Does a baby who likes to rub his feet have cerebral palsy?

If babies like to rub their feet in daily life, there are many reasons for such behavior. For example, the baby thinks it is fun, or the baby feels itchy feet and feels uncomfortable. Such behavior may not necessarily be a case of cerebral palsy. At this time, parents should also observe whether the child has other manifestations. If there are other abnormalities, they should go to the hospital for examination in time.

Causes of cerebral palsy

1. Low birth weight babies (less than 2500g): including premature babies and full-term small babies.

2. Congenital abnormalities: including brain development abnormalities caused by various reasons. Among patients with cerebral palsy with quadriplegia, 53% are related to congenital abnormalities; among patients with cerebral palsy without quadriplegia, 35% are caused by congenital maldevelopment.

3. Cerebral ischemia and hypoxia: Among patients with cerebral palsy, 20% are caused by asphyxia and birth trauma. The factors leading to ischemia and hypoxia include:

(1) Maternal factors: such as pregnancy-induced hypertension, heart failure, heavy bleeding, anemia, shock, drug abuse, drug overdose, etc.;

(2) Placental factors: such as placental abruption, placenta previa, placental necrosis or placental dysfunction;

(3) Umbilical cord blood flow obstruction: such as umbilical cord prolapse, compression, knotting or entanglement;

(4) Abnormal delivery process: such as breech delivery, delayed labor, surgical delivery (forceps) or use of anesthetics;

(5) Neonatal factors: In addition to asphyxia, there are many cardiopulmonary dysfunction diseases. Such as: congenital heart disease, respiratory distress syndrome, circulatory failure, polycythemia.

4. Kernicterus: It is an important cause of cerebral palsy. With the progress of domestic medicine, the proportion of cerebral palsy caused by kernicterus has decreased.

Early symptoms of cerebral palsy

1. Athetosis:

It often manifests as involuntary "worm-like" movements of the limbs, head, face, or muscles throughout the body. It worsens when you are nervous or excited, and eases when you are quiet. The hyperactivity disappears after falling asleep.

The symptoms of hyperactivity are particularly obvious when performing conscious actions. For example, when taking an object, one cannot touch the object smoothly, but instead raises the upper limbs high or stretches them backwards, shakes the whole body, exerts force, and has increased facial muscle activity and strange expressions. The ability of coordinated movement is extremely poor. Due to the involvement of facial muscles, tongue muscles and vocal muscles, language disorders are often present.

2. Spastic type:

Most children with cerebral palsy belong to this type, which is also the most common clinical type. The child has difficulty abducting both thighs, the knees are difficult to straighten after flexion, and the gastrocnemius muscles contract, causing Achilles tendon contracture. When held upright, the lower limbs are straightened, adducted and internally rotated, and the legs are crossed in a scissor shape. When walking, the patient has a "scissor-like" spastic paralysis gait, with the toes touching the ground. The upper limbs show flexion of the elbow and wrist joints.

3. Ataxia type:

This type is less common and is mainly manifested by signs of cerebellar lesions, common nystagmus, dysmetria, unsteady gait, shaking and intention tremor. Muscle tone is low and tendon reflexes are not hyperactive.