First Ultrasound and Restarting Treatment

During the two weeks that baby girl was out of the harness, we did have her first ultrasound appointment on her hips. It was a non-stress ultrasound to measure both hips.

With the ultrasound, they are looking primarily for two things. First, they are looking at the alpha angle. Around the newborn - two months age, an alpha angle of 60 and above is considered good. Second, they look at the percentage of coverage of the femoral head. Coverage over 50% is needed.

Her right hip was great with zero issues of hip dysplasia. Her left hip showed that is was within the socket (i.e., not dislocated), measured between 55-60 for the alpha angle, and was about 40% coverage. After the crazy start to treatment and only being in the harness for two weeks, I was ecstatic to hear these numbers. Her dysplasia was not as extreme as I feared (i.e., her hip had stayed in place despite the harness being removed).

Through community support groups, I have learned that some doctors order an ultrasound to begin with to find out the base measurements. I have no idea what her hips measured at before the initial two weeks in the harness.

About a week later, we were back in the ortho's office. I also brought my husband this time for back up and to hear all of the info. We restarted the pavlik harness treatment, with some modifications. First, baby girl could now wear it over her clothes and could come out of it briefly for baths and to change clothes. A big part of this was that her hip was remaining in the socket. Second, he did not tighten it as much, which means the angle her hips are held at is not as severe. Luckily, the FNP did not return and she has been FNP free since then.

The ability to put clothes under the harness and to give her baths has made it a lot easier. Each time we made a change (out of the harness and then back in), it only took 1-2 nights for her to get back to normal.

After this appointment, we had fit checks every 2-3 weeks and scheduled another ultrasound for around the 4 month mark.