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Friday, September 11

Pavlik Harness ~ day 1

It's called Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH), and my baby has it.

Photobucket The first well-baby exam was at 6 days, and the Ped did the Barlow Test. During the test he found that the baby's hips were clicking. He said that his hips were loose and we needed to get an ultrasound to determine how bad it was and if we needed to do anything about it.

Ultrasound was done at 10 days and he had a follow-up with the Ped at 14 days (last Tuesday). He told me that I needed to take the baby to see the Orthopedist to see if he needed to wear the Pavlik Harness.

From what I understand, *Z* has a mild case. There is absolutely NO dislocation at all! He does have some subluxation though. That just means that the hip socket is not shaped like a cup, it's more like a saucer. We'll know more after he has an ultrasound with a Pediatric Radiologist on October 1. Since time is of the essence, the Orthopedist wanted to go ahead and put *Z* in the harness and follow-up after the ultrasound. We'll also know better exactly how long he'll have to wear it after this appointment.

Baby Harness day 1 full

The whole point of the harness is to keep his hips at a 90 degree angle. This will help the socket to form like a cup. Right now baby's hips are more like cartilage than actual bone, so making them form correctly isn't a problem at this age.

Baby Harness hips day 1

I'm allowed to take it off to give him a bath and change his clothes.

4 comments:

  1. Bless his heart. Fortunately it seems like a situation that will work out well. I remember our ped. thought Maya had that problem but an ultrasound at the Children's Hosp. showed her to be okay. I'll be praying that little Z's next appt.goes well and you'll get good news.
    I hope you are recoverying well and getting some rest!
    ~Rhonda

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  2. Thank you! And yes I am so very happy that it's something that is so easily treated and caught this early it has a 100% recovery.

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  3. Oh poor little guy! Atleast he won't remember any of this! We had to take our 6 month old in for surgery once (his circumcision was not done right the first time) and I cried and cried and cried while we were there. It was so traumatic. But I'm so thankful that he was a baby because if he was 4 years old or something...that would have been even worse. And the Childrens workers at the hospitals are always so much nicer than the nurses at ped's offices, in my opinion. They wrapped my sons bear in some scrubs and it was so precious. Everything turned out ok, but I think it is much more trying for the parents. I hope his hips are ok. Praying God heals him! What a little cutie pie.

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  4. My daughter was born on Aug 4 and was diagnosed with possible hip dysplaysia the next day. We had her at an orthopedic doctor and in a harness at 8 days old. She had to wear the harness 24/7 for the first 2 weeks- I could not take it off at all. We went back to the doctor and it seemed to be working so we could remove it twice a week for a few minutes to bathe and change her. After 6 weeks, this past monday, she had another ultrasound done and all is looking good. We are now allowed to take the harness off for 1 hour a day. After 6 weeks they will do an x ray and hopefully she will only need it for nights at that point for another 6 weeks. It was hard getting used to the harness at first, I cried when we left the doctors for the first time. But at least it was cought now and not later- and no sugery was necessary. I hope all works out with your son. If you have any questions I maight be able to help with, feel free to email me giggle5105@aol.com.
    rebecca

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