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Children's health

DD2 in Pavlik harness - how to cope?

4 replies

Swaliswan · 29/05/2009 07:10

Yesterday DD2 (5 weeks) was put into a Pavlik harness. Does anyone have any experience of this and can give me their top tips on coping?

TIA

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Pinkjenny · 29/05/2009 09:27

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.

  1. 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.


  1. 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.


  1. If any of the straps start to rub, put little cotton wool pads down the side of the strap to avoid the friction.


  1. 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.
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Swaliswan · 29/05/2009 22:27

Thanks PinkJenny that was really helpful. I would really like to know how it will affect DD's gross motor skill development. I guess that rolling over and crawling are going to be very delayed. Oh, and do you have any tips for changing her when she does such a horrendous poo that we get nappy failure? I'm dreading covering the harness in poo!

I'm off to bed now as it has been a long day and I'm emotionally exhausted. We've had lots of people popping in to see how we are (and I think to have a look at DD in the harness ).

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KatyMac · 29/05/2009 22:29

I had to safety pin my DD's straps as she kept straightening her legs

I bathed her every night - even thou' I was specifically told not to

I put it on the other way - chest straps, then feet into prefixed straps

She had hers from 6 to 14 months (I think)

She is now a competitive dancer and has done gymnastics/loads of sport etc

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Pinkjenny · 30/05/2009 12:18

Hi there - I guess it depends on how long your dd needs to wear it for, but my dd was not delayed at all, she hit each milestone with her peers, no problems at all. I suppose walking is the big one, and she walked at 14mo, with no concerns.

WRT to the poo situation, not a lot you can do really, as my dd's harness was only off for half an hour a day, so I couldn't wash it. I just used to sponge it, and hers was also very grubby and did have some poo stains on it. She was fitted for a new one each time we went though, so the longest she was in a less than pristine one was only 4 weeks. It's not like anyone can see it!

We have kept her very first one, and when I look at it, I wonder how I could have been so upset over a bit of canvas and velcro!

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