Weakness on right side?

[littlekitten8]

James had a pretty rough start, had the cord wrapped round his neck, lots of decellerations, and was slightly starved of oxygen. He seemed fine at birth and has always had pretty good head control. I did notice from the start that he wasn't moving his right side as much as the left but just thought it was cos he was going to be a lefty like his daddy. Anyway now that he is moving alot more and reaching out for things its becoming very obvious that he isn't moving his right side much at all. He holds his right arm either bent at the elbow with his hand near his face in a fist, or straight down again with his hand in a fist. He does move it a little bit but not any where near as much as his left. And same with his right leg, he moves it about but not as much as his left.

Has anyone else got any experience of this? What did it turn out to be? Have included some pics of how he has his arm the vast majority of the time. Thanks.

 

[nkbapbt]

Have you taken him to get checked out? I would if you haven't. Sadly I must say that lack of oxygen at birth can result in many things, but the most common thing would be cerebral palsy. I am not saying this is what he has, but it is something that can happen. Only a doctor can make that call.

Do the muscles on that side seem weak or tight? The way he holds his arm it looks like they would be tight (just because he has a fist in both pics).

There are therapies that could help him over come this, so I would get him checked ASAP. And don't take no or he is ok as an answer...if you feel there is something wrong, then get answers even if you need a third or fourth opinion!

Good luck!

 

[littlekitten8]

Thanks hun. He can put his arm right down but he still tends to have a fist. If he gets really excited he can move it around a bit but generally he doesn't. If he is asleep he has both arms above his head and they look pretty relaxed. He has already been referred to the paediatrician because he has alot of twitchy episodes when he is asleep and because of a strong family history of epilepsy they want to check him out. He was referred at his 6 week check though and I have heard nothing. Taking him to the GP on Tuesday anyway to get his lactose free milk prescribed so will mention it to her then and see if she can speed up the appointment. I thought Cerebral Palsy too but he has very good head control so that made me wonder if it could be that cos all the kids I've looked after with CP (I'm a paediatric nurse who now works in NICU) all had poor head control as a baby.

 

[stephwiggy]

The one thing i would add is to look at the size of the arm and or legs ie do they differ and by that mean does one look slimmer ...

 

[littlekitten8]

Ummm.....not obviously. Bit hard to tell though cos hes got skinny little arms lol.

 

[stephwiggy]

I would hope at this stage / age it may be a habbit and nothing worse but i would suggest if he allows baby massage to try and unfold his fist perhaps opening his hand and massaging.

I have muscle weakness - one sided not due to CP but a spinal cord issue.

I would try not to worry tooo much at this stage.


Oh and by the way he is a total cutie xxxx

 

[littlekitten8]

Thanks steph. I am also hoping thats what it is. If he is in the bath I encourage him to open his hand and relax his arm. He seems to be happier to do it in the bath.

 

[stephwiggy]

so hope all is well sweety - perhaps if you dont mind you could keep us updated ?

 

[littlekitten8]

Here is a video of James playing in his chair so you can see better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnOi4TbXnQM

 

[stephwiggy]

he does seem to hold it close tbh - but as i say it mat be a habit - i would encourage him in the bath and with massages even toys once he is able to grab etc ..

 

[littlekitten8]

I try to encourage him with toys by holding them on that side and the little monkey reaches across with the other hand lol. He is pretty advanced with his cooing and laughing and reaching. But it seems not with that side.

 

[nkbapbt]

It could be habit...I hope it is.

Could Erb's Palsy make sense? Sorry Im not purposefully trying to make it out to be worse than it may be...I just know with Erb's babies can recover and its not always presented that they cannot move their arms totally, they may just have a weaker arm. The way he holds his arm that was my first thought.

I dont think they can actually diagnose CP until they are 2 can they? Or they usually just prefer not too because babies can grow out of it and it might not turn out to be CP.

 

[littlekitten8]

I don't know. I guess we will see when I see the paediatrician.

 

[Emmea12uk]

I just want to wish you well. I hope he is ok. It looks like cp to me, but as a nurse I am sure you only see the severe cases. Cp can be really mild. A friend I have know for 10. Years or so told me he had it recently. Now I know, I can see it but only because I was his sports coach. He works hard to release the muscles and it works.

 

[littlekitten8]

Well thought I better come on and update you girls. Got a phone call this morning from the paediatrician and she has managed to squeeze us in tomorrow. She hadn't actually received the letter about his weakness so I think that's why she has got us in tomorrow as she originally said it would be next week. She said they will probably get the physio involved. Have been encouraging him to stretch out the arm and he is starting to use it more so I'm hoping that with encouragement he will continue to do better with it. He is starting to pull himself forward too so at least it looks like his trunk control isn't affected.

 

[24/7]

Hope all goes well. x

 

[littlekitten8]

Saw the paediatrician this morning and still not much the wiser. She said she thinks the twitching episodes are something called Benign Myoclonia. Basically normal newborn twitching in the sleep. She has referred us for an EEG just to rule out anything else because he has blank episodes when he is awake too. With regards to the weakness she has referred us for physio. No explanations just a referral to physio. So we now have to wait for the appointments to come through.

 

[Emmea12uk]

Best of luck xx No news is good news! Hopefully

 

[littlekitten8]

Thanks hun. Hoping so. Happy new year.