Baby J. in her Superhero Costume

Whenever I've told anyone about Baby J.'s hip dysplasia as a newborn, I'm usually met with one of two responses, either, "What the heck is hip dysplasia?" or "Oh, I had that as a kid." I was actually surprised to learn it was more common than I thought. For those who don't know, the easiest way to explain it is that the femur (the thigh bone) doesn't quite fit right into the hip joint, either because the hip joint is too large (and hasn't finished closing around the femur), or the hip joint and the femur just aren't really lining up.

Examples of Hip Dysplasia

Baby J. had the problem that her hip joint was too large and not finished growing correctly around the femur (pretty much what you see in example C on the left). As a result, she had to wear a Pavlik harness, which is this ugly thing that wraps around her shoulders, hips and feet in order to keep the legs positioned in such a way that the hip can form correctly around the femur. To make ourselves feel better about the awful contraption she was forced to wear, we often referred to it as her "superhero costume". She was lucky though, some cases of hip dysplasia are so severe that the child has to be in traction for a period of time (I could only imagine how well that would have went with a baby that constantly wants to move).

After only about a month of wearing the harness, Baby J. was able to have it off for short periods of time, and then after a few more visits to her hip doctor, she was able to lose the harness at all. I won't go into much detail, but we had a lot of issues with our hip doctor; he kept trying to bilk us out of more money, even after Baby J.'s hips were completely healed. Despite three separate ultrasounds that all showed her hips were perfectly fine, despite nurses and her own pediatrician saying the hips were fine, and despite the hip doctor himself admitting that her hips were now perfectly normal, he kept trying to us to return for more and more visits. We eventually put our foot down and said enough was enough. It was a waste of money, and clearly the hip doctor was trying to keep a steady $300 paycheck from our health care provider for the five minute sessions he had wherein he simply said, "Hips look fine. Come back in three months." I know I'm ranting and completely getting off target here, but some doctors really infuriate me.

So, anyway, back to topic, I'm curious if any readers have any kids with hip dysplasia, and if so, how severe is it? My wife had it as a baby, and her case was far worse than Baby J.'s; she was forced to wear a Pavlik harness for about a year. And if you can't already imagine, those harnesses are extremely uncomfortable, hard to put on, harder yet to clean up, and an all around pain in our collective rear.

D.

Baby J. at 1 month old in her harness.

Baby J. was born with hip dysplasia (essentially her leg didn't fit quite correctly into her hip). This required that she wear a harness that wrapped around her hips and legs to keep the leg bones in place, while the hip grew around the leg correctly. Knowing she had hip dysplasia, the pediatrician was extra careful about every little thing that might be wrong with Baby J., especially around the hips and legs area. At around 2 weeks, the pediatrician noticed that Baby J. had a tuft of hair on her butt. Now, this is completely normal. If you've ever seen a newborn, they have hair in a lot of places: on their shoulders, their back, their face, and even their butt (you'll especially notice this extra hair on premature babies). I guess the hair helps keep them warm in the womb.

Anyway, the pediatrician (upon seeing this tuft of butt hair) was extremely worried it could be the result of a growth underneath the skin. So, what should have been a funny story about a baby born with butt hair turned into my wife and I taking our newborn baby to an ultrasound technician to scan her buttocks for growths. Not only did my baby girl need to have her butt examined up close and personal, she had an audience, as that was the day the ultrasound technician was teaching a group of students how to use the machine.

My wife and I have decided that this little story will be a great way of embarrassing our teenage daughter some day (especially when she brings boyfriends home for dinner).

D.

p.s. Baby J. has been out of the harness for quite a long time now. Her hips formed perfectly.