According to statistics, there are about 3 to 4 million babies with cerebral palsy in the country, which is not a small number. In fact, cerebral palsy is not a terminal disease, as long as through scientific and effective rehabilitation training, the symptoms of cerebral palsy can be improved. Early diagnosis and rehabilitation is the key to help your baby. How can you be a winner in this race against time for the best treatment time?
I. Be alert to the typical symptoms of cerebral palsy baby.
1. Moon baby: soon after birth, it often cries less, moves less, cries weakly and is excessively quiet. Feeding difficulties, such as weak sucking, swallowing difficulties, and poor oral closure. Difficulty in nursing, frequent spitting up, as well as persistent weight gain.
2. 1 to 3 months: difficulty in falling asleep, uncoordinated and asymmetrical movements. Reduced movement of limbs, especially little movement of both hands, lower limbs not easily separated from legs, difficulty in changing diapers.
3.4～5 months：Baby’s hands often make fists and won’t unclench, can’t touch each other in front of the chest, can’t put hands in mouth to suck. He cannot lift his head in the prone position and cannot support the weight with his forearms. Both lower limbs are stiff, not suitable for flexion and extension, and less alternate stirring.
4.6～8 months：The baby cannot turn over and sit alone for a moment. When the baby is strongly held into a sitting position, both lower limbs are flexed and the knees cannot be straightened; after being strongly held into a forward leaning position, the baby will fall backwards when the parents let go. When holding baby’s armpits to make him stand upright, baby’s hips and knees are overly straightened and even crossed into a scissors position.
5.9～12 months：Baby can’t crawl, or only the upper limbs move when crawling, and the lower limbs don’t have alternating movement of extension and flexion. Only one hand can reach for things, and the face often shows unusual expressions and rhythmic tongue-spitting movements.
6.1～2 years old: Often unable to maintain a fixed posture, they have to make frequent adjustments when standing in order to maintain their standing posture; they learn to walk later than other babies, have difficulty walking, have a wide distance between the left and right feet in order to obtain a more stable balance, have an unstable gait and poor directionality. Emotionally, they are prone to constant crying and have difficulty falling asleep.
Tip: Be extra careful with babies who were once high-risk babies. Some pregnancy illnesses and problems that occurred during delivery, such as: pregnancy illnesses, abdominal trauma, hypoxic asphyxia during pregnancy and delivery, injuries during delivery, cranial injuries or brain infections in newborns, cerebrovascular accidents, premature birth and fetal dysplasia, certain genetic diseases and neonatal nuclear jaundice, can lead to cerebral palsy. If the aforementioned problems exist, mothers and fathers need to pay special attention to the baby’s growth and development indications, find abnormalities and seek medical consultation in time.
Don’t ignore the “abnormal condition” of your baby with cerebral palsy
Pediatric cerebral palsy is a syndrome caused by damage or injury to the brain before birth, at birth or within one month after birth, when the brain is not yet mature, resulting in motor and postural disorders as the main manifestations, along with postural disorders, intellectual disorders, language disorders, visual and auditory disorders, dental developmental disorders, oral and facial dysfunctions, etc. Pediatric cerebral palsy is often combined with mental retardation, epilepsy, perceptual disorders, communication disorders, behavioral abnormalities and other abnormalities.
Tip: Parents often ignore the onset of symptoms in their babies, considering them to be normal and not taking them seriously. In fact, most of the clinical manifestations of children with cerebral palsy begin in infancy and are non-progressive. However, if early diagnosis and reasonable treatment are not obtained, tendon contractures and joint deformities will occur, resulting in aggravation of symptoms and fixation of abnormal postural reflexes and movement patterns.
Targeted rehabilitation training is the most scientific
Because of the different pathologies and symptoms of cerebral palsy, treatment should be combined with the characteristics of their own motor development and the pathology of cerebral palsy, so that targeted rehabilitation programs can be formulated early and home rehabilitation training can be carried out purposefully according to the characteristics of cerebral palsy.
1.Can’t lift the head
Training method: 1 hour before breastfeeding, when awakening on an empty stomach, use language and toys to guide the baby to lift her head in a prone position. Train for 10 minutes each time, 4 to 6 times a day.
2.Heels can’t hit the ground when standing up
Training method: Let the baby lie prone on the bed, the mother’s four fingers hold the baby’s heel, press the palm of her hand to the center of the foot, make the back of the foot bend in the direction of the calf, and the angle between the back of the foot and the calf is less than 90° as far as possible.
3.Hands cannot grasp things
Training method: insist on doing passive finger stretching activities for the baby, stretching out the thumb, and other fingers will be easily stretched out. You can use some small toys to practice the use of fingers, so that the baby from the large grasp to thumb and other fingers together, training fine motor. Place the toys in front of the body in different positions near and far, and let baby practice reaching toys from different places near and far, high and low. Practice 5 to 6 times for 10 minutes each time.
4.Speech difficulty
Training method: Babies with language difficulties belong to the tardive dyskinesia type, so it is necessary to strengthen the motor training of the body. Usually, we should strengthen the language training, create a good language environment, make the baby imitate the adult’s vocalization and pronunciation actively, and correct the abnormal pronunciation in time.
5.Sitting instability
Training method: Mom sits behind the baby with her legs apart, holds a small toy in her left hand in front of the baby’s left side, and induces him to reach for something on his left side; after the baby successfully gets it, mom changes the direction again. The forward bending action in different directions can make baby’s body gradually produce protective reaction to enhance the stability of sitting. Practice 5 to 6 times a day for 10 minutes each time.
6.Can’t roll over
Training method: use toys to induce the baby to turn over, help the baby turn over by holding the baby’s hand with one hand and gently turn over to the opposite side with the other hand at its shoulder, practice at least 7 to 8 times a day.
7.Can’t crawl
Training method: Parents can place toys with sound and bright colors in front of them to tease them, and hold them against the bottom of their feet to help them move forward. Each time 5~minutes, 7~8 times a day.
Diagnosis of cerebral palsy usually requires observation and outpatient follow-up for a period of time and exclusion of other progressive brain pathologies to confirm the diagnosis and determine the severity of the disease. The sooner the baby is treated, the greater the chance of recovery. If early detection is made within the first 3 months of life or within 6 to 9 months of life, and long-term treatment is started, children with milder coordination disorders can be cured. Otherwise, cerebral palsy will stay with the baby for the rest of his or her life.
Although cerebral palsy is difficult to treat but not incurable, its rehabilitation will be a long-term process. Parents need to be patient and persistent, and should not easily give up treatment or treat the baby indiscriminately.