newborn with club foot - looking for support

[Guest guest]

My son is 11 days old and is on his second cast. It's his first cast

with the Ponsetti technique and he was in pain for the first 24 hours

and fussy today. Is this normal and will I be experiencing this every

Monday when he gets his casts changed.If there is anyone who can help

me with this and other questions it would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest guest]

Your son will get used to them pretty quickly, probably faster than you will.

Babis are born with a clean slate and anything done to them is normal to

them, so don't worry. It may be a drop uncomfortable but he'll settle down

pretty

soon. You'll see how time flies, before you know it, he'll be in the

brown Bar shoes.

and Mo

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Yes, it is normal. Some kids fuss alot while others don't seem to be

bothered by it. Some parents give their kids Tylenol which seems to help.

With our daughter's case she would usually fuss for the first day or two and

then settle down until the next sets of casts.

Dan

newborn with club foot - looking for

support

My son is 11 days old and is on his second cast. It's his first cast

with the Ponsetti technique and he was in pain for the first 24 hours

and fussy today. Is this normal and will I be experiencing this every

Monday when he gets his casts changed.If there is anyone who can help

me with this and other questions it would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest guest]

Our first week was rough for all of us. Vinny was stressed out and

cried quite a bit. After about the 3rd cast he was settling into it

being part of his routine. We have pictures of him just laying

there, checking out the doc while he was being casted. The casts

certainly didn't hold him back any either. Once he got used to them

he just worked around them. He rolled over like a regular baby, he

figured out he could pound hard on the floor with them and spent a

great deal of time with them up in the air while he looked at them or

tried to grab his toes. It'll get to be as old hat for you as well

as him. Others will feel awkward holding him and you'll have to stop

yourself from making a funny face because you hold him as if the

casts weren't even there. It just takes time.

Laurie / Vinny (6.5mos bilateral clubfoot)

> My son is 11 days old and is on his second cast. It's his first

cast

> with the Ponsetti technique and he was in pain for the first 24

hours

> and fussy today. Is this normal and will I be experiencing this

every

> Monday when he gets his casts changed.If there is anyone who can

help

> me with this and other questions it would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest guest]

I agree with the rest of the mothers. They get used to them. Simon cried

nonstop in the begginng when they would change his cast. He wouldn't sleep

the first night and he would cry from the dr. office all the way home and

all through the night. After a few cast we could walk out of the dr. office

with out a tear. It will get better.

>

>Reply-To: nosurgery4clubfoot

>To: nosurgery4clubfoot

>Subject: Re: newborn with club foot - looking for

>support

>Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 17:54:38 -0000

>

>Our first week was rough for all of us. Vinny was stressed out and

>cried quite a bit. After about the 3rd cast he was settling into it

>being part of his routine. We have pictures of him just laying

>there, checking out the doc while he was being casted. The casts

>certainly didn't hold him back any either. Once he got used to them

>he just worked around them. He rolled over like a regular baby, he

>figured out he could pound hard on the floor with them and spent a

>great deal of time with them up in the air while he looked at them or

>tried to grab his toes. It'll get to be as old hat for you as well

>as him. Others will feel awkward holding him and you'll have to stop

>yourself from making a funny face because you hold him as if the

>casts weren't even there. It just takes time.

>

>Laurie / Vinny (6.5mos bilateral clubfoot)

>

> > My son is 11 days old and is on his second cast. It's his first

>cast

> > with the Ponsetti technique and he was in pain for the first 24

>hours

> > and fussy today. Is this normal and will I be experiencing this

>every

> > Monday when he gets his casts changed.If there is anyone who can

>help

> > me with this and other questions it would be greatly appreciated.

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

What helped me was to nurse my son when the cast was being put on. At his

first Dr.'s office I had to fight over this. I had to contort my body over a

table. But, with Dr. Colburn I held my son in my lap and nursed him while they

put on the cast.

The first cast was the worst. I also did some research in the Bach Flower

Remedies for children. I gave my son a reduced rescue remedy in some water and

would give him a small drop or two. This is what helped us. Bach Flower

Remedies are a type of homeopathy. I don't know if these things will work for

you. All I know is what has worked for us.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask me!

LaRena

[Guest guest]

Congrats on the birth of your son. Does he have bilateral or

unilateral clubfoot? My son, was born with unilateral right

clubfoot - with one cast, we found that it was important to keep the

other foot/leg protected from chaffing against the cast. Depending

on what climate you're in - if it's cold like it is here in MI,

you'll have no problem with that because you'll have pants on. Zach

was treated in the summer, so we had to keep a sock on his other

foot so it wouldn't get red and irritated.

During the actual treatment, you shouldn't really see crying from

pain - because if the Ponseti technique is used correctly, the child

feels no pain from the gentle manipulations. Zach would sometimes

get irritated because he didn't want to be held down - and even when

this happened, Dr. Ponseti would have me pick him up to soothe him.

He didn't want it to be tramatic for him in any way.

Zach also adjusted well to the casts, he didn't seem to be in any

pain afterward. From the other responses, possibly this isn't the

norm? I don't know - I'd be interested to see what others say. We

never had to give Motrin or anything for pain - the biggest issue

was him getting comfortable to sleep with the big clunker of a cast -

this is what caused his fussiness, in my opinion, not the pain.

Take care - and again CONGRATS!

Holly

Zachary 7/27/02

Unilateral Right Clubfoot

Treated by Dr. Ponseti

14 hrs/day DBB

> My son is 11 days old and is on his second cast. It's his first

cast

> with the Ponsetti technique and he was in pain for the first 24

hours

> and fussy today. Is this normal and will I be experiencing this

every

> Monday when he gets his casts changed.If there is anyone who can

help

> me with this and other questions it would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest guest]

My daughter, Sophia, is now 3 months old and was casted by Dr Ponseti

in Iowa. Her feet were fairly stiff and rated as 7 out of 10 in

severity by Dr. Ponseti. She was ALWAYS fussy during the

manipulations, casting, AND for at least 24 hours afterwards. And in

her case, 'fussy' would be an understatement. After one of her

castings she was very unsettled for about 48 hours and we were up

with her almost every hour during the night. I had always read here

online that it was a gentle process and would not hurt her. I was a

little upset while we were going through the correction part because

I had not expected her to be in any pain from everything I had read

before hand. And I know in our case it wasn't because the doctor was

doing it wrong because we went to Dr. Ponseti himself!

Anyway, how your baby reacts is probably somewhat dependent on the

stiffness of your baby's feet and perhaps also the level of pain

tolerance of your baby. Every parent here is going to have a

slightly different experience because of this. Having said that, if

you aren't seeing a Ponseti approved doctor, it may be worth your

effort and while to get a second opinion just to be on the safe

side.

As for Sophia and how we handled her discomfort, we started giving

her very small doses of Tylenol AFTER each casting and that really

helped her a lot. We also held her almost all the time to reassure

her that she was safe with us. Hard, but it did also seem to help

her sleep. If it makes you at all hopeful, the Tenotomy and it's

aftermath were much easier on her than the casting part.

Oh, one last thing. The skin of his foot will probably be VERY

sensitive for a couple of days after he comes out of his final cast.

If I had to do it over, I would have avoided giving Sophia a real

bath for the first couple of days and just done the sponge bath

thing. It took a few days for the skin of her feet to get 'aired'

out and less sensitive, especially since they're also getting used to

the shoes.

Good luck. You'll be through with this before you know it. Really.

Hope this helps,

and Sophia (12/8/03 bilateral cf)

[Guest guest]

I have to second that the amount of pain that your little

experiences is probably dependent on the level of severity/stiffness

in the foot/feet. Zach's foot was considered mildly severe - which

is probably why he didn't experience much pain throughout the entire

casting process.

Chris' daughter Sophia experienced pain, even when treated by Dr.

Ponseti (probably do to the severity/stiffness as she stated) - in

spite of this pain, she can be assured that the treatment was done

properly because Dr. P himself was the one treating her daughter.

In your case, I'm sure the same came be said, that the stiffness and

severity of your child's foot is probably what causes the pain. I

would check into things though, because many doctors claim to be

using the Ponseti method, but tweak it in such a way that they don't

have the same desired results.

Holly

Zachary 7/27/02

Unilateral Right Clubfoot

Treated by Dr. Ponseti

14 hrs/day DBB

> My daughter, Sophia, is now 3 months old and was casted by Dr

Ponseti

> in Iowa. Her feet were fairly stiff and rated as 7 out of 10 in

> severity by Dr. Ponseti. She was ALWAYS fussy during the

> manipulations, casting, AND for at least 24 hours afterwards. And

in

> her case, 'fussy' would be an understatement. After one of her

> castings she was very unsettled for about 48 hours and we were up

> with her almost every hour during the night. I had always read

here

> online that it was a gentle process and would not hurt her. I was

a

> little upset while we were going through the correction part

because

> I had not expected her to be in any pain from everything I had

read

> before hand. And I know in our case it wasn't because the doctor

was

> doing it wrong because we went to Dr. Ponseti himself!

>

> Anyway, how your baby reacts is probably somewhat dependent on the

> stiffness of your baby's feet and perhaps also the level of pain

> tolerance of your baby. Every parent here is going to have a

> slightly different experience because of this. Having said that,

if

> you aren't seeing a Ponseti approved doctor, it may be worth your

> effort and while to get a second opinion just to be on the safe

> side.

>

> As for Sophia and how we handled her discomfort, we started giving

> her very small doses of Tylenol AFTER each casting and that really

> helped her a lot. We also held her almost all the time to

reassure

> her that she was safe with us. Hard, but it did also seem to help

> her sleep. If it makes you at all hopeful, the Tenotomy and it's

> aftermath were much easier on her than the casting part.

>

> Oh, one last thing. The skin of his foot will probably be VERY

> sensitive for a couple of days after he comes out of his final

cast.

> If I had to do it over, I would have avoided giving Sophia a real

> bath for the first couple of days and just done the sponge bath

> thing. It took a few days for the skin of her feet to get 'aired'

> out and less sensitive, especially since they're also getting used

to

> the shoes.

>

> Good luck. You'll be through with this before you know it.

Really.

>

> Hope this helps,

>

> and Sophia (12/8/03 bilateral cf)