I put in a claim for my child (8 months) who has clubfoot. The treatment involves wearing orthopaedic shoes which are fixed together with a metal bar, to hold the feet apart at shoulder width, for 23 hours a day. She has a lot of sleep disruptions because of it. I made a very detailed claim, did the diary of a day at the back, explaining all the extra needs she has above a non-clubfoot baby, included the medical report from her consultant.
She wakes repeatedly at night, because the boots and bar bang when she moves her legs and wake her up, or because she's got stuck in an uncomfortable position. The claim was rejected and the reason they gave was because the care at night needs to be to prevent her causing damage to herself or others, or for personal care needs.
Surely, a child who wakes because they have rolled into a position they can't get out of is potentially causing damage to themselves? Sometimes her knees and hips are twisted around into painful looking positions. I don't know how to make it clearer to them. The initial claim paperwork I was sent just said that night time care needed to be for a certain amount of time and/or a certain number of times. And regardless of why she wakes, the fact of the matter is she wakes significantly more than another child her age. Sometimes it's an additional 6 times a night on top of milk wakings and nappy wakings. We recently had a spell of her not wearing her boots and bar because of blistering (docs recommendation) and her sleeping was so much better.
It really frustrates me, my child has her feet tied together by a metal bar all day long, how is this not classed as disabled!? I know all 8 month olds need a lot of care, but the wakings are so much more with the boots and bar.
It just seems unfair that it is only if she wakes for damage to herself or personal care that they'll consider it, not for any other reason of waking up related to her condition.
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9 replies
VioletPenguin · 12/07/2015 22:24
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