Wrapping a Baby's Limbs with Lymphedema
Children with Lymphedema Yahoo Group
Amy - our daughter Jessica was born with LE in both feet/ankles and started CDT when she was a little over 2mos old. What we did then was a multi-stage process (the therapist could do both little legs in 20min, took ME 2 hours!)
1 - Wrap the toes only in a layer of 1in elastomull (dunno the generic term for this, it is a long, loose-woven (is that a word?) white bandage with a little stretch, but not as thick as a regular short-stretch bandage. Keep in mind we did this because she has LE in her toes pretty bad for her age - if your daughter has no toe involvement you might want to ask your therapist if you need to do this.
2 - We wrapped her foot, criss-crossed around her ankle, and up her leg to the knee with something called artiflex, which looks and feels like super-soft cotton balls pressed into badage form. This was to pad her foot/leg against any chafing that might occur from the later layers, we didn't start using a cotton stockinette for this til she was about a year old, and she still prefers it.
3 - A layer of 2in elastomull in the same patttern as the artiflex, stretching it a tiny bit while applying to give a little pressure.
4 - Finally! We topped it all off with a layer for self-stick bandaging called Coban (you can buy it in the store now under a variety of names.) This helped hold everything together and on, as she was learnign to crawl that was important. Toward the end of her therapy we found out the same product was made in colors and sold as vetrap in equine supply stores, and since it was about a $1 a roll cheaper we switched (ok, & cuz she was uber-cute in her color coordinated wraps!). That last sounds unimportant, but I know from at least one mom in the UK whose little LE girl is older that being able to treat with style becomes more important as our girls get older.
Hope this helps. As a last bit of advice, cuz we struggled with this alot when Jay was little, for baby shoes I recommend the Jumping Jacks Perfection bootie, bus it comes in WWW up to infant size 8. Her new podiatrist recently approved our buying her toddler shoes about a size too big to accommodate the swelling width/dorsum height of her foot, as long as we put a foam pad in the toes so her foot doesn't slide. She was so excited! We found her a pair of those toddler shoes with the LED lights in the heels and she won't wear anything else!
And, if you're wondering, no, we do not currently wrap, though I keep supplies on hand. We have her reduced enough to wear non-Rx shoes, and swim for an hour or so at least 3 days a week (joined a local Y with indoor pool). I still have mixed feelings about this, and worry whether we are doing the right thing, but we want her to have the opportunity to be as normal as possible, her pedi keeps anm eye on it with us, and we'll probably start harassing the new podiatrist to see her regularly as well. And, at 3 she can fight back. I was tidying up her wrapping supplies just this afternoon, re-rolling bandages that i had just tossed in the bag ages ago. She saw me and told me very firmly NOT to put that on her piggies! (Course she has an ingrown nail on one foot right now so she's a bit sensitive - you'll want to find a podiatrist for this to get the billing right if it happens to your little girl, this is Jay's 2nd in just over a year, on opposite feet, so this may be a recurring problem for her...)
I'm babbling, so I'll stop now, but post or email me if you have ??? and I'll answer to the best of my ability. When Jay was a baby I knew there were others with LE babies out there, but never found anyone to ask - everyone's kids were older... Anywho, hope this helps.
Dyannamom to Jay, bilateral LE in ankles/feet/toes, now 3yo
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Children's Emergency Wound Care Kit - Travelling Kit
Topical anti-biotic cream (fucidin)
Topical anti-fungal cream (lamisil)
Anti-septic/Anti-bacterial wipes
Oral pain relief medication in sachets (Calpol and Neurofen)**
Children's plasters (these are less tacky than for adults and are good forlittle ones because of the pictures)
Sterile pads and micropore tape (for larger wounds) - also masking tape is good as a make do
A Pen!! (for drawing rings around wounds)
A list of instructions for treatments and contacts
**Supply of antibiotics when travelling just incase**
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Lymphedema Emergency Wound Care Kit - Other Version
Below is a supply list of basic first aid supplies I always keep on hand.
Tube of baby diaper rash creme or ointment, should have zinc.
Tube of triple antibiotic ointment
Bottle of alcohol
Bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide
Roll of sterile gauzeRoll of paper nonallergan tape
Compression wrap that is only used to wound careSterile 3x3 (individually wrapped) gauze
Sterile 4x4 (individually wrapped) gauze
List of supplies never to use Never use regular surgical tape on a lymphodemous leg.
Never use regular bandaides because of the tape
Never use plastic tape of any kind (Because of skin condition involved with lymphedema these would present further problems by damaging the skin)
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