Re: panicking -- how'd the night go?

[Guest guest]

I hope you and the baby had a good night of sleep.. you got good

advice from the parents here.

I found it easiest to not take the shoes off AT ALL for the first few

days, other than for a quick wash and sock change. Breaks are NOT a

good idea ... for the feet or for the baby's adjustment! The longer

the baby is wearing it, the easier it is for him/her to get used to

it, and the quicker the adjustment will be. Taking it on and off will

only prolong it. Think of the brace, in the initial full time phase,

the same way you did as the casts.

Hang in there. There's a poll here at the site that shows that the

great majority of our babies had very little trouble adjusting to

wearing the brace. It takes a while for the parent to not be fumble

fingered and get comfortable putting on and tying the shoes (I think

that's why I was so leery of taking it off at all at the beginning!)

but in no time you'll be able to do it in the dark, with your eyes

closed, upside down.

And your baby will get so comfortable wearing the brace that it will

be " his normal " . He'll be able to flip over, curl up, and later

crawl, stand, climb, everything.. with no problem.

Be persistent.. it's the best thing for your baby.. and the time of

full time wear will be over before you know it.

and Claire (age 4)

>

> I'm really hoping that someone is online tonight because I'm

> panicking. We took off the 3-week casts today and got the straight

> last shoes with the bar. Our dr said that we had a week to get him

> to the point that he was wearing the shoes for 23 hours straight.

He

> said to have him wear the shoes for a couple of hours at first. I

> interpreted that as a couple of hours per day, but now I'm really

> second guessing myself. Did he really mean 3 hours at a time with a

> break in between? My son had the shoes on for almost 5 hours today,

> but they've been off for 2 hours. Do I need to put them back on

> before he goes to bed? Please advise!!!