United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

13 month old with right arm obp. Doctors and nurses stresses not picking child up with hands under the armpits. One of her two BP doctors, who is very well respected, told us it's ok to pick child up under the arms. He, and earlier his assistant, picked child up arms first and it scared us. Her second doctor eventually said it's ok to pick child up under the arms now, but not pick child up by the arms themselves.

We don't want to hurt child by picking child up by the arms every now and then, but on the other hand, it could help to straighten out the bend in the elbow? What do you think?

Hello,

My daughter has a very severe injury and she had surgery at 4.5 months, she is now 18 months old. I have always picked her up under her arms and none of her Dr's or three therapists found anything wrong with it. However, I would not and still will not pick her up by her arms, even for a child without a BPI the joints could easily dislocate and cause pain and a visit to the hospital. Your Dr is probally worried about you dislocating the babies shoulder which you could do if you pick the child up under one arm, if you use equal force under both arms there is no reason why you can't pick the child up that way. As far as straightening out the elbow you should talk to the Dr and/or therapist for exercises that can help.

Hope this helps

Thank you very much for this helpful information!