Re: New to the group...Need help

[Guest guest]

Hi my name is Alizia and I am also fairly new to this site. My son is a year

old and was born with bilateral club feet. His feet were a complete surprise to

us. It was not detected in an ultrasound due to the fact we are a military

family overseas and we only get one ultrasound. The only advice I can give you

is onesies will become your new best friend. I gave my son sponge baths until

his casts came off. Just hang in there. When are you due I am expecting our

second in July also?

broomie28 broomie28@...> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this site and to posting. Our son is due at the end of

July and we found out during an ultrasound that his left foot is a

clubfoot but the doctor isn't sure about the right foot (therefore if

his right foot is a clubfoot, it is very mild).

I need help! We're going to Sick Kids in Toronto to meet with a

Doctor, but I'm more concerned with the day to day stuff. I mean,

how do you give a baby with casts a bath? What about clothing? Do

you have any tips or suggestions.

I'll be grateful for any help/advice.

Thank you so much

Claire

[Guest guest]

Hi Claire,

is 26 months now, so that is far behind us - believe me, it goes by

very fast! I too was nervous at first, but you adapt very quickly, and

changing diapers is actually easier when they're in the FAB! (The FAB -

Foot Abduction Brace - is the shoes attached to a bar that is worn after

the feet are corrected).

When I designed my website, the focus was on providing as much practical

information for parents as possible, because I had found so little at

the time (early 2003). There is a page called " Practical Tips " with

some hints about clothes, baths, etc.

www.clubfoot.co.za

It's very important to check that your doctor follows the Ponseti

method, gave links to checklists in a recent post.

Hope this helps!

and , 24.1.2003, bilateral cf

www.clubfoot.co.za

Moss

Steps Charity

www.steps.org.za

Cell:

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this site and to posting. Our son is due at the end of

July and we found out during an ultrasound that his left foot is a

clubfoot but the doctor isn't sure about the right foot (therefore if

his right foot is a clubfoot, it is very mild).

I need help! We're going to Sick Kids in Toronto to meet with a

Doctor, but I'm more concerned with the day to day stuff. I mean,

how do you give a baby with casts a bath? What about clothing? Do

you have any tips or suggestions.

I'll be grateful for any help/advice.

Thank you so much

Claire

[Guest guest]

Hi Claire

What I have written only applies if you will be taking off your son's cast prior

to the appointments with your doctor.

When our doctor put Billy's first cast on, I was in such a daze (it was 6am and

I was in some sort of euphoria after giving birth) and didn't hear him say 'add

some vinegar to the water when soaking the plaster'. I was soaking my poor baby

in the baby bath and kept retopping with hot water when the water cooled. He was

like a prune at the end of it. It took my mother and me 3 1/2 hours to remove

the plaster. Needless to say I was a bit of an emotional mess after removing

the first plaster and did not know how I would cope with another 7 or 8.

I managed some process improvement along the way and started soaking a face

washer in vinegar and warm water and then putting a plastic bag over the top of

the wet washer and and another towel just in case. I would do this two or three

times depending how much plaster was used. I would also prop Billy on some

cushions and put some newspaper underneath his leg when unravelling the plaster.

It was not as messy. He would then have a nice bath and have a kick with legs.

You can then enjoy holding your baby without his plaster.

Billy is nearly 12 months old and it all seems so long ago.

Hope this helps. Enjoy the rest of your pregnancy.

Sharon

Charlie 28/12/02

Billy 20/4/04 DBB nights only RCF

broomie28 broomie28@...> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this site and to posting. Our son is due at the end of

July and we found out during an ultrasound that his left foot is a

clubfoot but the doctor isn't sure about the right foot (therefore if

his right foot is a clubfoot, it is very mild).

I need help! We're going to Sick Kids in Toronto to meet with a

Doctor, but I'm more concerned with the day to day stuff. I mean,

how do you give a baby with casts a bath? What about clothing? Do

you have any tips or suggestions.

I'll be grateful for any help/advice.

Thank you so much

Claire

[Guest guest]

With regards to clothing, the best advice I can offer is to make sure

all pants or sleep & plays have snaps on both legs. If you can, look

for clothing without the feet, especially when buying larger sizes. We

ended up with a lot of clothing our son couldn't wear because we didn't

know about his club feet before he was born.

Also, look for things with wider or stretchy material in the legs for

when in the casts. We had a few things that he couldn't wear because

the legs were too narrow and wouldn't fit over the casts.

As for bathing, we found that putting a towel on the floor was the

least painful on the back, and we just filled two buckets of water, and

had one empty to wash his hair over (our little guy has TONS of hair).

We'd put the baby wash soap in one bucket to wash his body, and the

other was plain water to use to pour over his head. It worked great,

and during the winter, we put a space heater on in the room about 10

minutes before his bath so he wouldn't get cold. (we live in MN, so it

gets cold!)

>

>

> Hi Everyone,

> I'm new to this site and to posting. Our son is due at the end of

> July and we found out during an ultrasound that his left foot is a

> clubfoot but the doctor isn't sure about the right foot (therefore if

> his right foot is a clubfoot, it is very mild).

>

> I need help! We're going to Sick Kids in Toronto to meet with a

> Doctor, but I'm more concerned with the day to day stuff. I mean,

> how do you give a baby with casts a bath? What about clothing? Do

> you have any tips or suggestions.

>

> I'll be grateful for any help/advice.

>

> Thank you so much

> Claire

[Guest guest]

Hi,

First of all CONGRATULATIONS! on your baby. Do look forward to their

birth even though you have discovered this other news.

Our son had both feet clubbed so two casts!

Like you I wondered about the day to day stuff, but this web site did

not exist then - Henry is now 3 and fine, but needing a tendon transfer

on one foot quite soon.

Anyway it is great you have found out now so can get the best care

ready for your baby on arrival, like we did.

Practical stuff now - I tied two plastic bags - the ones with handles

on - around the top of his casts for bathing. I ended up calling it

" double bagging " ! It worked really well - I used the small ones you get

to put dirty disposable nappies in as they were just the right length,

but I imagine any bag would do. We only had one leakage incident, but

not very much got in and it dried itself, you just need to tie the

handles of the bags quite tight over the top of the casts.

It is useful to be able to bathe a young baby rather then just top and

tail all the time, as they love the water and I find it helps to settle

them if they have colic etc.

I bought long sleeved baby vests rather than grows as most have " feet "

in them, but you can get some without feet in and buttons all the way

down to the feet which makes for easier dressing.

I got a bigger bedside crib rather than a moses basket as he needed

more space for the casts.

This is all I can think of at the moment, but feel free to ask other

things too! You will get lots of help and advice on this site!

Take care and good luck!

>

>

>

> Hi Everyone,

> I'm new to this site and to posting. Our son is due at the end of

> July and we found out during an ultrasound that his left foot is a

> clubfoot but the doctor isn't sure about the right foot (therefore if

> his right foot is a clubfoot, it is very mild).

>

> I need help! We're going to Sick Kids in Toronto to meet with a

> Doctor, but I'm more concerned with the day to day stuff. I mean,

> how do you give a baby with casts a bath? What about clothing? Do

> you have any tips or suggestions.

>

> I'll be grateful for any help/advice.

>

> Thank you so much

> Claire

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Most everything has been said, but will add one more. If your baby ends up with

unilateral cf, like mine, that means only one cast. My son loved to kick his

cast with his good foot. So if we didn't always have a sock on his good foot,

pants to protect his leg, and make sure it stayed on, he would scrap his foot

and leg up pretty good. When we finally started Ponseti, our new ortho used

better plaster that made a smoother cast. Hopefully, you can get the silky

plaster from the start, not the rough scratchy stuff that scrapes the other

little leg. Or maybe I just have a wildman (the doc. says so) Congrats on the

baby.

Re: New to the group...Need help

Hi,

First of all CONGRATULATIONS! on your baby. Do look forward to their

birth even though you have discovered this other news.

Our son had both feet clubbed so two casts!

Like you I wondered about the day to day stuff, but this web site did

not exist then - Henry is now 3 and fine, but needing a tendon transfer

on one foot quite soon.

Anyway it is great you have found out now so can get the best care

ready for your baby on arrival, like we did.

Practical stuff now - I tied two plastic bags - the ones with handles

on - around the top of his casts for bathing. I ended up calling it

" double bagging " ! It worked really well - I used the small ones you get

to put dirty disposable nappies in as they were just the right length,

but I imagine any bag would do. We only had one leakage incident, but

not very much got in and it dried itself, you just need to tie the

handles of the bags quite tight over the top of the casts.

It is useful to be able to bathe a young baby rather then just top and

tail all the time, as they love the water and I find it helps to settle

them if they have colic etc.

I bought long sleeved baby vests rather than grows as most have " feet "

in them, but you can get some without feet in and buttons all the way

down to the feet which makes for easier dressing.

I got a bigger bedside crib rather than a moses basket as he needed

more space for the casts.

This is all I can think of at the moment, but feel free to ask other

things too! You will get lots of help and advice on this site!

Take care and good luck!

>

>

>

> Hi Everyone,

> I'm new to this site and to posting. Our son is due at the end of

> July and we found out during an ultrasound that his left foot is a

> clubfoot but the doctor isn't sure about the right foot (therefore if

> his right foot is a clubfoot, it is very mild).

>

> I need help! We're going to Sick Kids in Toronto to meet with a

> Doctor, but I'm more concerned with the day to day stuff. I mean,

> how do you give a baby with casts a bath? What about clothing? Do

> you have any tips or suggestions.

>

> I'll be grateful for any help/advice.

>

> Thank you so much

> Claire

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Okay, blonde moment, again. We did put a sock over the cast. There was a

period of time when Tenny was kicking his casts off every other minute

(nonPonseti half leg jobbers) and we treated them with kidd gloves to keep them

on his feet and in the right place so nothing went over them that had to come

back off. But since you are smarter than I am, you will only have the toe to

groin casts. So I guess a kid scraping his leg on the cast is not normal. And

I admitted to it, so that proves that I know nothing (any my 7 year old agrees).

I will now shut up. Obviously I don't have the mental capacity to add anything

important. I will just hermit in my little world and enjoy your posts.

Re: New to the group...Need help

Hi,

First of all CONGRATULATIONS! on your baby. Do look forward to their

birth even though you have discovered this other news.

Our son had both feet clubbed so two casts!

Like you I wondered about the day to day stuff, but this web site did

not exist then - Henry is now 3 and fine, but needing a tendon transfer

on one foot quite soon.

Anyway it is great you have found out now so can get the best care

ready for your baby on arrival, like we did.

Practical stuff now - I tied two plastic bags - the ones with handles

on - around the top of his casts for bathing. I ended up calling it

" double bagging " ! It worked really well - I used the small ones you get

to put dirty disposable nappies in as they were just the right length,

but I imagine any bag would do. We only had one leakage incident, but

not very much got in and it dried itself, you just need to tie the

handles of the bags quite tight over the top of the casts.

It is useful to be able to bathe a young baby rather then just top and

tail all the time, as they love the water and I find it helps to settle

them if they have colic etc.

I bought long sleeved baby vests rather than grows as most have " feet "

in them, but you can get some without feet in and buttons all the way

down to the feet which makes for easier dressing.

I got a bigger bedside crib rather than a moses basket as he needed

more space for the casts.

This is all I can think of at the moment, but feel free to ask other

things too! You will get lots of help and advice on this site!

Take care and good luck!

>

>

>

> Hi Everyone,

> I'm new to this site and to posting. Our son is due at the end of

> July and we found out during an ultrasound that his left foot is a

> clubfoot but the doctor isn't sure about the right foot (therefore if

> his right foot is a clubfoot, it is very mild).

>

> I need help! We're going to Sick Kids in Toronto to meet with a

> Doctor, but I'm more concerned with the day to day stuff. I mean,

> how do you give a baby with casts a bath? What about clothing? Do

> you have any tips or suggestions.

>

> I'll be grateful for any help/advice.

>

> Thank you so much

> Claire

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Tip and Suggestion, No.'s 1 through 47.

Make sure your baby's doctor is using the Ponseti Method.

Tips and Suggestions No.'s 47 through 275

Make Sure Your Baby's Doctor is using the PONSETI METHOD.

Tips and Suggestions, No.'s 276 through 943

MAKE SURE YOUR BABY'S DOCTOR IS USING THE PONSETI METHOD.

(Did I mention I'm trying to stop smoking and it totally sucks but on the bright

side my dh isn't griping if I drink in the middle of the day? hahahahhahah

j/k...... or am i? )

ee, mother of two bcf boys:

- NON Ponseti Method Club Foot Disaster

Everett - Dr. Ponseti Success Story

----- Original Message -----

From: broomie28

To: nosurgery4clubfoot

Do you have any tips or suggestions.

I'll be grateful for any help/advice.

Thank you so much

Claire

[Guest guest]

ee, you are too funny. You always crack me up.

But in reality, what you wrote is absolutely true!

> Tip and Suggestion, No.'s 1 through 47.

>

> Make sure your baby's doctor is using the Ponseti Method.

>

> Tips and Suggestions No.'s 47 through 275

>

> Make Sure Your Baby's Doctor is using the PONSETI METHOD.

>

> Tips and Suggestions, No.'s 276 through 943

>

> MAKE SURE YOUR BABY'S DOCTOR IS USING THE PONSETI METHOD.

>

> (Did I mention I'm trying to stop smoking and it totally sucks but

on the bright side my dh isn't griping if I drink in the middle of the

day? hahahahhahah j/k...... or am i? )

>

> ee, mother of two bcf boys:

> - NON Ponseti Method Club Foot Disaster

> Everett - Dr. Ponseti Success Story

> ----- Original Message -----

> From: broomie28

> To: nosurgery4clubfoot

> Do you have any tips or suggestions.

>

> I'll be grateful for any help/advice.

>

> Thank you so much

> Claire

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>