help with baby in pavlik harness - special needs techs???

Unregistered · Apr 25, 2011

My niece has developemental dysplasia and is currently in a pavlik harness which keeps her legs frog legged and hips out.

she is 4 weeks old and weighs approx 9lbs

she is going to have to be in the harness for at least 2 months.

They have an onboard 35 for her - but the seat is too narrow to and deep and is causes her great discomfort.

We are looking at a radian, truefit or a marathon for her because they are shallower and wider

but my big concern is that the way the pavlik harness goes makes it virtually impossible to fit the harness correctly over her hips - the straps of the pavlik are in the way.

The drs have said they are not allowed to remove it at all not even to bath her so asking to remove it to put her in the car is a no go as well.

HELP!!! how can we make sure she is safe and comfy - it does no good for her hips to be fixed if she goes flying out of the car in an accident.

jubgulia · Apr 25, 2011

DS3 wore a Pavlik harness. We imported a Maxi-Cosi Cabrio carseat that only has a 3 point harness with no hip straps and it worked wonderfully. Straps were able to tighten fully. Techs, is there a good 3 point harness seat here or only to import?

leighi123 · Apr 25, 2011

I would guess that you need a seat that is wide enough to accomidate legs in that position (truefit sense its wide) or something like the radian that is flat in the butt area.

As far as the harness fitting, it looks to me like you could undo the strap that goes up to the chest on the front, slip the carseat strap under it and then redo up the strap (so it would be undone for just a couple seconds), and the strap that goes up at the back could be pressed down to allow it to tighten. To me it doesn't look like it would interfere with the carseat harness at the hips done this way.

leighi123 · Apr 25, 2011

jubgulia said:
DS3 wore a Pavlik harness. We imported a Maxi-Cosi Cabrio carseat that only has a 3 point harness with no hip straps and it worked wonderfully. Straps were able to tighten fully. Techs, is there a good 3 point harness seat here or only to import?

A 3pt isnt as safe as a 5pt, I think a 5pt might work with a little fiddling.

EmmaCPST · Apr 25, 2011

A friend of mine had her daughter in a pavlik until she was 3 months old, she rode in a Snugride 32 and didn't have any issue getting her in and out with the harness. I'm not sure how differently shaped the SR is compared to the Onboard - but it might be worth trying one out in the store to see if it is more comfortable for her.

If you do move her to a convertible - at 9 pounds she may not fit in a Marathon or Radian - make sure to try her out first and see if she's tall enough that her shoulders reach the lowest harness height and that the straps can be tightened sufficiently.

jubgulia · Apr 25, 2011

We couldn't undo the Pavlik straps or press them down at all. Ours was for femur fractures though, so moving the straps at all would cause him lots of pain. May not be the case for OP though?

Unregistered · Apr 25, 2011

what about a car bed?

would that be an option?

mom is not allowed to unhook or press down on the straps at all

safeinthecar · Apr 25, 2011

I did a check for a baby in a pavlik a couple of months ago. We ended up with a very good fit in a Chicco Keyfit with the insert and almost as good of a fit in using a Truefit again with the insert. At 9#, she's pretty close to the weight limit for the Keyfit infant insert so wouldn't go with that unless she is a slow weigh gainer.

We were able to undo the Palvik straps temporarily to get the harness routed around the hips correctly.

ketchupqueen · Apr 28, 2011

I think a TrueFit is a great idea. I was thinking Hippo but if the TF padding will work well enough, go for that first.

urchin_grey · Apr 28, 2011

Yeah, a seat intended for a child in a spica cast should work. The legs are in the same position.

I'm shocked they said she couldn't take it off at all. Bram wore one for a few months after his bilateral hip abduction but it didn't need to stay on 24/7. We took it off for baths and car rides.

help with baby in pavlik harness - special needs techs???

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