Cerebral Palsy Causes

Most mothers chose a healthy environment to give birth to their babies. They choose the best medical advisors and maternity method to ensure the baby is normal. But some times it isn’t the case. One of the most common causes of the Cerebral Palsy (CP) condition is lack of oxygen supply to the brain during delivery. It is called referred as birth asphyxia. This happens rarely, in the commotion that ensues during delivery. With lack of oxygen the baby generally is affected with severe neonatal encephalopathy. The infant is likely to suffer from seizures, become lethargic, jittery, and irritable, have feeding and breathing problems and in dangerous cases also go into a coma. Apart from this, there are other critical factors that give rise to CP in the early life of the infant. Certain accidents to the brain during the crucial developmental stages can prove fatal and be responsible for CP. These include genetic disorders, or strokes which rupture the blood vessels. Even blood clots result in CP at an early stage. It was Sigmund Freud in 1860 who believed that prenatal conditions and early birth defects are the main causes of CP. He had differed from the original reason of Walter Little who considered it a case of birth defect after the baby was born.

Another major cause that erupts in CP is child abuse during infancy. This could be from a mother who does not have patience and shakes up the baby often. It could be the au pair or a caretaker who has no tolerance either. The baby is traumatised when shaken up. Obviously the infant is too immature to understand the abuse and cannot withstand the shaking. This results in haemorrhage in or just outside the brain. The developmental abnormalities are compounded by the fact that they (babies) are at risk of constant abuse. In fact a sharp incident may result in killing the child too.

There are various prenatal, neonatal and birthing problems related to CP, sometimes, there is no one definite cause. Even a mild form of CP needs constant care if it does not have to degenerate further in later life. If the baby trying to crawl in a strange way, it means its time to visit the doctor. The cause of this is the muscle which depends on the brain from where it gets signals, is unable to interpret it. The cerebrum is damaged and hence it cannot read the signal. The latest research reveals that the main causes of CP occur six months prior to birth. It means the Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) white matter of the brain is damaged, brain develops in abnormal manner, some infections, such as toxoplasmosis (parasite infection), herpes and herpes-like viruses, and trauma to the unborn baby's head, or due to Intracranial haemorrhage, which results in stroke in baby’s brain. Anything that causes the premature birth can result in CP. The infant is unable to cope with stress of life outside the womb and suffers long term.