Guest guest Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 , I was told by the local orthotist and doctors that they always set the width bolt to bolt (which is what Dr Ponseti's book apparently says). We tried with and he is definitely not comfortable with the bar a little narrower. I think that what Dr Ponseti was saying is that if has got used to heel to heel and it's comfortable for him, it's doing no harm. As you say, whatever makes your baby comfortable - and sleep through the night! www.clubfoot.co.za Re: DBB width Thanks everybody for your responses! Except now I'm still confused!! Theresa's response (and the sections from the literature you posted) made me think it's definitely heel to heel measurement. But from the letter posted from Dr. Ponsetti, it seems bolt to bolt is correct!!! I guess as long as your (my) baby is comfortable, and it's not causing any harm to the correction, it doesn't really matter too much. What turns me in favor of the bolt to bolt measurement is what I said before -- on a 6 " bar, a heel to heel measurement is only going to be about 3 " , which is crazy! (I have the red non-adjustable bar) But the bolt to bolt measurement is about 6 " , which is her shoulder width. But babies are like anybody else, and what's comfortable to one may be annoying to another! Thanks, mommy of: Guinevere, on, Ava 8/4/04 right CF DBB 23/7 (day 9...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 I don't know... a 6 " bar seems too small for about any baby unless they're just tiny, tiny. Darbi started with an 8 " at 5w old. She was about 11-12 pounds at the time (born at almost 10). Also, with the non-adjustable bars, as they grow they're going to change in how their shoulders compare to the bar too. So it could be too big at one point and in a few weeks just right, and a few weeks later too small. Since we switched to the adjustable bar I've been using heel to heel and I just put it up to her shoulders and see if they can fit in between the shoes. She's also unilateral, so if both shoes were abducted to 70 degrees this would make the bar longer still. She is comfortable in her brace now, never complains so heel to heel works very well for us but like Dr. P. said in that letter, it's only a matter of an inch or so difference and that's not really going to be an issue. With the non-adjustable bars you cycle through at least and inch, if not two as baby grows anyway. I would still question a 6 " bar on a 3 month old, and watch for the heels slipping because if you think about it, the shorter the bar the more prone they will be to rising up. Same with too long, so a well fitting bar for the size of the baby is a very good idea for lots of reasons. Kori At 06:37 AM 12/1/2004, you wrote: >Thanks everybody for your responses! Except now I'm still confused!! >Theresa's response (and the sections from the literature you posted) >made me think it's definitely heel to heel measurement. But from the >letter posted from Dr. Ponsetti, it seems bolt to bolt is >correct!!! I guess as long as your (my) baby is comfortable, and >it's not causing any harm to the correction, it doesn't really >matter too much. What turns me in favor of the bolt to bolt >measurement is what I said before -- on a 6 " bar, a heel to heel >measurement is only going to be about 3 " , which is crazy! (I have >the red non-adjustable bar) But the bolt to bolt measurement is >about 6 " , which is her shoulder width. But babies are like anybody >else, and what's comfortable to one may be annoying to another! >Thanks, > mommy of: >Guinevere, on, Ava 8/4/04 right CF DBB 23/7 (day 9...) > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 When you measure, try to consider there's more space than we realize between actual skin heel-to-heel, so if you measure the exterior of the shoes heel-to-heel, there's a lot of space not accounted for before the actual (skin) heel comes in to play, and what I " m trying poorly to say is measuring from the center of the bolt is a more accurate assessment. There's a lot of empty space between the exterior of the shoe and the back of the heel. s. Re: DBB width Thanks everybody for your responses! Except now I'm still confused!! Theresa's response (and the sections from the literature you posted) made me think it's definitely heel to heel measurement. But from the letter posted from Dr. Ponsetti, it seems bolt to bolt is correct!!! I guess as long as your (my) baby is comfortable, and it's not causing any harm to the correction, it doesn't really matter too much. What turns me in favor of the bolt to bolt measurement is what I said before -- on a 6 " bar, a heel to heel measurement is only going to be about 3 " , which is crazy! (I have the red non-adjustable bar) But the bolt to bolt measurement is about 6 " , which is her shoulder width. But babies are like anybody else, and what's comfortable to one may be annoying to another! Thanks, mommy of: Guinevere, on, Ava 8/4/04 right CF DBB 23/7 (day 9...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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