Watching your child grow up with cerebral palsy (CP) can be one of the most challenging experiences in your life. CP makes it difficult for your child to navigate the world on their own, causing stiffness in their legs, arms, and more. They also need expensive therapy, medication, and treatment to keep their symptoms at bay.

What you may not know is that your child may have cerebral palsy because a medical professional made a mistake during their birth, causing permanent brain damage. This situation happens more often than you’d think.

If your child has cerebral palsy because of a traumatic birth injury, you and your family are not alone. Our attorneys at Shannon Law Group understand what you’re going through. In this article, we’ve included everything you need to know about this condition, including symptoms and what medical mistakes can cause CP. Keep reading to learn more.

What is cerebral palsy?

Cerebral palsy (CP) affects your child’s movement, muscle tone, and posture. According to the CDC, about 1 in 323 children have cerebral palsy, making it the most common motor disability in kids.

Cerebral palsy may happen because the child’s brain develops abnormally during pregnancy. However, in some cases, damage to an infant’s brain before, during, or after birth causes cerebral palsy. Later in this article, we discuss what can cause damage to a baby’s brain.

Most children with CP have spastic cerebral palsy, which means that their muscles are stiff. As a result, their movements are difficult to control. Other types of CP include dyskinetic and ataxic cerebral palsy.

3 Types of Spastic CP

There are three types of spastic cerebral palsy that children can have. Here’s what you need to know:

  • Spastic diplegia/diparesis. If your baby has this type of CP, they will experience more stiffness in their legs, instead of their arms. Children and adults with spastic diplegia often have difficulty walking because tight leg and hip muscles cause their legs to pull together.
  • Spastic hemiplegia/hemiparesis. This kind of CP affects only one side of your baby’s body. Typically, their arm is more affected than their leg.
  • Spastic quadriplegia/quadriparesis. This type of spastic CP is the most severe. It affects all four limbs, the trunk, and the face. Children with spastic quadriplegia usually cannot walk. They also might have other developmental disabilities, such as seizures or speech, vision, and hearing impediments.

Common symptoms of cerebral palsy in babies

When your child has cerebral palsy, they often show symptoms in infancy. As they grow, most children with CP will experience difficulties with balance, coordination, muscle movements, and more. Here are the most common signs to watch out for:

  • Stiff muscles and exaggerated reflexes (spasticity)
  • Stiff muscles with normal reflexes (rigidity)
  • Poor balance and muscle coordination (ataxia)
  • Tremors or involuntary movements
  • Delays in reaching motor skills milestones, such as pushing up on arms, sitting up, or crawling
  • Difficulty walking
  • Abnormality in muscle tone where either their muscles are too stiff or too floppy
  • Excessive drooling or issues with swallowing
  • Favoring one side of the body over the other
  • Difficulty eating or sucking
  • Delays in speech development
  • Learning disabilities
  • Seizures
  • Trouble with fine motor skills, like picking up toys or holding a bottle

If your baby is exhibiting any of the above symptoms, take them to a pediatrician as soon as possible. Your child will need more support, care, medication, and treatment if they have CP. It’s better to start treating sooner rather than later.  

What medical mistakes cause cerebral palsy birth injuries?

As we mentioned before, cerebral palsy is sometimes caused by damage to the brain that happens before, during, or after birth. In some situations, this brain injury occurs because medical professionals make a mistake during childbirth.

Doctors and nurses are people, too. Sometimes, their misjudgment can result in your baby having a serious condition like cerebral palsy for the rest of their life.

Below, we’ve listed some of the most common errors that doctors and nurses can make in the delivery room that might cause brain damage:

  • Failing to detect infections in the mother during pregnancy.
  • Prescribing drugs or surgery that cause brain damage in an infant.
  • Neglecting to properly monitor a baby’s heartbeat during childbirth.
  • Not performing a medically advisable cesarean section.
  • Improperly using instruments like forceps or vacuum during delivery.
  • Neglecting to detect issues with a baby’s umbilical cord, such as if it’s wrapped around his neck.
  • Failing to treat severe jaundice in the newborn.

Getting justice for your baby’s birth injury

https://vimeo.com/418598214
Watch this video to find out how we came through for one family and their daughter, who developed CP due to an injury at birth.

If you suspect that medical negligence contributed to your baby’s cerebral palsy birth injury, it’s important that you have your pregnancy and birth records reviewed by an experienced law firm like Shannon Law Group.

You may be entitled to compensation that can help pay for your baby’s treatment, medical expenses, and care for the rest of their life. However, there are specific time limits for filing a lawsuit against medical professionals for birth injuries. That’s why you shouldn’t wait to contact a lawyer.

At our birth injury practice, our attorneys will personally review your medical records at no cost to you. We offer free consultations, and there is no cost to hiring us either. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means we don’t get paid until we come through for you.

Call us 24/7 at (312) 578-9501 or text us at (312) 847-2428 to get started. You can also fill out the form at the bottom of this page. If you can’t physically meet with us, we will come to you.

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