Pavlik's harness. Any tips?

[putputput]

Went this morning to get DD's hips checked as the paediatrician had noticed a 'click' on the newborn checks.

She has DDH on both hips, stage 3 on left and stage 2 on the right. So my beautiful, snuggly 4 week old is now in a Pavlik's harness 24hours a day for at least 12 weeks.

Practically- has anyone got any advice with breastfeeding positions? She's EBF and pretty much only feeds cross cradle. Also anything to watch for? I was going to fashion some little fabric strips to protect her skin from the Velcro.

Emotionally - any tips on how to cope? Her favourite thing was snuggling up in the fetal position having skin to skin. She loved baths and I was ridiculously excited about taking her swimming. She just looks so uncomfortable now. I know it needs to be done and could be so much worse but I just feel devastated for my girl.

My daughter was in a pavlik harness for nearly 6 months. It’s really difficult and upsetting missing out on a lot of the lovely newborn things like baths and snuggles.
However it saved her the horrendous surgery required later if not fixed straight away so I’m definitely grateful.
My daughter is nearly 14 now so I can’t remember any particular tips unfortunately.

My daughter was in one 3 years ago for 3 months. It was 24 hours a day too and exhausting for me but she is now a happy 3 year old with no issues so I'm glad I went through everything I did.

She was breastfed and I actually found no difficulties in carrying on. I had been really worried about it but it was fine.

Does she have a vest under the harness? Changing that was the worst for me. It was so traumatic. Nappies took longer but I did get a bit more used to those too.

Try not to get upset. It's pretty traumatic to start with (although I was expecting it with a massive family history) but it was all good in the end.

Look at some charities online. Steps is a good one, they have good information online.

Message me if you need to.

www.slumbersac.co.uk/hip-pose-hip-dysplasia-clothing-for-children/

Sorry, no advice but your thread reminded me of these I saw the other day. Knowing how useful a sleeping bag is for getting a baby into a cold cot, these might be of some help?

It's a pain in the ass but worth it if it prevents them needing surgery down the line. The only tip I have is that I used to cut tights off at the top of the legs and use them as long socks inside the harness to stop the harness chafing my daughters skin.

Thank you, I've just found steps website. So lovely to hear your positive stories. I know this is far preferable to surgery.
She doesn't have a vest underneath, I just have to keep s close eye on skin integrity.
Physio said we could carry on using slings (have a stretchy wrap one and an ergo baby) but have seen things against that online.
Also do you know if a bouncer is now a no go?

I was encouraged to use a sling. The consultant I saw (at Kings College Hospital) said that as long as it was a good brand that kept the hips in the acceptable position it was actually better than using a pram.

I was told to use a vest underneath to help the skin. They placed the harness with the vest on.

My daughter got pretty smelly towards the end! Nothing can help remove spillage from an explosive nappy appropriately!!

I didn't have a bouncer so I'm not sure about that

This was my daughter when first placed. It was moved to hold her legs higher than that in the end. We had to go back every week for ultrasound assessment and repositioning.

Thank you Kent nurse. Your DD is very cute. Good to know about the sling as she loves it. DD seems to have legs quite a bit higher already, we have 2weekly appointments for adjustments and scans.

Those photos bring back memories!

She's not so cute now as a 3 year old giving me cheek She is amazed when I show her the harness as she obviously has no memory. It's burned into mine though!!

Her legs ended up much higher. This was just the initial position for her.

They can usually tell quite quickly if the harness is working so fingers crossed for you!

Hey op, my daughter had the exact same harness in the 'frog leg' position, not to be removed for baths or swimming etc for 3 months. I recall the acute emotional trauma of seeing her in this medieval looking device and how uncomfortable she looked. She wasn't though. It didn't affect her sleep or play etc and she was walking by 10 months. We are eternally grateful to that clever little harness now.

Some useful tips from our experience; she was ebf & woukdnt accept bottles or dummies so I used to lay her flat on a v pillow and sort of bend myself over her. Killed my back, but kept her legs spread and it's only temporary.
We used gauze strips to pad out the harness where it chafed her.
We did top & tail cleans.
We cut the sides of her vests above her thighs so her legs would fit in them. She wore a lot of dresses. There is a great website (that I have unfortunately forgotten the name of) that does loads of cute designs of baby leg warmers, so they kept her cosy. Bought a size up grobag for night time naps.
Didn't put her in the pram for too long as her legs were a bit squashed.

After it was removed The Drs advised us against using door bouncers and walking aids like those little cars they zoom about in as they could affect her hips.

Honestly though, at the time it was heartbreaking, but now almost 5 years later it is a hazy memory. Try to see it as a great wonder of medicine - or something less wanky sounding - because it really is. It has saved our daughter a lifetime of walking difficulties or painful operations. Just allow yourself time to get over the shock and think yep, it's not perfect or what I imagined having a newborn would be like but this is our way and it's fine.

And a chair bouncer is absolutely fine as long as nothing on the sides pushes her knees/legs inwards.

My son was in one of those for 12 weeks too and like you I was devastated at the time so I feel for you. Just remember she still is your beautiful snuggly girl and there will still be plenty of time for swimming when she’s out of it. It may seem like forever for now and whilst it’s very easy for me to say this now, the time really will pass and you will barely remember it.
Have you checked with them that she can have absolutely no time out of it whatsoever? My son was allowed 20 minutes twice a week to have a bath

Mine wasn't allowed any time but I know others that have been allowed time for baths as Peachy has said. Definitely worth checking!!

Mine wasn’t allowed out for baths. Was 24/7 for 6 months.

Definitely no time out of it for the time being. Maybe it's something we can look forward to in the future.
So good to hear all your stories, it was such an initial shock but I am grateful it was picked up so soon.

Just managed a successful feed doing tummy to tummy with me reclined. She is feeding for an hour plus at a time so was dreading trying to lean over her that long.

You've got this! You'll be fine!!

No advice but I echo all the posters saying great that they picked it up early. My daughter had ddh diagnosed at 3 1/2. She had a major surgery to reconstruct her hip joint and was in hip spica for 8 weeks. I would have hated the pavlik but I so wish it had been picked up at birth when something could have been corrected. Good luck with it.

Thank you babaroll. How horrible for your DD, is she ok now?
We had an awful 24 hours where DD was just beside herself but she is far calmer today so I think we are definitely over the worst.
The only thing I'm still struggling with is feeding positions. The only one that seems to work is tummy to tummy and me reclined but she finds this quite hard work and I won't be able to do it out in public easily. I've contacted STEPS to see if they have any advice. Rugby hold doesn't work with her latching properly.

My youngest had a harness just like that for 12 weeks. It was really upsetting initially as I'd expected the scan to be clear just like her sister so it was a shock when we suddenly had to have a harness. I think I worried about her having to turn her head a bit to feed but we managed. Can you feed with her legs around your body? Though it might need you twisting a bit? I do recall I carried mine upright quite a lot as she got good head control early and it seemed a comfortable way to carry her. I did give up using washable nappies - it just seemed too much as they need changing more frequently. I was advised (on here) to use sleepsuits a size or two bigger and my lovely friend made some triangles of fabric with poppers on to cover the gap where we couldn't do up the sleepsuit poppers. Long socks were also good.
Four years on she's running, climbing, etc and I'm glad we got it sorted out before she was on the move.

She's great now. In fact I'm waiting outside her gymnastics class right now. Thanks to an amazing surgeon!

Should have said we still have annual X-rays and checks until she stops growing and due to the late diagnosis she'll likely develop arthritis in the joint early and need a hip replacement at some point but for the moment she's doing well.

Can you try using a cushion to prop her up in rugby ball. I tandem fed twins using a double feeding cushion and one under each arm. The cushion would prop her up enough to latch on properly.