Hip Dysplaysia Support Group

[nicoli]

Hi all

Just wanted to let you know that baby Xavier Marcus arrived safely on 4 August weighing 3.42kg and 51cm long. Scarlett is adjusting to having a little brother and everyone is happy and healthy.

No sign of hip problems on first inspection but we will have a scan at 6 weeks to make sure.

Hope everyone is well.

Nicole

[Jaffaz]

Hi All

Just wondering if anyone has had a toddler (2.5yo) in a hip spica or brace? My son was diagnosed at 5 months, then had open surgery at 6month followed by 6weeks in a hip spica and 6 months in a brace. He has been brace free for almost 18 months now and is a very active little boy. However we have know from the day of his first surgery that he does have "quite a funny left hip" in the surgeons words. We are due to go in for an xray the first week of September and have been given a 60% chance he will require further surgery, followed by time in the spica and cast. We have done it before but he was much smaller then and easier to entertain, so I am very concerned about the possibility of him being so restricted.

I really want to be prepared so that if he does need to go for round 2 then we have a plan and some idea of how to manage it and keep him happy. I pray that the xray turns out to be ok. Any advice/info would be much appreciated, I think I just need to hear that it can be done.

Many Thanks
Elisa

[Alexia'sMum]

Hi everyone... i'm so glad i found this site!!

I've got a beautiful little 11 week old, Alexia, who was born via ceasar due to being breech... she had clicky hips and was booked in to see the hip dyslasia ppl just before she was 7 weeks.

She went straight into the harness after her ultrasound and after 4 weeks there was no improvement so they fitted her for the hip abduction brace which went on friday afternoon

she was so distressed to be in it, crying much more than normal and much more than i expected after the couple of days it took to get used to the harness

by saturday i saw that she had sores developing on both her legs and was still crying and whimpering so i ranf the nurse to say i was going to take it off as it was rediculous to put her through this... i took it off and she stopped crying immediately... and i could see that her legs were almost cut and very weepy like squished blisters.... she seemed fine though with panadol and bepanthan on them but i was worried they were infected and panicked about the bloody brace going back on

took her to dr on sunday and yes they were infected so is on antibiotics - he suggested not putting it back on until the sores have healed

saw the hip nurse and orthotist today and they want it back on asap... the nurse tried to say it wasn't that bad and happens to about 1 in 10 babies who go into the brace, but the orthotist came in and was like 'ooh that's the worst i've seen, very unusual to be on both legs' and they took pics to show the surgeon and made an app for thursday morning for us to go back.... they said they're going to adjust the brace and get stockings to minimise the rubbing but i'm worried that the rubbing on a wound will make it worse and want it healed properly before going back monday or so to start the process again...

has anyone else had this problem??

has anyone else dealt with these pressure sores? please tell me there's no sores the whole 3-6 months the brace is on!

and for those who've used the brace, did u end up having surgery or did the brace actually fix it? i'm concerned that since the harness did nothing we're heading for surgery and the dr's are just wasting time on this, aaagh it's all so confusing

sorry for my novel but thanks in advance for any replies!

[z-lu]

Hi everyone
Hopefully I'm posting to the correct spot this time! Thanks to everyone who replied to my previous message.

My baby girl Zara is 17.5 months; she has been in a hip spica since 8/7/09. Her clicky hip was never picked up until she started walking (with a limp). With a bit of luck she will be going into a dennis browne brace on 11/9/09 - if the surgeons don't think her socket has developed enough she will be back in a hip spica for another 8-12 weeks.

Zara has been mobile since day 5 of the spica - she drags herself around all over the house. She can now lift her entire body off the ground; she can also swing her legs in the air (one at a time) - which can be frightening to watch! Since she's been in the spica food has been a real issue - all she really wants is milk.

There has been a lot of emotional ups and downs but we have all accepted what has happened now.

If anybody has any size 1 or 2 pants for sale (new or second hand) please let me know - I would love to hear from you. Also, if you have any good seating tips for older spica babies please let me know - the car seat is our most major issue.

Good luck to everyone!

[wysiwyg]

Hi, my little girl has been in a Denis Browne brace for five weeks and on Monday we got the great news that her left hip has gone from severe to mild/moderate so we are now allowed to take it off for baths. We rushed straight home to have a bath, 5 weeks of sponge baths which she screamed through was enough for me, and after the initial shock of going in the water again she loved it.

Alexia's mum - Sounds awful the sores on your daughters legs, a hip abduction brace sounds very similar to the Denis Browne brace my daughter is wearing (two cuffs round the legs and a bar across the back). She went straight into that at 7 weeks instead of the Pavlik because she was a pretty big baby and the opinion was is easier than the harness - and there was a significant improvement (see above) over the first five weeks - so perhaps a different type of brace will work better in correcting the hips for your daughter. We have had no problems with sores at all, was she wearing any stockings or covers under/over the brace initially? We always had little socks under the brace and then folded round it so the brace is never in contact with her skin directly. The hospital gave us one set of some stretchy stuff and the orthotist just said to cut up some old socks to use and change them daily. My old socks seemed to have lost all elasticity so I went to target and bought some cheap knee high socks and chopped them up - so she now has cool stripy looking cuffs!

So not sure if that helps, as we have had no experience with sores but thought the info might be useful.