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Questions & Answers - Motor Concerns
My daughter was born 3 months ago via c-section (she was
breech). Since birth, she has been very rigid and stiff. Her legs
would constantly lock tight and she could even stand on her feet
with straight legs (being held of course) within the first month or
so. I'm just concerned because I've been reading stuff about
cerebral palsy and I was wondering if there would be other causes
for stiff baby legs? She isn't constantly stiff but definitely
straightens her legs out all the time. Everyone always comments on
how "strong, stiff, and rigid" she is so it has me concerned!!
You didn't mention if your daughter was full term or premature, but
we do often see tightness and stiff muscles (hypertonia) in babies who
were born prematurely. There is also a bit of physiologic hypertonia in
all babies in the first 3 months of life as well. If tightness and
stiffness in muscles persist when a baby reaches the 6-9 month period or
primitive reflexes persist and normal gross motor developmental
milestones are delayed or are not being met, then a concern of cerebral
palsy may arise. If you are concerned about cerebral palsy, I would
definitely discuss this with your pediatrician, since cerebral palsy
would need to be diagnosed by a physician. Cerebral Palsy is caused by
an injury to the brain before, during, or shortly after birth.
In the meantime, I would recommend that you seek out a physical
therapy evaluation for your daughter from your
local
early intervention provider to rule out any immediate concerns
or delays and make sure that her stiffness is not impeding her
development of typical motor milestones, such as rolling, sitting
and crawling.
You can review motor milestones for
0-3 months and
3-6 months. Also be sure to give your baby plenty of supervised
tummy time during waking hours, which is the most important position
for developing her later motor milestones. You can read about the
importance of
tummy time at this link.
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Questions & Answers - Motor Concerns
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