United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My daughter was suffered a birth injury on April 8th and has made progress...since then but still does not have full use of her arm. All the drs are telling me that it is mild and that she will recover "spontaniously". I am just so doubtful that could happen and have not heard anyone talk about that happening to then. They keep giving me 90% percent this and that...anyone know of this really happening. Maybe I'm just being impatient and really losing hope fast.

I know that you are staring at that arm every second of everyday hoping/wishing/praying it will start to move. But realistically, it has not even been a month since your child was born. The fact that she has had some recovery in the first month is a great sign, the doctors aren't lying to you about that. I don't like that they're telling you that things are definately going to be fine, because the reality of that is they don't know.

My daughter is 3 1/2 months old now (total plexus injury) and didn't show any signs of recovery until a little over 2 months. Now she has almost full recovery in her shoulder, has strong triceps and some bicep function.

I know it's hard but try to stay positive and wait at least another few months before you freak out. Trust me, changes happen fast!

Best of luck,
Lauren

I think there is spontaneous recovery.
My good friends niece had a OBPI and was recovered in the first few months. She is now 6 and has no risidual effects (she does gymnastics and cheeleading, god bless her)

I also think that you may not hear too much about spontaneous recovery here, because when that happens the parents and family members "move on"

The families posting here need continued support and education and hope, and we do find it here.

I am so sorry about your little girl's injury.

"He'll probably recover on his own." The biggest lie the hospital ever dished out to me. They didn't know anything! That's the standard line that all BPI parents seem to get - it sounds better than, "Hey, your child might have a permanent injury!" I hoped and prayed our son's injury might end up being mild - boy, was I wrong. Until I went to Houston, no doctors who saw our son even knew what they was talking about. That was the most frustrating thing of all.

Your daughter might recover completely, and I really hope that happens, but who knows if that will happen? Studies I've seen from Texas Children's Hospital have shown that even those who do show a certain amount of recovery on their own CAN start to lose it again as young children. Scary, huh? This is a really complicated injury that can lead to a lot of extra problems down the road.

Please take your child to a BPI specialist for an evaluation. The fact of the matter is that, if a BPI specialist thinks surgery might be indicated, you are working with a window of opportunity to help your child gain maximum recovery. And if your daughter is, indeed, doing well, it's important to have an evaluation from a knowledgable expert who can confirm that for you.

Good luck to you!
Janet

Have you seen this site? Good info ...

http://www.injurednewborn.com/

The majority of babies do recover spontaneously. With numbers like 1-3 in 1000 live births affected by bpi there are tens of thousands of babies with bpi born annually, as the previous poster said you won't read their stories here because they have no reason to visit here or post, their baby is fine. The most experienced bpi centers and doctors also quote the figure of 90% recovery, it's sad for those parents whose babies are one of the 10% who need more treatment and some feel anger that theirs did not recover so quickly. I truly hope your daughter is one of the lucky ones-as lucky as birth trauma gets, anyway. It would be a good idea to see a bpi doctor to put your mind at rest as other posters have said, and even babies who have good recovery can have some long term issues.
It's good that your daughter is showing such good recovery already, if she does continue to improve, how about posting here with updates on her progress so that other new parents can see there is hope?
Good luck!

The rate of recovery for nerves to heal is approximetely one inch per month. For full "spontaneous" recovery of a baby's nerve injury to the arm, it will take about 6 months. Please don't lose hope as it will become more apparent with time as far as the extent of your baby's injury. It is wise as Janet said though to see a BPI specialist. My baby is 2 years and 2 months and has about 90% recovery with no surgery. She has a c-8 stretch which has weakened her triceps and left her with delayed use of her ring and pinky fingers on her right arm. We still take her to be evaluated every few months as secondary injuries could occur.

Melanie had spontanious recovery at about 9 weeks. Our neurologist did caution us by telling us that her nerves will never be 100% but they would be close to it. She did give us a slight scare when she was about 3 or 4 but we rom her once a day and she's been fine since.

Cindy

I have two sons with obpi. we were told both would recover and be fine. the first and oldest in now 14 years and he did not completely recover but did have alot of recovery although it was slow coming in. He had some residual muscle weakness in the shoulder that we were told was no big deal and we were dismissed from care. The muscle weakness and imbalances over time was a big deal and lead to subluxing of his shoulder and limited ranges that were getting worse we went back into treatment at 12 years and have been having success ragaining some ground - actually alot of ground with Dr.Pape's protocals. My second son did truly have a complete recovery as far as we can tell although both of his shoulders seem to sit rounded forward - I am having this looked into now - he is seven years. I have one nephew who is 12 years and he did completely recover.
The ones who completely recover seem to have a much quicker recovery - My first son had nothing for about two months - whereas my second son seemed to be good by two months.

I know of a baby that was born with a BPI and had phrenic(?) nerve damage (the nerve that controls the diaphram) At 2 months her diaphram was recovered, and at 6 months she stopped PT altogether.

So yes spontaneous recovery happens. It is good you will se a specialist soon, they will be able to tell you recovery timelines for your child, based on her movement so far.

Good luck, and keep us posted, we are all pulling for you!

Julie