My 1 yr old god daughter has to be in plaster for 10 weeks. Any tips?

johnswife

My god daughter (my neice's daughter), has just been diagnosed with a dislocated hip (bone not formed properly.
They had checked her hips 3 times but didn't pick it up.

So a day after her 1st birthday she has to go into hospital and be put in traction for 3 days, then they will try and manipulate her hip into place, have plaster around her hips and legs with a bar.
This will stay for 10 weeks, then removed, checked again and replastered for another 10 weeks.

Has anyone had any experience of this?

My sister, her nan, is trying to get anything that will make life easier for her. My neice has 2 other children and was due back to work after maternity leave.

She lives down in Southampton and we all live up in Gloucestershire so can't just pop around and help on a daily basis.

sp1987

At least the sweet little thing is only 1 so shouldn't be as stressed as she may be a bit older.

Would she want some sort of domestic help or similar? Depends what type of person she is I suppose on whether a cleaner for a couple of hours a week may help or hinder. I wouldn't want someone in my house shuffling around but I'm sure many would! Maybe offering to watch the sick child for a weekend (only the days) so mum can take the other two out for the day, come home and then have one day to herself to go out and just have some time to herself, no kids? The other two children will probably be feeling a bit left out after the little one has been cared for by mum for so long. Mum will need a break too and probably won't want to leave the baby unless it is set up and she knows the baby will be well looked after for a day.

If I was you I'd make a freezer full of meals for her to freeze as she won't have a lot of time to make much for herself with a sick child and two others. That's the sort of small thing that could make life a lot easier.

mandi

Its a shame this wasn't picked up earlier Johnswife , but a blessing that it now has .

Dislocating hips can cause an array of problems , well into adulthood .

Your God daughter will have a " frog plaster" applied

http://www.zadeh.co.uk/paediatricorthopaedics/paediatricorthopaedics.htm


I'm really not sure about what help will be available , but from experience I know your god daughter will cope very well .:)

johnswife

Thanks, my neice is staying in hospital with her,and her husband obviously will be at home when he is not working. Luckily her mother in law lives nearby and is a great help. I think she will be sleeping overnight at the house when she is needed.
When the baby is out of hospital my sister is taking some unpaid leave and going down to stay for a while.
They were thinking that a bean bag might be useful for her.

johnswife

ahh, Mandi, I clicked on your link and it's made me cry. The poor little thing, I don't like that traction pulley thing. My neice is going to be so upset.

sp1987

Bless her, well both of them really being stuck in hospital. I hope it all goes smoothly for them!

On a lighter note, mandi your link was very helpful. My partner has subluxing hips (amongst a lot of other joints) and I've been looking for a diagram for ages to illustrate what happens and your link had a little blue diagram. Regardless of it being a paediatrics image that was exactly what I was looking for.

GillM

Hi

I've no personal experience of this, but it sounds like what happened to my friend's daughter when she was 18 months old. Her legs were in a splint and ended up being at almost 180 degrees and my friend had to use a borrowed twin buggy to transport her, but also had to carry her a lot. Couldn't get her into a lift in car parks or shops and tried to get a temporary Blue Badge but wasn't allowed. Unfortunately my friend doesn't use the computer much so I can't ask her to come on here and talk about it, but I do remember at the time there was another family had the same problem soon after her and she helped support them over the phone. The daughter is now 20 and for several years now has been swimming and playing badminton to competition standards so it hasn't been a long term problem. Hope this helps

johnswife

Thanks GillM, that's useful to know, I will mention about the double buggy.

mandi

johnswife wrote: »

ahh, Mandi, I clicked on your link and it's made me cry. The poor little thing, I don't like that traction pulley thing. My neice is going to be so upset.

I'm sorry .

I didn't mean to upset you Johnswife , but trust me that your god daughter will take this in her stride as babies do .

The pulleys are for newborns so your god daughter will not be in one :A

Thanks you also SP I'm glad the link helped

johnswife

It's ok, just me being soft lol. Babies are quite resiliant, i am sure she will be ok.

mandi

johnswife wrote: »

It's ok, just me being soft lol. Babies are quite resiliant, i am sure she will be ok.

She will be fine . I worked in pediatrics for a while , babies cope amazingly well .