on for an eternity but we just count ourselves very lucky that it was caught when it was and that touch wood she is fine. A friend of mine had dodgy hips that weren't picked up when she was born and had to have them broken and repinned in her mid 20s so I am thankful this has most likely stopped her experiencing anything like that. As I say, it stayed on for 10 weeks in the end and she has to have a check up when she is 1 but fingers crossed that is it.
  
  I did feel incredibly lonely as I didn't know of anyone else whose baby had one so if you would like to chat please e-mail me.
  
  Take care & big hugs
  
  xxx

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• tinkerbellshell

  Feb 18, 2010 5:44AM

  thnak you so much for your replys and for the link I have read them too, its nice to hear postive experiences, I havent really been givne much information at the hospital and been told i can take it off to bath her and put it back on but havent really had a great deal of information on putting it back on and not been told really what we cant do in terms of holdinfg etc i asked about her swimming lessons and bathing and was told it was fine to do both as long as it was on for around 23 hours a day.
  
  shell x

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• posy

  Feb 18, 2010 8:24AM

  Hi Shell
  
  My DD was in a Pavlik harness too from 3.5 months old. She was a breech premmie baby and although they did many clicky hip checks on her it wasn't picked up until later when she had a ultrasound.
  
  She absolutely hated it for the first couple of days and did nothing but cry, very distressing for us, and it probably didn't help that she was that bit older and had been moving about for a while before it was fitted!
  
  We couldn't remove it for 2 weeks, and then after that she could be out of it for an hour a day, long enough for a kick about and a nice bath at last!
  
  I think it was then 4 weeks until her next check up and ultrasound and at this point she was allowed out for 1-2 hours each day.
  
  I found the most difficult bit was trying to find clothes to fit over it? She spent months dressed only in sleepsuits and rompers, but fortunately it wasn't the summer and I could keep it covered without her getting too hot.
  
  I used to worry that I would get odd looks from people when we were out and about if they saw the harness, but with it being this time last year she was always well covered and people probably just wondered why she had such wide spread legs LOL!!
  She was in it for 12 weeks in total, 2 weeks extra then we'd hoped, but better to be safe.
  
  She is now as strong as an ox, and rolled within 1 week of having the harness taken off, and walked the no issues at 14 months (12.5 corrected age). She is also a very determined wee lass and I put some of this down to what she went through!
  
  We have checkups with an x-ray every 6 months since the harness came off, and things are looking good. We shall hopefully be signed off from the consultant after our next checkup in the summer, hoorah!
  I used to go on the STEPS website for information which was quiet helpful too, and they have a forum for questions - http://www.steps-charity.org.uk/
  
  Here's a little picture of how she looked in her harness for you, it's well hidden under her romper and slippers:-
  
  

  

  
  
  
  And another during her harness-free time!
  
  Happy to answer any questions you might have
  
  Iz & Skye x
  

  

  
  

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• Pomki08

  Feb 18, 2010 9:02AM

  Hi Shell & Posy,
  
  Isn't it weird that you are allowed to take the harness off for an hour a day. We were told we couldn't remove it at all not even for baths. We just had to top and tail her
  
  I expect it depends on the area you are and also how dislocated/ dislocatable they are. Everyone does things differently.
  
  Wow Posy, those pictures take me back. I'd forgotten just how frog like she was )
  
  I too found it very hard with clothes as like Posy my Dd lived in vests and babygros that were too big for her so they would do up. I love dressing her in 'proper' clothes now!!
  
  Apparently this affect girls more than boys and 1:100 babies are affected. Must be the shape of girls hips / pelvis I suppose.
  
  Shell, I am glad that our positive experiences have helped you and if you need any further help please do get in contact. I really do know how much of a shock this is for you and how distressing it is to start with. Fingers crossed she won't be in it long.
  
  Take care
  
  xxx

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• Twyford

  Mar 20, 2015 3:55PM

  My baby had a brace fitted yesterday. She is nine weeks and I'm told she will have to have it on for 8 weeks. She has been so unsettled since it went on. She couldnt sleep with it last nigh. the only place she seems comfortable is in her buggy because she's sitting a little upright. I take it off to change her nappy and when I go to put it back on she cries. It's supposed to be on for 23hours a day. I find feeding her and winding her so awkwar. Has anybody got any tips on how to make it easie? 

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• IvaL877

  Aug 5, 2019 7:14PM

  My DD was diagnosed with clicky hips when we were still in the hospital. I had an emergency c-section so had to stay longer. On the hip scan they confirmed the shallow hips (DDH).They recommended wearing two disposable nappies at the same time which really didn't work and we used lots of extra nappies because they got dirty. Then at 8-week scan we were told that if it didn't get better within 2 weeks she would have given us brace. I googled some pics and it looked awful I searched for an alternative and found something called abduction pants. It looks like reusable nappy and my DD wore it 24/7 for those 14 days and on the next checked everything was fine. The doctor even took a picture of those pants as she hasn't heard about it before. We were recommended to wear those pants for another 4 weeks just to make her hips stronger and they released us from the clinic. It was a huge relief! Just wanted to share my experience in case it would help someone.

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