Katfish - welcome to the forum. DD1 was in a pavlik harness from 7wks so if you have any questions please feel free to ask me. I've had both my DD treated for hip dysplacia (DD1 in Pavlik Harness, DD2 in DB bar). So between the 2 of them I consider I know a bit about newborns with hip dyplasia.
Welcome to this forum. I'm glad that you found us. It certainly helped me to have other people is similar situations to share my feelings with. Don't ever be afraid to vent here either now, when your situation is quite new, or later when you are having a bad day. We have all been there (or somewhere similar).
I understand what you are saying about how your baby feels different. In your head you know that the treatment is for the best, that it is only for a short time, yada, yada, yada. In your heart, your baby feels very different now and you have to give yourself a chance to be sad about that.
If you have any questions just ask away. One small thing that I have found with the pavlik harness is that Aldi nappies worked better for us. The tabs are longer than Huggies and softer. Huggies cut into DD2 with her brace.
Thanks everyone for words of support. Today was our first complete day in the harness, and well, honestly, it was nothing short of miserable. Nat has always been a good sleeper and I think has just gone to sleep successfully now (7pm) for the first time since she woke up at 7am this morning. The harness straps were cutting into her neck and have started to break the skin, so on advice from a friend who is a physio and has worked with these harnesses, we have put a little singlet on underneath the harness to protect her neck. Has anyone needed to do this? Has anyone any other solutions to this. I have rung all the physio departments at the local hospitals and none are open again till Monday, so I have to somehow get through the weekend.
Hmm, I lied, she is crying again... OMG will she EVER sleep again....
Katfish - Sorry but didn't have that problem with DD1, she would be red behind her knees but that was it. Rest assured she will sleep again, within a couple of days she will settled down. Can I ask where you are? Who fitted the harness are you due to go back to have it checked next week? We had an app with our Orthatist 3-4 days after the inital fitting to ensure there was no rubbing and that we were coping.
I am near Dubbo in Central West NSW. An assistant in the Physio department at the Dubbo Base Hopital fitted it. I don't have an appointment with an Orthatist until Feb next year. I am supposed to go back next week to have it checked, but I don't think I will make it till Thursday, so I will head back Monday. Our friend the physio has just called back to see how we (me!!) are doing, by the sounds of what he said it may not really have been fitted as well as it should have. Why do these things happen over the weekend??
She is asleep now. Natalie also has reflux, so I topped up her reflux medicine and gave her another feed and she seems to have settled. I also wonder if it not two full on days of Drs appointments and travelling and no good day sleeps.
Our other daughter Jill is a terrible sleeper even at two, so I think the combination of two kids not sleeping is maybe catching up on me and that I am not coping very well. Does anyone ever have moments where all you want to say is 'I want my mummy' and go home??? I am having one of those moments...!
Car seat - we bought the Safe and Sound Maxi Rider however this is only OK from 6 months, not sure what age your LO is. We have another one of these for our 2.5 year old and have always found it very good. It doesn't have upbuilt sides which is great.
Pram - we took Chloe into our local baby store and tried all the different strollers. We ended up with the babylove Aurora. It was the widest for her legs, lays back fully for naps and was generally just what we were after. I think we paid $280 for it. Tried the maclarens but they were too narrow. I guess it depends on the age of your bub. Our DD is 7 months so her legs obviously go quite wide out.
Good Luck with it all. Have also found a child size bean bag to be really great.
Katfish, your DD will adjust but it does take a while. My DD took a day or two to get back to her normal sleeping habits. When we first started we put a thinly folded towel under her feet. It wasn't very thick but just enough to support her feet a little bit.
When we got our first pavlik harness it was rough against DD's neck. The physio put a very soft gauze around the neckstrap of the brace and fastened it with tape. When DD went up in brace size the physio had a second hand brace which we borrowed. It was clean but didn't look great (the velcro tends to grab fabric fibres and then pill) but was so much softer.
Just a little update to first say thank you again for your advise. Today has been the second day of Nat being back to normal with sleeping etc. I did roll up a little towel and put it under her feet and I think that also helped! She seems much more used to it now and so am I! I am still trying to find a comfortable position to feed her in, but I am sure we will just fiddle with that until we get it right!
I guess now I just count down until the first ultrasound and xray and hope that there is improvement!
Registered User
Bookmarks