To Sonja, re venting a little

[Guest guest]

Sonja, Hang in there! Many of us have been just where you are now.

I also resorted at times to taking the DBB off to stop the crying,

but it's not a solution. In fact, it probably makes it worse; the

more Dane wears it the more accustomed to it he will be, until it's

just the " norm " for him. By the way, I agree with what said

to you about being careful that Dane wears the brace for enough

hours. He could relapse and that would be infinitely worse. From

what you described, it sounds like Dane is on a fast track with his

treatment. Our son got cast when he was three days old, finished

with casts when he was three months old, had the brace 24/7 for three

months, then for 16 hours/day for about six months. He should've

done the 16 hours/day for longer, but he didn't sleep that much and

he was very active, so after that he had it probably 12 hours/day

until he was 2 1/2, at which point Dr. Ponseti said he was finished.

Anyway, we did have some very tough times with him. Here are a few

ideas that worked for us...(By the way, our son is 4 now and has been

out of the DBB for 1 1/2 year, and it was all SO VERY WORTH IT

because now he has beautiful functional feet.)

1. If Dane is sleeping on his back, put a rolled up towel or baby

blanket under his knees. It will give his legs a bit of support and

may make him more comfortable.

2. Make certain the shoes fit correctly and are not too tightly

laced or buckled, and that the bar is the correct length. The

distance of bar between his heels should be equal to the width of his

shoulders. If it's not, he could be very uncomfortable.

3. Stay awake one night (or wake yourself around the time he

normally starts to cry) and watch him carefully. As soon as he shows

the slightest sign of discomfort, try to see if you can figure out if

something is bothering him. Is he trying to roll over and he can't?

Has he gotten into an uncomfortable position? If he wants to roll

over, you can try rolling him over yourself and see if that settles

him. Until our son figured out how to roll over with the DBB on, he

would scream. We would just roll him onto his side and prop one foot

up against the crib rails and he'd settle down. Sometimes I'd also

put a pillow behind his back to keep him from flopping back onto his

back. I hung a thick blanket over the crib rails and tied it in place

to keep his foot from getting stuck in between the bars. After a few

months, he habitually slept on his side with one foot up in the air.

4. When Dane cries, massage his thighs and calf muscles to see if

they're tight. Our daughter, who was not clubfoot, had very severe

muscle cramps in both legs (growing pains) from the time she was 18

months old until she was nearly five, and now at nine years of age,

they still bother her occassionally. We found that massage really

helped her, so when our son was born with bilateral clubfoot, we

tried it on him when he was restless and sometimes (not always!) it

settled him down.

5. Try taking him in the bed with you; the comfort might settle

him. We did it often and, although both my husband and I got

many " bar bruises " it was worth it to get some sleep!

Finally, if you do resort to taking the DBB off, try putting it back

on him once he's settled back down, maybe after half an hour or so.

We were often able to do that with our son. Be strong! Good luck!

Pamela Karydas (mom to Dinos, bilateral clubfoot, 6/2000)