Why Does My Baby Have Cerebral Palsy

My 13 year old son has cerebral palsy. The best advice I ever received was this: If you want to move into the acceptance phase to help your child understand how to cope, how to treat it ?

Children with cerebral palsy have an impairment in the area of the brain that controls movement and muscle tone. Many of these youngsters have normal intelligence, even though they have difficulty with motor control and movement. The condition causes different types of motor disability, which can vary from quite mild and barely noticeable to very profound. Depending on the severity of the problem, a child with cerebral palsy may simply be a little clumsy or awkward, or he may be unable to walk.
Some children have weakness and poor motor control of one arm and one leg on the same side of the body (called hemiparesis). Many have problems with paralysis of both upper or lower extremities; this is called diplegia. In some children the muscle tone generally is increased (called spasticity or hypertonia), while others are abnormally limp (called hypotonia). While many of these children understand language, their ability to produce speech may be affected.
Cerebral palsy is caused by malformation or damage to the brain, usually during pregnancy, but occasionally during delivery, or immediately after birth. A report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists concluded that the majority of cerebral palsy cases are not the result of events during labor and delivery, such as an insufficient supply of oxygen (hypoxia).

Premature birth is associated with an increased risk of cerebral palsy. A baby also can get cerebral palsy from very severe jaundice after birth, or later on in infancy from an injury or illness affecting the brain.