My baby is now 12 weeks old and is supposed to have a hip ultrasound to check for 'diplasia' before she's 3 months old. This ultrasound is, apparently, compulsory for all 3 month olds whether or not they have any risk factors.

Anyway, I completely spaced on making the appointment right after she was born (how do Italian mothers all know to do this?) and now there are no appointments left in the whole region of Lazio. I guess my only option is to go private but I'm wondering how important this hip ultrasound really is in the absense of risk factors (A was not born breech). Apparently they don't do them routinely in other countries and I learnt during my pregnancy that Italians tend to waaay overmedicalise everything so i don't altogether trust that this is really necessary.

If the ultrasound is indeed really necessary then I guess my only option is to go private (sigh!)

I spaced too on making that appt. for dd, and having absolutely no idea what it was about or that there was a time limit on it, we had it done a month late!

My daughter's pediatrician had checked her hip rotation manually and said it was perfect, so I was even considering not having it done, but my husband wanted it done (he seems much less troubled by the overmedicalization of everything.)

Has your ped. checked her hips already?

Glad to hear I'm not the only 'bad mother' who completely spaced on this. I didn't realise the time limit either. According to Dr Google it must be done before 4 months but ASL will only pay for it if done before 3 months (which is Oct 12th for us).

So I guess I'll just fork out and go private. I'm not sure if her paediatrician already checked her hips...

We didn't have it done. Our paed said it was only necessary if there were risk factors.

I had it done but ended up having it done privately since all of the appointments were taken. I feel it's better safe than sorry.

CONGRATS ON THE BABY!

OK. I'm coming from a little bit different end of the spectrum. I'm not a mother, and I actually didn't know about ultrasounds for dysplasia being standard practice here.

HOWEVER- I have hip dysplasia and I would encourage, encourage, encourage you to have the check done, even if you have to go private.

I was diagnosed probably around two months old (during a regular check-up, I was not born breech) and put in traction to correct the problem. However the doctor(s) misjudged and either took me out of the traction prematurely or the traction did not encourage fusion in the correct area, and I suffer hip displacement in my left hip.

There's no aesthetic drawbacks to hip displasia- all physical. I suffer "hip clicks", an annoying popping in my left hip if I walk or stand too long, I can't run or do high-impact cardio and I've suffered back pain since I was in my teens.

The only way to correct dysplasia is a painful surgery with non-perm. results and a long recovery time. In other words, not worth it.

If the option of an ultrasound had been around for this when I was in infant I'm sure I would have gone through the correct treatment time and not had to deal.

You'll probably pay +-100€ to do it private. I think it'd be money well spent just for peace of mind.