United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hallo there ! I am lucky to have found this community. I am writing from Bangladesh.Unfortunately my son suffered from Brachial Plexus Injury during Labour. He is now just 15 days old now. I have started to explore about this BPI since he was two days old . The Neonatal specialist and Neourologist infromed me that this heals spontaneously with the help of Physiotherapy.No body can mention the actual time required for recovery.I want to hear from parents who has seen their child recover from this BPI without surgery . What method of treatment was followed in that case . Somebody please reply.

Hi Munam and welcome to this message board and also congratulations on giving birth to a sweet little baby boy!

There are a lot of things online here that you can read to get more information about your baby's injuries.

Here is one page in particular - it is a page directed at new parents

ubpn.org/awareness/A2001Rnewparentguide.html

Also - if you go to ubpn.org/awareness and then press the link for BIRTH INJURIES there will be much information there for you to read as well.

And here's more: http://ubpn.org/ubpnweb.nsf/web/articles.html
this is the area on here where there are articles written by the specialists of Texas Childrens Hospital

and one more recent site:
www.obstetricalpalsy.net written with Pr. Gilbert in Paris

A very high percentage of children do recover from this injury without the need of surgery so there is indeed a lot of hope for spontaneous recovery but a small percentage have permanent and severe injuries and that is what will be determined with your son in the next few months.

The basic thing that they look for is biceps - the hand-to-mouth movement at age 4 months.

Does your child have any movement at all at this time?

Do you have daily access to the internet and to email?

Sometimes the information can be overwhelming to read all at once. I also hope that you find the ability to set aside some of your worry and enjoy your sweet little baby.

keep in touch and keep on asking questions ok?

-francine

www.injurednewborn.com/maia/homepage.html
www.injurednewborn.com

Munam - I assumed that you were the mom because I said "on giving birth to your son" but I just realized that it was really wrong of me assume that you were the mom. I am not familiar with names from your culture and country. Please forgive me for making this assumption.

-francine

I'm so glad that you found this message board so early on -- the people here are very helpful.
From the research that I did, I also learned that the return of biceps function is the key to whether surgery is needed or not. Most kids do recover spontaneously from a brachial plexus injury, 6-12 weeks after birth. However, some do not and can be helped by nerve graft or nerve transfer surgery before they turn one year old. From what I read, it seems that most neurosurgeons will operate if there is not significant biceps function by 5 months of age (some operate as early as 3 months, others wait until 8 months or later). There is research to show that if a child does not have biceps function by 5 months of age, they will have a better recovery with surgery than without. They look for the child to be able to bring their injured hand to their mouth by bending at the elbow.
Does your child have any arm and hand function right now? Please keep us posted on his recovery and congratulations on the birth of your son.

Munam my son has a left BP injury. We were told that his arm was limp after birth because of his broken collar bone. After 4 weeks of no movement in his arm we finally said NO WAY! A doctor finally said I think it a "erbs palsy" injury and from there the roller coaster ride began. We started occupational therapy @ 6 weeks old, which was 2xs a week. My son was examined at 9months old for the nerve (primary) surgery and was denied.(HOORAY) he had good function and did not need it. We continued the Ocuupational therapy. At age 3 we were evaluated for the secondary surgery (MOD QUAD) and we had 3 different doctors tell us "your son would benefit from this surgery". OK, so we scheduled it and Aug 2000 my son had the surgery. I feel blessed he didn't need the first surgery, I met a lot of little ones that NEEDED it. The secondary surgery definately gave him "better" movement of his arm. I am glad we did it for him. My son presently gets 2xs OT, 1x PT and 2xs speech. I wish you good luck in your search.

hi there, my name is mary (marymom)I live in Florida,USA, My son
will be 3 in 2 months and has a left BPI. He has no
surgery altho we were advised at one point to have
surgery. He has excellant recovery, I will email you.

Hi, Congrats on the birth of your sweetie! be sure to take lots of breaks from this information to enjoy your baby. My child has right BPI and her arm did not move for nine weeks. We kept in contact with TExas Children's Hospital by video tape at age 3 months, 8 months and 16 months so far. She did have shoulder shrugging and hand movement. 9 weeks was the magic number- She moved her arm back by her ear that day and every day she got more function from that point on by 3 months she had hand to mouth. So far she has been turned down for the primary and the mod-quad by 2 seperate BPI specialists BUT she has not made a full recovery. This was a surprise to me as I kept thinking she would get back 100% now I realize we will have to keep up therapy all her life- we do therapy 3x a week and I feel this is one reason she has gained so much. My daughter has full range and can touch her back , behing her neck and reach all the way up. Each child has a different path of recovery the more severe the injury the more intervention needed. I feel that by being in touch with specialists and keeping up on the information I can make good choices for my daughter. We recently had a scare about if her shoulder joint was Ok but have since learned it is pretty good but not perfect. There are children with good fuction but not a full recovery out there. I wish you luck in your search for answers. Take care! Carole McPhee

Hi Marymom!! I was wondering if you could also email me about your son and not having any surgeries...My email is aries_in_mn@hotmail.com

Carole,

Thnak you for your response. I am actually the babys father. I am doing all the research . I wish your child will never require Surgery . In most of the cases they dont requier surgery that s what the child specilaist and the litareture tells . I am writing from Bangladesh . There is not Peadtric Neourologist in our country with specializaton .There are a handfull specialist who are actually Doctors of Child devlpoment . So I am depending a lot on the internet and Foreign Doctors. I also learned about Texas Children Medical Hospital . Dr. Nath is the specialist of BPI .I am alraedy in touch with him.I need to know how you maintain contact with Dr, Nath by sending VIDEO . Do you live far away ? What video you make . Let me know in Full detail about Video thing . Do you send VIDEO tape or VCD? In what format? Your reply will help me greatly because in that way I can send Video. By the way what is the consultation Charge of Dr. Nath if he advise by Video ? What was the initial movement in the arm of the baby .What were the devlopments that followed. I will look forward to your response. Regards.

Munam Siddiqui

Carole,

Thnak you for your response. I am actually the babys father. I am doing all the research . I wish your child will never require Surgery . In most of the cases they dont requiere surgery that s what the child specilaist and the litareture tells . I am writing from Bangladesh . There is not Peadtric Neourologist in our country with specializaton .There are a handfull specialist who are actually Doctors of Child devlpoment . So I am depending a lot on the internet and Foreign Doctors. I also learned about Texas Children Medical Hospital . Dr. Nath is the specialist of BPI .I am alraedy in touch with him.I need to know how you maintain contact with Dr, Nath by sending VIDEO . Do you live far away ? What video you make . Let me know in Full detail about Video thing . Do you send VIDEO tape or VCD in what format? Your reply will help me greatly because in that way I can send Video. By the way what is the consultation Charge of Dr. Nath if he advise by Video ? What was the initial movement in the arm of the baby .What were the devlopments that followed. I will look forward to your response. Regards.

Munam Siddiqui