Does anyone have any experience with Pavlik Harness?

[Pinkjenny]

DD wore her harness for 13 weeks, up until she was 15 weeks old. Her hips were successfully treated and we go back for her annual check up in June. She is now nearly one and seems to be developing normally. Her GP hip check at 8 months went fine.

We have to go back every year until she is 5, to ensure her hips are developing normally, and I was told that less than 1% of babies will need further treatment.

I suppose that this will always be a source of anxiety for me, but has anyone else got any experiences for me to share?

Bump!

Bumping once more and then admitting defeat!

DD didn't need the harness but she was borderline at her hip check cos she was breech. They keep checking them and they got better every time.

She has to go to hosp in a few weeks to check (she'll be 2 then) and we are hoping to be discharged!

My nephew had a Pavlik Harness as his hip sockets had not formed....all I can tell you is that he is now 13 and in all the school sports teams, and has never had the slightest hint that anything had ever been anything differnt at birth.

Honestly - there was no lasting effect whatsoever. Crawled and walked at the same time as his friends, a very fit and active boy.

Thanks for the advice ladies. She seems to be weightbearing and pulling up normally, also standing briefly on her own, so am hopipng they are normal now. It'll always be a worry though, until we are discharged!

My dd needed a harness, her hip sockets and joints where not formed at all, it was very severe. She wore the harness from birth till 4 months, the consultant was so pleased with the complete progress that he said no further checks will be needed, and she was discharged at 4 months.

Loopy - we've never seen a consultant - just orthapedic nurses at Alder Hey, whose policy apparently is to check on them until they are five. I hope this doesn't mean it won't be OK.

I'm having nightmares about casts and splints and operations.

Dont worry jenny, most of the time kids only end up having operations because the problem has been missed at birth and not recognised untill baby starts to toddle, by which time a harness would do no good and thats where the operation comes in. I would say that if the hospital are happy with her progress and they have give her the ok to out of the harness then she will be fine. Maybe it is the policy to check on them till they are 5, every hospital is different i suppsoe.

I hope so loopy - the day she came out of that harness was one of the best of my life - bet you can relate to that.

Strapping her up after her bath every night for 13 weeks was dreadful. Although she was a great sleeper while she wore it .

Hi PJ - DD3 needed to wear a Pavlik harness due to mild dysplasia in her left hip. We were lucky in that she only needed to wear it for five weeks (when she was 9-14 wks old) and, like your DD, she will be checked regularly until she is about five.

My dd's were given early ultrasounds because I have mild hip dysplasia that was not picked up until I was 5 yo. Though there have been periods of extreme discomfort - usually during growth spurts or after extreme physical exertion, such as hill walking - I have never required an op, only bed rest and anti-inflammatory tablets, such as ibuprofen. At school I was really sporty, doing netball, athletics and swimming and now very rarely have any problems. So from someone who was not treated, I am sure that both of our dd's are highly unlikely to have any further problems and will be running rings round us for years to come .

Wishing you and dd all the very best.

Thanks Willy - that made me fill up! Have you had a check up with dd yet?

We had a check up at 6mo & everything was great, in fact I think it had improved even more which I didn't realise would happen out of the harness. The next one is in July when she is 1yo.

Fwiw, I never liked hill walking anyway and I can put my legs behind my head, so it's not all bad!

Ha ha - our check is on 15th June, I'll let you know how it goes. She hasn't been checked since a month after it came off. Because all the other checks have been ultrasounds, this one will be an x-ray - not sure how that works.

Our last one was an x-ray too. Good luck, I'll be interested to know how it works out for you.

my dd was in a ph from about a month old until she was 3 months old when they decided the ph wasn't doing the job correctly so they took it off and allowed us 6 weeks for her to gain weight to be strong enough to have the operation, so at only 4.5 months old dd had a successful closed reduction of her dislocated hip and was then in plaster from under her arms to the tips of her toes until the week before she was 1 year old(the consultant promised me he would remove it for this day(and we chose to celebrate her birthday with her christening too)

move on 7.5 years and she is a happy little girl that goes for an annual check up and had no further hip problems

That's an ace story, chatee

So is it only likely that the op is needed when the harness doesn't work? I'm panicing now.

It's extremely unlikely that an op would be needed when the harness has worked. The check ups really are just precautionary. Please don't worry yourself.