Many parents often perceive the diagnosis of cerebral palsy (cerebral palsy) as a sentence, but, meanwhile, do not give up, but you need to start beating the bell and questioning it. The fact is that many experts make this diagnosis when the child has the first signs of paresis and paralysis. However, a deeper study of this abbreviation means that the diagnosis of cerebral palsy in newborns is conditional, inaccurate. Cerebral palsy is not a sentence, since 80% of cases of this disease can be cured before the age of five. As a rule, such children go to school with ordinary children.
Causes of cerebral palsy in a newborn
Cerebral palsy in newborns does not happen without a reason, so you need to identify them as soon as possible. There are six such reasons today:
- Hereditary genetic factors. Moreover, all violations in the genetic apparatus of parents can cause cerebral palsy in a newborn baby.
- Hypoxia (lack of oxygen) or ischemia (impaired blood supply) of the fetal brain. Such disorders during pregnancy or childbirth can lead to the development of cerebral palsy in the child.
- Infectious or microbial status. Encephalitis, meningitis, arachnoiditis in a child from the first days of life can cause cerebral palsy in newborns.
- The effects of toxic and poisonous drugs on the body of a mother or child. Most often, this is the use of potent drugs during pregnancy, the work of the expectant mother in harmful production conditions, at chemical plants or in contact with radiation substances.
- Exposure to the body of a pregnant woman and her unborn child of high-frequency electromagnetic fields can lead to the development of cerebral palsy in a newborn.
- Birth injury.
True cerebral palsy of a newborn
Cerebral palsy is conditionally divided into several groups. The first is true, not acquired cerebral palsy. In this disease, the brain of a newborn at birth already has embryonic developmental disorders or genetic pathologies. It may be somewhat underdeveloped, smaller in size with less pronounced convolutions of the brain. In this case, there is an underdevelopment of the cerebral cortex and there are a number of anatomical and functional disorders. This disease is considered to be true cerebral palsy of the newborn. The baby’s brain at the time of birth is paralyzed, intellectually and biologically inferior. Such children are approximately 10%.
True acquired cerebral palsy in a newborn
The second group includes cerebral palsy acquired. Such children are also about 10%. The causes of acquired cerebral palsy in children are brain hemorrhage with the death of some of its parts, severe birth trauma, exposure to toxic substances, infectious diseases and other causes that affect the child’s brain and nervous system. They are already not hereditary, but acquired. Despite the severity of the disease, such children can move independently and subsequently will be able to service themselves independently.
Untrue acquired cerebral palsy
The third group is a false or secondary cerebral palsy, it is more numerous than the two previous ones. It is believed that by the time of birth, the baby's brain was quite full, violations in some parts of the brain appeared as a result of birth injuries or incorrect actions of the mother and staff during childbirth. Such children practically do not differ from children with primary cerebral palsy, but they still have intelligence. That is why such children have a chance of recovery.
Signs of cerebral palsy in newborns
Often the signs of cerebral palsy in a newborn depend on the degree of brain damage and on the location of pathological foci. These manifestations can be obvious and obvious to outsiders, or completely invisible, visible only to a specialist. Symptoms can range from a little clumsiness to severe muscle tension, which can confine a child to a wheelchair. As a rule, the signs of cerebral palsy are not very noticeable in early childhood, but with the maturation of the nervous system become very obvious. The early signs of cerebral palsy can be determined by the elementary skills of a child at a certain age - head control, grabbing items, turning over, sitting, crawling and walking.
Whatever happened, but if the doctors diagnosed the child with this terrible diagnosis, do not panic and give up. Many parents have already been able to overcome this terrible disease and now their children are communicating on equal terms with their peers, which means that the path has already been found and it remains only to find the strength in itself to go through it!