Inside: How to Spot Cerebral Palsy in Babies. By Eddie Jones, partner and head of clinical negligence, JMW Solicitors.
Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect movement, mobility and coordination. It is usually brought on by brain damage that happens before, during or very soon after birth.
In the UK, 2-2.5 out of every 1,000 babies are born with cerebral palsy, and approximately 30,000 children live with the condition across the country. The severity of cerebral palsy differs in each child and will affect them for the rest of their lives.
Cerebral palsy can affect a person’s ability to stand, their movement and general coordination and someone living with the condition is therefore more likely to have mobility or motor control problems. Struggles with speaking and swallowing, developmental delays and learning difficulties are also common.
Mild forms of cerebral palsy can be hard to spot in babies, as they are not able to move enough on their own for the condition to be noticed, meaning a lot of cases can be missed until the child is a toddler. It’s important to know how to spot some of the lesser-known symptoms of cerebral palsy so that an earlier diagnosis is possible and your child can receive quicker, more effective treatment from an earlier age.
What causes cerebral palsy?
Cerebral palsy is caused by a baby suffering a brain injury before, during, or soon after birth.
If the brain injury occurs before the baby has been born, it could be due to the baby’s brain not receiving enough oxygen or blood in the womb, or if the baby suffered a stroke. For signs of problems like this, your midwife or maternity staff should be aware of what to look out for at your check-ups and can help you with any issues you may have.
It’s really important that you make sure that your midwife and maternity team take your concerns seriously and listen to you if you raise an issue.
Sadly, cerebral palsy linked to oxygen deprivation happens far too often during labour when midwives and doctors fail to spot signs of distress with the baby. The baby’s delivery can be delayed as a result of this, and the brain is left without oxygen for too long.
Cerebral palsy symptoms in babies
Here, we look at some symptoms of cerebral palsy caused by a brain injury.
Babies under the age of six months who have cerebral palsy may show some of the following symptoms:
- Lethargy
- Irritability
- Abnormal crying
- Trembling of the arms and legs
- Feeding difficulties
- Poor muscle tone
- Abnormal posture
- Seizures, staring spells, eye fluttering or body twitching
- Abnormal reflexes
- Changing muscle tone from floppy to very stiff
- Hand held in a tight fist
- Different types of movement on each side of the body
These symptoms can be signs of other issues, or may just be a delayed developmental issue for your baby, but they can also be signs of cerebral palsy so it is really important not to ignore them, especially if your baby shows more than one of these symptoms.
Types of cerebral palsy
Based on the symptoms your child shows, your doctors may categorise the condition as a specific type of cerebral palsy.
There are four main types of cerebral palsy:
- Spastic cerebral palsy – the muscles are stiff and tight (especially when trying to move them quickly), which makes it difficult to move and reduces the range of possible movement
- Dyskinetic cerebral palsy – the muscles frequently switch between rigidness and floppiness, which causes random and uncontrolled movements or spasms that cannot be predicted or managed
- Ataxic cerebral palsy – when a person has balance and coordination problems, which results in shaky or clumsy movements
- Mixed cerebral palsy – when a person has symptoms of more than one type of cerebral palsy
Other terms you could hear include hemiplegia and diplegia. These refer to the body parts on which cerebral palsy has an impact. One side of the body is affected in hemiplegia, two limbs are affected in diplegia, one limb is affected in monoplegia, and all four limbs (and typically the entire body) are affected in quadriplegia.
Even when all medical procedures are followed carefully, cerebral palsy-causing brain injuries can still occur. However, there are times when cerebral palsy is caused as a result of negligence on the part of a healthcare professional.
If a doctor, nurse, midwife or another healthcare professional who was involved in the birth of your child provided you with negligent treatment, you may be able to claim compensation.