Hip dysplasia pavlik harness

[Ruth0505]

My first born baby girl is 8 weeks old today and yesterday had a routine hip scan as she was born breech at 37 weeks. I had an amazing pregnancy and she has been such a settled baby; we absolutely adore her and feel so lucky that she has been such a good baby for us as first time parents! Anyway, at yesterday's scan, we were advised that she has a shallow socket on her right hip and required a pavlik harness. Luckily, the consultant happened to have a clinic in the afternoon and so an hour later she was fitted with her harness and we were off home with some leaflets. It was such a whirlwind and we were so taken aback by the news; I hadn't expected anything to be wrong and now I feel so sad and guilty seeing her in her little harness. She seems quite content but I still feel awful for her. I wonder if anyone has had any experience of the pavlik harness and if so, any advice about resuming a normal routine? I don't want her to miss out on tummy time etc but don't want her to be uncomfortable either! Any advice would be appreciated. They think she will wear it for a few months and success rates are apparently quite high.

My DD didn't have a pavlik harness, she was in plaster for nine months or so.

She wasn't diagnosed until twelve months old so our tale is a bit different, but I wanted to let you know that whilst is a horrible thing to learn and you're understandably upset, your DD will come through fine. Mine has just finished uni, is a keen swimmer, walker, does Aikido, and is amusing herself trying to do c25k.

My DD was in a pavlik harness from 3 weeks for 13 weeks to correct both hips. She crawled at 7 months, walked at 11 and is now a speedy 2.5 yr old. I didn’t bother much with tummy time and she still rolled over a week after the harness was off. So please don’t worry that she’ll be “behind”!

Top tips

• if your baby is prone to nappy blowouts by some soft tape to wrap the back of the harness to keep it clean (carnation have a pink roll that you can buy on amazon)

• also knee length socks will protect the leg straps (it was summer so I didn’t buy trousers)
• m&s now sell Pavlik clothes
• be extra careful to wash backs of knees and thigh creases, they get cheesy really quick!
• expect odd questions from people wondering about the harness!
• enjoy your baby as usual! You can still do almost everything (except swimming!)

And major bonus is that you can leave baby on any surface and they can’t roll off! I was the only one of my friends who never had a trip to a&e for this reason!

Happy to answer any questions you have 😊

My daughter was in one of these for about 3 months, I was nervous it would be much more as I was in one for 8 months as a baby but her issue was described very similarly to yours and was solved in no time. Similar to PP, she has since gone on to hit all of the crawling/standing/walking milestones sooner than average and is incredibly strong and steady. I wouldn't worry about that. We used to joke that she was so glad of the freedom to move that once we got it off she wouldn't stop.

She started off in it all the time for six weeks, which was the hardest part, and then it was gradually reduced so she had 1 hour out of it a day, then 4, and then she was just in it overnight. There's time for some tummy time once the hours start to be reduced, but in all honesty we didn't do all that much tummy time and she never liked it.

In terms of clothes, she wore one at a similar time of year to yours, and we basically put her in a vest under the harness, and a babygrow over the top buttoned up as far as possible. She looked a bit silly but it pretty much covered her up besides a little bit of skin on either thigh. It was always such a pleasure when we took it off and I could actually do up all the poppers!

Basically, it's not as scary as it sounds, and it'll be over sooner than you think. Then you have to get used to not leaving her everywhere because she can suddenly roll over and get into so much more mischief!

My dd had very shallow hip sockets, but luckily she was a breech baby so was automatically given an ultrasound scan and it was picked up early.

She was quite a bad case and ended up being in a pavlik harness or in plaster until she was 11 months old. Some things are tricky as a parent eg keeping the nappy area clean (more with the plaster than the harness) and finding a suitable pushchair as her legs were in such a wide position.

BUT it didn't affect her at all. I've got a lots of lovely smiley pictures of her when she was a baby. And it was great that at an age when other babies were very wriggly and accident-prone, I could sit her on the settee with a few toys and pop into another room knowing that she was perfectly safe.

She never had tummy time, but she's 17 now and by the time they get to that age you can't tell who had tummy time as a baby and who didn't!

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to reply; I feel so much better and reassured hearing about your experiences!

We are one week on now and have an appointment today to check the fit of the harness. DD has barely even noticed she has it on!! If anything, she has slept a bit better in that position; I think it might be the position she was comfiest in anyway as that's how she held her legs breech in the womb!

And it's so true about being reassured that she feels nice and sturdy to hold and she won't be rolling anywhere lol! we have gone out and bought her long sleeved bodysuits to sleep in and all of her larger size gifts she got actually fit her now over the harness!

Thank you again!  it's great to know that we're not alone!