4 month old has been diagnosed with DDH

[KCSunhine]

I was hoping to find other parents who may have experience of DDH. My 4 month old daughter has just been having tests on her kidneys for reflux when they noticed she also has DDH (developmental dysplasia of the hip). They said it’s measuring 54 but I was so shocked I didn’t ask any questions. Is that mild or severe? Does that require surgery? Have they found it too late? Does anyone have experience of this and what treatment did you child have and how old where they when diagnosed?
Xx

Is there anyone who has this experience? Would really appreciate hearing from others who have experience with DDH, I’m worried sick x

Both my children had this, the earlier it’s diagnosed the better (4mths is nice and early). From my experience, your child will be offered several scans over their early years and be under Orthopaedics for regular X-rays to help form the treatment plan. Treatments range from monitoring (when the child starts to walk this can naturally push the ball properly into the socket), to Pavlik Harness, to operations with a cast afterwards. From my experience, although it is scary at first for the parents in particular, the doctors treat this very confidently as an almost routine fix. It is much more serious if the child is diagnosed at puberty, for example. Both my children had treatment and are now 7 and 4 with absolutely no long term ill effects. The more severely affected child hit their developmental milestones (rolling, crawling, skipping, jumping) later than usually expected, but you wouldn’t know the difference now at all. Best of luck, and I’m sorry this is something you and your child are going through, but from my experience your daughter will be well supported.

Hello - I'm sorry to read this: it that must be so worrying for you. I believe that Millie Macintosh's daughter suffered from this too. Her situation was well documented on her Instagram page - milliemacintosh - her daughter wore a fixed brace in her initial months for a period of time and I believe it corrected itself. She is now just over a year old and beginning to walk.

www.stepsworldwide.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Baby-Hip-Health-website.pdf

DD had this, diagnosed at birth; she had a Pavlik harness for about 4 months, then scans each year for 5 years, with no ill effects at all.

She wasn't bothered by the harness at all; in fact she became the "poster child" (literally) for it at our hospital for a while, to show worried parents a picture of how it didn't hurt the baby to have it on.

4 months is super young, and should be treatable with a harness - if the issue was really significant, it would have been picked up the newborn check (and you would probably have noticed too, you could see one of DD's hips really wasn't right - she essentially had no socket!)

Thank you ladies for responding. After a horrid 24hrs she is now in her brace. Feel sad but relieved we are on the journey to making her hip healthy. Your messages and recommendations are so so so appreciated. Thanks again xxx

Oh good, sounds like they have moved quickly to get it sorted. It can be a bit of a pain to keep clean, needed lots of wipes! But they are used to seeing them all grubby ;-)

DD is a happy mid teen now and never had any issues after the harness came off, so fingers crossed your DD will be the same.

Marks and Spencer do some pavlik harness adapted clothing OP.
The harnesses are great and your dd will end up with beautiful hips x