To want details of baby's appointment for clicky hips

[leftangle]

Paediatrician in hospital refered dd for scan for clicky hips but didn't give me any details - I should have asked but was more concerened about babys jaundice and assumed there would be details with the appointment letter. However I've now got the letter and it is very general and only really gives date and time (and tells me to dress her in sports wear - at 3 weeks old). So I ring the hospital to ask basically what they are looking for and what the treatment options will be if they find it - or, ideally for a leaflet - but they are unable to tell me anything and suggest I go to my GP.
Surely I should be given a bit more info in advance without having to make a special appointment with someone who has had nothing to do with it.

this might help I would ask all the questions you are asking at the appointment but better to go with a bit of background knowledge. Agree the Dr should have discussed what he found and the reasons for referral.

You've probably been referred to the Paediatric Orthopaedics department, so the paed you saw in the hospital won't have as much knowledge as them and will want you to get the real picture from the specialists. Both my dds have seen the Orthopods, dd1 for talipes (club feet) and dd2 for Perthes Disease, a hip problem.

They probably want your dd in "sportswear" as it is easy to take off for x-rays or scans and doesn't have metal in - a babygro poppers would be awkward, and it will also be a generic "your child is having a scan" letter, not noticing she is 3 weeks old as it will be generated by the computer.

Your GP may well be able to fill you in on the info. You might also find Steps a useful source of information.

Hope all is well with your dd.

leftangle, try not to worry too much.

Out of my sntenatal group of 6, 3 of us were referred for clicky hips. None of the babies had anything wrong by the time they were checked.

Have you got a decent hv who can give your some more info before the appointment?

Thanks for the links, that did help. I'm not really that worried about it, just irritated that they don't provide a bit more information with the appointment letter instead of leaving me to find out by myself -or with mn help of course.

Hospitals - especially big ones - are like this. When dd2 had her first x-ray of her hips (in casualty - she had fallen and was limping so dh took her and I am sure they only x-rayed her as dh is a doc and insisted!) they just said "Oh it looks like Perthes, don't let her jump and we'll see you in 6 weeks"

They expect you to get the help from hvs, GPs etc ...

Referrals for clicky hips is extremely common: someone told me about 1 in 3 babies gets referred. In the majority of cases, there is nothing wrong, it's just that they check up on everybody with clicky hips because of the tiny minority who might actually have a problem. They never told me what it was about either.

Hopefully everything is fine. At my eldest's 8-month check, they wrote in her red book 'Both hips click, left more than right.' I was very upset, but felt better when she began walking just 2 months later! A month after that, finally at the hospital appointment, we had to answer questions like 'Is she pulling herself up?' 'Does she crawl well?' with her literally running round the room.

X-ray showed there was nothing wrong with her hips and never had been.

All the info you need will be provided at the appointment, if anything I think I was given too much info that wasnt needed

At my DS's appt we first went for a talk with a nurse who went through history etc and showed me a picture of the Pavlik harness, etc. This is the info I thought wasnt necessary UNTIL it was decided he actually needed one

Then he had the scan where they measured the angle of his hips. Only problem in our case was DS was born 5 weeks early and this hadnt been factored in so we had to return on another date