Hi Swaliswan
My dd was put into a pavlik harness when she was 2 weeks old, this is our story...
Dd was breech from very early on, and when she was delivered, her legs were completely splayed apart, dh even joked that she had one foot touching each wall! The following day at her paed check, they diagnosed cdh, both of her hips were completely dislocatable, and could be pulled out of their sockets. I was distraught, and caused such a scene that I was discharged early . We were advised to put her in double nappies and wait for the appointment to come through.
Anyhoo, I pestered Alder Hey for an appointment when I got home, and she was first seen at 2 weeks old. When we went to Alder Hey, her hips had stabilised, i.e. they were not coming out of the sockets any more, but the sockets were still too shallow on the ultrasound, so she went into the Pavlik. Cue one very traumatised mother!
We went back for check ups every four weeks, and the depth of her hip sockets improved at every appointment. The harness was finally removed at 15 weeks. We went back to Alder Hey after four weeks to check her hips were still OK, and we will need to go back annually now for check ups until she is 5 years old. She is 2 now, and we are about to have another check up. Last year's check up was fine, and she is a normal, active, happy child, who has hit every milestone with her peers. You would never be able to tell there had been a problem.
OK, my tips with the harness, which I promise you you will become a dab hand at. I used to cry every time I put it on her in the first few weeks, but I got very used to it, and it never bothered her at all.
- I am going to try and explain how I used to put it on. I used to lie the harness down on the changing mat, and put dd on top of it. Firstly, I used to put her legs in the straps, the ones that went around her feet (obviously once I'd put socks on her). Then bring the straps over her head and do up the velcro around her back. Once that was done, I would strap up her legs, i.e. pull the straps tight to their desired position. Our nurse made pen marks on the straps to indicate how tight they needed to be.
- I used to bath her every night, just to let her get her half an hour with it off. I'm not sure how long your dd needs to wear hers in a 24 hour period though.
- If any of the straps start to rub, put little cotton wool pads down the side of the strap to avoid the friction.
- Dd wore loads of dresses and babygrows that did up around her legs, not straight down.
I hope this helps. I will keep checking this thread if you have any specific questions, and I'll be around all day. Some people find the Steps forum very helpful, I find it makes me hysterical.