clicky hip at 8 week check

[ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts]

DS has his jabs and 8 week check on Friday and the Dr said he has a left clicky hip and will need a scan.

Do I need to be worried? What do I need to know? I keep thinking he'll need operations or something :(

Hi coconut. My DD had a clicky hip at birth - picked up by paediatrician during neonatal check. She was referred for an ultrasound. The paediatrician told me not to worry as the majority of clicky hips are ligamentous in origin rather than a bony problem. The ultrasound was totally fine.
Don't know if there is a difference between a clicky hip at 8 weeks and one at birth, but DD was fine.
Hope all is goes ok for you.

my DD1 had a clicky hip. It was only picked up by the ultrasound she was given automatically because she was breech.

She did have problems, she was diagnosed with dysplasia of the hip - she basically didn't have a a hip socket. As it was picked up early (about 8 weeks) she was able to try gentle treatment for it - she was put in a Pavlik's harness. this is a soft harness which keeps the baby's legs in a frog-like position, as the bones are so soft at that age it can enable the socket to develop of it's own accord.

I won't lie, at first it seemed terrifying, horrible and a whole host of other negative adjectives but we all got used to it very quickly; it was a fantastic treatment. She is 4.5 now, you'd never know there had been a problem. Let me know if I can answer any questions.

A friend's baby had this. A few weeks in a harness with regular checks and she's now fine.

I had a very severe form of it that wasn't discovered until I was 18 months old. Because it was discovered so late I did end up having quite a lot of surgery and was in 'frog' plaster from waist to calf for nearly two years. However, at 29 I'm active, cycled 100 miles a week before having DS and had a straightforward delivery with him.

Having been caught early your DS will probably not need surgery but I can honestly say it's not held me back and was far scarier and more traumatic for my parents than it was for me xx

i remember feeling extremely lost and did not know where to turn. Your dd will probably have an ultrasound. Very painless for the babies. Where they will check the angles of a babies hips and the development of the socket and ball joint.
I know it offers no consolation but if there is a problem then it has been caught very soon and hopefully won't involve invasive treatments. I remember i hated people saying that when my dd was in a pavlik harness for ddh. All i could think was what if? She spent 13weeks in a harness and i hated every minute. There was a physical barrier between me and my dd.

We are now facing the worst 5 months later, that her hip has dislocated and is now looking at surgery and a cast for up to 6 months but noone was to know as when a pavlik is successful there is a 1% chance of dislocation and she's in the unlucky few. If you have any questions i am happy to help as i remember what it was/is like only too well

Hi thanks for all your quick replies. I have been trying not to google. They didn't check his hips at birth apparently so I'm a bit annoyed at that now I know there is a potential problem.

He is being referred for a scan that will tell us more, until then I suppose I just have to wait to find out.

I have a friend whose DD had to have 5 operations and a hip spica so as long as I keep telling myself that that is worst case scenario then I guess I'll cope.

If we are prescribed a harness how long are they on for?

It doesn't always mean the harness is needed. dd1 had a clicky hip and spent a few weeks wearing two nappies to hold her hips out in a better position. A second ultrasound showed they had improved and that was it, all done by about 4 months I think. She's had no long lasting issues (she's 13 now).

Hopefully your ds will be fine :)

The length of treatment for a harness varies. DD was in hers for longer than anyone I've ever heard of - got it at 8 weeks, in it full time til 10 months and then a month being weaned off it. She was checked several times and the consultant said that it was working but slowly and he was willing to leave it for as long as there was improvement happening.

It's daunting, I remember the feeling vividly but I suppose you can only think that the (relatively) short term pain is worth it for a lifetime of good and hopefully pain free hips.

Hubbard - I'm sorry to hear about your DD, good luck with the operation.

normally they will only use a harness for 12 weeks if they see no improvement then they look at further steps. Freya was in for 13 weeks then weaned out gradually for 3weeks. If the harness is working then it can be however long it takes for them to be deemed normal.

Thanks again.

Hopefully it won't take long before the scan appointment comes through. I keep being really careful when I'm dressing him and changing his nappy now in case I pull it and make it worse I'm sure I can make no difference to it if something is wrong but subconsciously i'm appearing to be really careful.

Hubbard I really hope they can help Freya non-invasively. Much scarier for us as parents than for them isn't it. (PS Love the name Freya was on our list should DS have been a girl :) )

Hi
We were also told dd had a clicky hip at birth and advised to double nappy her until the ultrasound etc
Neither ultrasound, consultant or gp could find any trace of it, which was a relief and we were told that misdiagnosis is quite common and babies bones and ligaments are very loose anyway. Hope it all goes well for you x

Hello there. My DD was diagnosed with this in both hips (she was breech and apparently it's quite common) and put into a Pavlik's harness at three weeks old. Luckily it worked really quickly and the harness was off after five weeks. She's now an active two year old and you'd never know she'd ever had a problem. It was horrible at the time but tbh I think it was worse for us than for her. At such a young age they really don't know what's normal and what's not and it didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. The worst bit I found was changing nappies and trying to keep her clean as we weren't allowed to take the harness off at all for five weeks and it did get a bit grubby. I was told by the doctor that the harness works in the vast majority of cases (can't remember the exact statistic but it was more than 90%) and no further action is needed. Best of luck with it. If it's picked up early, which it has been, it's very treatable.

if the dr thinks it's urgent i don't think you'll have to wait too long. It really is sooner the better. If there's nothing wrong it's better safe than sorry.
We're still waiting for confirmation on her hip, but the dr and physio both have told me to prepare for more treatment. My urgent appt referral was a couple of weeks ago and i have to wait till mid december for her xray to confirm.

A good place for info is the charity STEPS. They have a lot of advice on lower limb conditions. If you need it there are a couple of support groups on facebook too for children with hip dysplasia.

I know how hard the waiting is especially when it's your child. Everything runs through your head, research what you need too, just beware of horror stories and please don't frighten yourself.

Hi Coconuts - you have my sympathy it's so hard trying to imagine and prepare in your head before you see the specialist isn't it?

The pediatrician spotted Clicky Hip in the hospital before we were discharged and DD was put into a Pavlik Harness at 6 weeks old following a scan that showed her hip socket was too shallow. It was removed 10 weeks later - she had a scan at 8 weeks which confirmed the socket growth was now normal but had to keep it on for a further 2 weeks (we were told this is to reduce the chance of relapse).

DD didn't seem to be affected in the slightest - we were warned that she may be unsettled for a few days both going in and coming out of it, but at 6 weeks she wasn't aware enough to be that conscious of a before or after. She couldn't kick as much and couldn't roll over in it, but she was rolling and pushing herself up within a couple of weeks of taking it off. She sat up really well from about 5 months then shunting backwards around 6. She's been crawling since 7 months and now at 9 months is into everything and loves to pull up to standing.

I must say it did really upset me on the day. I didn't do any research while we were waiting for that first specialist appointment and in hindsight this may have been a mistake. I had no idea what to expect so we went to the hospital with a gorgeous, squidgy, curly up 6 week old baby who 2 hours later was in the stiff harness and it really freaked me out - she was still gorgeous but I felt like I was being deprived of some of that newborn experience.

I did get used to it and it never stopped us bonding but the harness has to stay on all the time, 24-7. I don't know how other hospitals work, but we took her to the clinic once a week for a full bath and to have it re-fitted by the nurse. In between you have to keep it dry and leave it on or it doesn't work. Obviously it's worth that to avoid operations and more treatment later when she's big enough to be aware and get upset. They will monitor her periodically for several years as she grows to be sure nothing relapses, but are very confident about the success rates.

I hope that's useful, I seem to have gone on at some length here.

Hubbard - I will be keeping my fingers crossed for you and Freya. I haven't stopped to think about it much in the last 3 months, but DD's follow up scan is in just 3 weeks and I am starting to be a bit aprehensive.

SOrry - that should have said she was put in it at 6 weeks, the second scan was 8 weeks later, so she was 14 weeks old by then. Had it removed when she was 16 weeks so in it for 10.

hi just an update, ds had his scan thursay and all normal but tanks foe the advice anyway :)