Hi Amie

My daughter Scarlett was in a pavlik harness from 3.5 months for about 2 months before going into her current brace. The first night wearing her harness was a nightmare. We were expecting it to be bad, but shortly after having the harness fitted int he hospital she fell asleep in her pram and we though maybe she would just accept it without any fuss. That was until we got home. The first night she screamed constantly. Like you were saying she was exhausted and would wear herslef out from crying so much. She would close her eyes for about a minute and then when her natural impulse to move her legs kicked in she would wake up screaming. My husband and I wanted to take it off because we felt like we were torturing her. We couldn't get her to sleep no matter what we did. We even called Tresillian becasue we wanted to get someone else's OK to take it off, but they said not to so we persevered. We took shifts in the loungeroom with Scarlett in her pram with a folded quilt undernieth her. We thought the soft quilt might help her feel more comfortable. We had to contantly rock the pram or she would keep screaming. She ended up falling asleep at about 2:30 in the morning and slept for a few hour. It was a terrible night. After that she slept in the pram in her room for the next few nights so she could get used to the brace and then I gradually moved her to her cot with the quilt under her in there. I know it is against sids rules, but it was the only way she would sleep. It is hard on the parents seeing their babies like that - especially one as young as yours - but after a few days they do get back to their old selves.

As far as clothing, we were lucky that Scarlett was in her harness during summer. We were told we could only undo the chest strap to sponge bath Scarlett and with great difficultly we managed to thread a jumpsuit under the harness without removing it. We had strict instructions not to remove or adjust the shoulder or leg straps so I think putting pants on underneith would be out of the question. I have read that other people bought realy oversized elasticised waist pants to put on over the harness. I had some leg warmers and big socks that fit over her feet to keep her toes warm. I was also told the same thing about wrapping, but I did it anyway as she was already so used to it. I just wrapped her top half and left the wrap open at the bottom.

We all know how you are feeling and since you took the harness off a second opinion can't hurt, but be prepared that she might have to be in the harness to fix the problem. The short time you will both have to endure it will be worth it in the long run. You are also lucky it was detected so early as the eralier it is treated the better the results. My daughter was diagnosed quite late and is still in a (different) brace at night at 18 months old. In the early days I was counting down the days to when I thought we would be free of the harness and I used to cry alot, but it just becomes a normal part of life after a while. Soon enough you will look back and be amazed at how quickly it goes.

Sorry for such a long post...

Nicole