Does a baby who loves to frown have cerebral palsy?

If a baby likes to frown, it does not necessarily mean he has cerebral palsy. We know that babies are relatively young and their nervous systems are not yet fully developed. Sometimes they will exhibit some unconscious behaviors. As the baby grows older and their nervous systems continue to develop, such manifestations will gradually improve. Of course, if there are some other symptoms, you should go to the hospital for examination in time and be alert to the disease of cerebral palsy.

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.

4. Other types:

(1) Myotonic type: The main manifestations are extrapyramidal symptoms such as lead pipe-like or gear-like increased muscle tension, and tendon reflexes are not hyperactive.

(2) Hypotonia type: characterized by low muscle tone, but tendon reflexes are present or hyperactive.

(3) Tremor type: manifested as resting tremor, which is related to extrapyramidal system involvement.

5. Children with cerebral palsy often suffer from extensive brain damage, so it is common for them to have other neurological abnormalities. For example, 25-80% of the children suffer from mental retardation; 25-50% of the children suffer from epilepsy.