Hi Jo,
Good luck with your appoiment on Thurs, hope is goes well. It is often confronting to walk out with a child in this harness as you dont know what to say or do. We went in for a check up to and came away 12 hours later with her in the Pavlik Harness. We ended up at a resturant as we were so upset ot try and drive home that day. People around us just looked at her with care and concern. We didnt know enough about the condition to tell people why she was in that position. Over time I was able to tell people what the harness was for when asked. I didnt ask any questions at all for the first few visits but during that time I researched "clicky hips" on the net and looked on the support website and read what I could to help Chloe with this. You are not alone in having both doctors and nurses miss the condition, ending up with Chloe in two harness by the time she was 9 months old. I was so angry with them but knew that she needed all my strength and support. Mind you I gave them a piece of my mind about it and never went back there. Dont beat yourself up over not asking or following up on it as when you are a mother you worry about so much and take the professionals word. Now I know that they to can be wrong. I just gave Chloe loads of cuddles and knew that she needed that contact. It works a treat. Sorry to say, but I found breastfeeding in the end impossible as being in the Pavlik I had to place her in a split postion to feed, she would often get upset over it so I went to the bottle and placed her on the floor or pillow and sat next to her. She was happy with that, but I missed the contact so much. In the end she was feeding well and that made me happy. I know that tummy time is hard now but try her a little each day as It helped Chloe with her coordination. Some of the questions I asked were:
1) What is her current hip % in each hip- Often one hip is worse than the other. That way you can see how long you are looking at her being in the brace.
2) Is there anything that I can do when she is allowed out of the brace to strengthen her legs (Mind you she was 4 months old) and keep her active.
3) Will this impact on her develpment? (often the answer was no that she will develop as a normally as possibe)
4) What can I dress her in (we were told not to put pants on her as she would get to hot, not sure where you are living but it is hot here in Sydney) So I got her larger size tops that would cover her harness at night
I have a list of all my questions, I will look for it and write again. Mainly the questions were related to how long she would be in it, what the current hip% is and what could I do to help her improve her recovery. In the end we were allowed to take her swimming on her brace free time which strengthened her legs. Hailey will adjust to it, it may take a week but she will be o.k. We all can tell you from experience that it will get better as time goes on and she will be back to her happy little self. Let me know about Thurs, we are all here.
Kartier
What sort of questions did you ask? Its really weird, i cannot think of a single question, I must be in denial or something. Thanks heaps for your support and hugs