Question
When my child was about one month old, I felt that they were growing very slowly. I didn’t pay much attention at the time, thinking that this was normal for babies, and maybe they would grow better later. However, by three months, the child couldn’t turn over by themselves and always slept on one side. Moreover, they couldn’t make direct eye contact with us. Later, after going to the hospital for a check-up, it was said that the child had pediatric cerebral palsy.
Answer
Children with cerebral palsy may exhibit different symptoms at different times. The causes of cerebral palsy are numerous, including genetic and chromosomal diseases, congenital infections, brain malformations or developmental abnormalities, fetal brain ischemia, and hypoxic damage to periventricular white matter or basal ganglia due to anoxia. Perinatal factors refer to brain injuries that occur within one week after birth, including hydrocephalus, neonatal shock, intracranial hemorrhage, sepsis, or central nervous system infection, as well as hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Perinatal factors may be an important cause of cerebral palsy in premature infants.