Hi everyone,
Olivia has moved from her Pavlik harness and is now in a DB at 8wks old. I feel like we just got used of one brace and now we've got to learn to adapt to this one too. I've noticed that she's getting red marks on the very top of where her thighs meet her bum from the bar but the orthotist said as long as it doesn't look like it's going to break the skin then it's okay. I don't understand, she was only fitted last week and her next check up is in 4 more weeks, I just don't see how it's not going to dig in even more as she grows??? She also rarely sleeps much anymore during they day unless she's lying on my chest and only sleeps for just a few minutes in her bouncer, on her tummy or in her bassinett during the day and I'm really struggling to get anything done.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Sorry for the real downer of a post I hope you're all well xx
Liddy105 - my DS was in the dennis brown and we found that he ended up with some blisters where the brace cuffs rubbed, one of the girls from this forum suggested using socks - I cut up some adult knee high socks, discard the 'foot' bit and use the long tube bit thats left to put around the brace cuff, as the socks are usually elasticised they should stay on the brace cuffs pretty well - does that make sense?
We also found that we needed to put a rolled up blanket under DSs legs when he was laying down as otherwise his legs were perched in the air a little, and we also used to put a rolled up nappy on one side of him so he wasn't lying completely on his back, he seemed to get a bit uncomfortable and wakeful unless we did that. Also I bought a toddler pillow for him (quite flat) but the extra cushioning seemed to improve his comfort and he slept much better.
The first week he was in the brace was a bit of a shocker for sleep from memory, hopefully Olivia gets used to it soon and starts to sleep a bit more for you
We ended up having a pretty crappy weekend. Isabelle reacted to her immunisations and has been fighting temps of 39.5 all weekend and she has an ear infection the poor munchkin. I am thinking we have turned the corner today. Hope everyone else had a good weekend?
Furgurnie - Fantastic to hear that everything is going well. It sounds like you have a great attitude. It took me about a week to stop feeling sorry for our situation and come around. Maybe this was partly cause everything was so rushed. Pretty much the whole time Izy was in the cast, it near brought tears to my eyes looking at her. But, she is such a happy baby that it truly didn'y seem to worry her. I think in the end this also made it easier for hubby n me. With the nappies we too used newborns and completely cut all the tags off and trimmed all around the nappy leaving about 1cm outside the padding of it. We also put a size bigger over the cast. Psychologically for me, I think it made it look "prettier".
Madcat - That is what I am finding, that her hip journey is always on my mind and when will it end. From things I have read and heard, I believe that quite possibly we could be having check ups until the teen years, which is along time to carry this around. How remarkable that your 5 year old has the coping stategies for everything she has been through. What a precious girl....
liddy105 - The exact same thing happened with our DD's thighs. Her skin had just started to break. We had to use a fungal cream to prevent any infection and gauze. We used quite a bit of the gauze to give extra protection. After about 2 weeks everything was totally fine and haven't had to use anything since. In regards to sleep, my DD was 6 months of age and was starting to get active. We were told that her sleeping would decrease as she isn't using as much energy as her movement was limited. I imagine this would be a bit different with an 8 week old. We tried various things similar to what mummynaomi also mentioned. I found it was a case of trial and error and I gave each different thing a couple of times to see if she adapted to it. Good luck with the sleeping. I so don't cope with no sleep and both my girls are massive sleepers. When Isabelle went into the cast we had crap sleep pretty much the whole 6 weeks and then into the brace after the first few nights she has gone back to normal sleeping.
Hello to everyone else and hope you're all going well.
Thanks for the tips So far her skin is okay under the leg cuffs but she's getting red grooves from the bar on the very top of where her leg meets her bum at the back (so not from the cuffs). I feel like this might mean it's already to small for her, I don't see how things will improve during the next 4 wks between appointments as she's only go to keep growing? Sorry for the confusion guys, it's hard to explain in writing.
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I hope you're all well xx
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