Developmental Hip Dysplasia

The day Eliana was born, our pediatrician told us she had some “clunking” of her hips and we would need to keep an eye on it throughout the next week.  We double-diapered her all week long, but at the one week checkup, her hips were still moving in and out of socket.  So we were sent to an orthopedic surgeon specialist to get a special brace called a Wheaton harness for Eliana to wear.  Apparently, if we wear this brace early in life, the likelihood that she will have to have surgery is almost zero.

Development dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is an abnormal formation of the hip joint in which the ball on the top of the thighbone is not held firmly in the socket.    Typically, the condition is seen in girls, first born children, and babies born in the breech position.  Eliana only fell into one of these categories- she was a girl.

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00347

When Eliana was one week old, we were sent to Dr. Christofersen for treatment and he shed a little more light on the causes.  Basically, when the baby runs out of room and there is low amniotic fluid, the baby’s leg gets pushed beyond the hip joint and doesn’t sit well in the socket.  At birth and within the first few months of birth, the baby’s hip joint is like an egg shell and easily formable.  So the newborns are placed in a Wheaton harness for up to 6 months to keep the thighbone in the socket so the ligaments can tighten around the hip joint and promote normal hip socket formation.  When Eliana was only 1 week old, Dr. Chris fitted her for the harness and we are not to remove it. 

We will go back to visit Dr. Chris next Monday for a refitting and will continue to visit with him for monitoring while her hips heal.  Dr. Chris also wants to see Adalyn since we told him that she had hip “clicks” when she was born as well.  According to our pediatrician, Adalyn’s hip clicks went away after the first week.  I think he wants to make sure we haven’t missed anything with her before she’s too old to do anything about it.  I’m really prayerful that wearing the harness will completely heal little Eliana and that we can move on to having her cute little self back soon.  And I’m praying that we haven’t missed anything with Adalyn and her hips are completely normal.  We will keep everyone updated.