Cloth diapers causing gross motor skill delays

xBoBox

Hi ladies, I don't post on this board a lot, but I would like some input or thoughts on my situation. DS has been in cloth diapers since about 2 weeks old. Until about 3 months we used prefolds and Rumparooz covers. Then we used mainly Bum Genius pockets with a few random diapers thrown in. Well, I have always noticed that DS does not like turning his hips out or spreading his legs apart. I got a Beco Butterfly II carrier and he hates it. He screams when I even try to put him in, because it spreads his legs/hips. He just started rolling from back to front (6 months). He does not roll front to back and he cannot sit on his own because he keeps his legs flexed in front of him so he has no balance points.

At his 6 month well visit, the doctor could not get him to abduct his hips at all after 3 tries over 15 minutes (you know the test where the bend the baby's knees then move the hips/legs out to the side like a frog or butterfly).She asked me about some background which I gave her. Example: he will not spread his legs when I change his diaper, I have just learned to work around it. So, she sent us for hip x-rays which came back "ok". No bone issues but possible soft tissue issues. She sent us for a PT consult which we went to.

PT had the same problem of not getting his to move his hips or legs. He had a BG diaper on for the appt and she pointed out that it hits right at his hips and does have a lot of "give" like sposies do. One of her recommendations is to keep him out of the cloth diapers for 2 weeks. I see her point, and he does move his legs/hips and everything a lot more when he is naked. I just thought he loved being naked, which he does. Since we have tried this, the last few days he has been overly active. Rolling and moving all over and kicking his legs, etc. She thought since the diapers are more restrictive he didn't learn how to move him at the "peak time" when his body/mind were ready to. 

So (sorry this turned so long), I now feel like I have slowed his gross motor skill development by being eco-friendly. Ugh. I hope this PT gets him back on track quickly. Does anyone have any experience with this or thoughts? 

florquevedo

First, I am sorry that your LO is a little behind on his motor skills, but you were trying to do what you felt was best for him, so please don't feel bad

I have no experience with this but I am curious as to what others have to say.

 

Hope his PT works soon! 

AshleyPT

xBoBox:

So (sorry this turned so long), I now feel like I have slowed his gross motor skill development by being eco-friendly. Ugh. I hope this PT gets him back on track quickly. Does anyone have any experience with this or thoughts? 

I'm glad he is doing better, but as a PT I think this is insane. My daughter has always met physical milestones early/on time and has never been in a disposable. 

AshleyPT

I have more to say. I am a pediatric PT, and I can see where it is possible that the bulk of a cloth diaper would slow a milestone down by 1-2 weeks (Zoe rolled during naked time 5 days before she could in her diaper). But I cannot in any way attribute actual decreased range of motion to cloth diapers. I find this pure coincidence and I expect that once he gets a little PT, you will see quick gains regardless of the diapers.

xBoBox

AshleyPT:

I have more to say. I am a pediatric PT, and I can see where it is possible that the bulk of a cloth diaper would slow a milestone down by 1-2 weeks (Zoe rolled during naked time 5 days before she could in her diaper). But I cannot in any way attribute actual decreased range of motion to cloth diapers. I find this pure coincidence and I expect that once he gets a little PT, you will see quick gains regardless of the diapers.

Thanks for the input. In the PT defense, she did say she has not had a lot of experience with babies and cloth but just at looking at the diapers it looked like they were restricting him and hitting right on his hips. She did say it was probably unlikely "But she has seen crazier things" so she asked if I would mind doing a 2 week trial. Of course, I am going to take her suggestions since it will not really hurt anything. Another question for you, if you don't mind, do you know anything about Pediatric Physiatry? She referred us there for a consult just to get the x-rays double checked. I have never heard of this field. She didn't recommend Ortho since the bone part of the x-ray was normal. 

bugandbibs

I'm a special needs pees RN, and have seen children with lots of delays for various reasons. Not one time was that reason cloth diapers. If you think about it, up until 30 years ago people were only in CDs. If they caused delays, it would be a wide known issue.

Perhaps, your LO is improving because you are spending time actively working on their development?

bugandbibs

xBoBox:

AshleyPT:

I have more to say. I am a pediatric PT, and I can see where it is possible that the bulk of a cloth diaper would slow a milestone down by 1-2 weeks (Zoe rolled during naked time 5 days before she could in her diaper). But I cannot in any way attribute actual decreased range of motion to cloth diapers. I find this pure coincidence and I expect that once he gets a little PT, you will see quick gains regardless of the diapers.

Thanks for the input. In the PT defense, she did say she has not had a lot of experience with babies and cloth but just at looking at the diapers it looked like they were restricting him and hitting right on his hips. She did say it was probably unlikely "But she has seen crazier things" so she asked if I would mind doing a 2 week trial. Of course, I am going to take her suggestions since it will not really hurt anything. Another question for you, if you don't mind, do you know anything about Pediatric Physiatry? She referred us there for a consult just to get the x-rays double checked. I have never heard of this field. She didn't recommend Ortho since the bone part of the x-ray was normal. 

It is the field of physical medicine and rehab. They deal with the treatment of functional disabilities. Essentially, they focus on non-surgical form of treatment for abnormal development patterns, like exercises, braces, adaptive devices, etc... HTH

xBoBox

bugandbibs:

I'm a special needs pees RN, and have seen children with lots of delays for various reasons. Not one time was that reason cloth diapers. If you think about it, up until 30 years ago people were only in CDs. If they caused delays, it would be a wide known issue.

Perhaps, your LO is improving because you are spending time actively working on their development?

Yea I agree that I don't really thing the diapers are much of the problem, the only reason I even considered it was since he has always been more active with his diaper off. It is probably coincidence that he is improving now and the real reason is more than likely the therapy. I just wanted to check and see if anyone else had this problem.

AshleyPT

There is absolutely no harm in doing the trial in disposables. If it helps him explore right now while you are actively working on skills. I just didn't want the delays to be attributed to the cloth. In my experience, I have really enjoyed working with Physiatrists - they usually know their stuff. Good luck!

pixy_stix

We had PT visits due to gross motor skills delay. I asked the PT if she thought it was the cloth diapers and she just laughed. In my daughter's instance it's because she has very loose joints, which diapers had no effect on.

tokenhoser

Cloth diapers might not be the best thing for your baby and his condition, but the diapers didn't cause the condition.

My baby's doc has tested his hip range at every checkup, and there's never been a problem. He's lived for weeks with his legs around me in the carrier. He's right on track for crawling and pulling up.

Good luck with the treatment - and don't feel guilty for a second. Cloth had nothing to do with this.

cassoppea

It's very ironic - my LO was born with hip dysplasia and her doctor mentioned that the CDs actually helped keep her legs in the correct position. In fact, before they started using the harnesses to correct the dysplasia, they used to triple diaper babies to keep them in a more favorable position. I know it's probably a different scenario than with your child, but it just got me thinking. FWIW my LO has no more hip issues and is on schedule if not a little ahead in her gross motor skills. I hope the PT works for your LO!

sosoph

You could try a different cd type that doesn't wrap around his hips (maybe something with a rise that goes up to the waist?). We have no issues, but when we started sttn, there is no way I would have had her in the ON diaper during the day for playtime. It was bulky and restrictive for her to bend over. Not all DC fit the same on all babies. I'd agree that the BG probably didn't cause the problem, but it's maybe not the best diaper while he's in PT.

cookiemonster03

I hope PT helps your LO, but I agree diapers are not the cause! Our girls are very small (making their diapers rather large on them still) and were early, and are on track for actual age despite not wearing disposables since they were newborns.

Dr.Loretta

"They" say that CDs *might* delay some things by 2-4 weeks, but in the grand scheme of things that's equal to a negligible impact. Agree with the pps that it's not the CDs, but perhaps as he goes through PT and gets things sorted out, he'll learn how to do it in his CDs. In fact, I'd actually ask if he could do some PT in them as he progresses so he knows how it feels in them.

GL!

eriness`

I call BS on the CD's causing it.  My oldest wore BG OS pockets, and crawled at 6 months.  Youngest is wearing RaR OS pockets, and crawled at 9 months (just because big bro would bring it all to him).  no delays on both.  Both were wiggle worms the whole time, legs going ninety miles an hour just when I didn't want them to.

It seems more like a body thing that the PT will help with.  Good luck.

itsmegin

I don't think you can determine from this that it's the CDs fault. DD has been in prefolds since she came he from the hospital and she is meeting those milestones you mentioned early. She rolled front to back at 2.5 months and back to front shortly thereafter, and she has no issues spreading her hips in her Ergo carrier and naturally does when she is relaxed. Maybe your particular diaper is hindering your DS, in which case I'd follow what the PT said, but babies have been in CDs for decades before disposables were even invented so I can't believe they're damaging. I hope the PT helps your DS, don't feel bad I'm sure it won't cause any permanent issues!

xBoBox

tokenhoser:

Cloth diapers might not be the best thing for your baby and his condition, but the diapers didn't cause the condition.

Very good point. Thank you everyone for making me feel better about not causing any problems with the cloth diapers.  

xBoBox

Dr.Loretta:

"They" say that CDs *might* delay some things by 2-4 weeks, but in the grand scheme of things that's equal to a negligible impact. Agree with the pps that it's not the CDs, but perhaps as he goes through PT and gets things sorted out, he'll learn how to do it in his CDs. In fact, I'd actually ask if he could do some PT in them as he progresses so he knows how it feels in them.

GL!

 Thank you for this great idea. Once he is more on track, I will have to have him do the PT in his BG dipes.