United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I was wondering how many of your doctors say not to hold your baby or child under their arm pits. I just had a doctor hold our son under his arms(while he had no shirt on) and bounce him around, up and down and from side to side. I stopped him and asked if he should be doing that and he gave me this big lecture about how he knows everything about this injury and he couldn't possibly do what had already done to him since his injury was so severe. Well now I think he injured our son. Our Son who is 7 months has been screaming to the top of his lungs off and on and is hitting and scratching his affected arm.

I am looking for some information that I can print off of the Internet that says not to hold a bpi baby or child in this way, preferably backed by a doctor, so I can report this doctor to his upper management. If anyone could lead me in that direction it would be very helpful.

Another thing this doctor said is that he sees up to 4 babies per month with this injury around the time the rookie doctors are released. Can you believe that???

Susie,
I'm sorry but I had to read your post four times!!! I cannot believe a doctor actually did this - especially one who specializes in bpi. We have always been so careful picking our child up. She is now three years old and wears a sign on her bookbag reminding the bus personnel not to pick her up under the arms. Every single person at her school has been personally reminded not to pick her up that way. I just can't believe a doctor would be that stupid!

I can't help you out with documentation but I'll try to search and find some. I'm still shocked that a doctor did this!

Susie

I am so sorry to hear you baby was possibly hurt more.

I am 63 and in 1940 the doctors told my parents no one was to lift me up by the arms or under my arm...

I will try a search also.

Kath

Oh my gosh! I just can't believe it! We were really upset because our specialists never told us not to pick our baby up under the armpits, and we did it for a long time before someone brought it to our attention. Funny that he is talking about the rookie doctors, sounds like he is one of them!

Any ways, an article I just read the other day by Ramos & Zell, "Rehabilitation Program for Children with Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury" did mention "positioning and carrying techniques should be reviewed to make sure that the affected extremity is always supported and protected whether the infant is supine, prone or sitting". They didn't get into specifics. What about getting a BPI specialist or one of their assistant nurses or therapists to fax a note regarding this or e-mail that you can use in your complaint. So glad you are following up on this. Hope your little one will be okay.

Elisa

Thank you for all your thoughts. I will work on the suggestions. I am so mad at that doctor.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Any site recommendations for specific ways of handling BPI person/baby/child?

Susie

This is the first site I found when I found out Justin had BP. Under the "precautions" it says Do not lift child under armpit.
I am so sorry! What a horrible experience!
http://membrane.com/bpp/protocol.html

Take some video of your baby and the reactions he is having so they cant say you are just imagining it!

This is terrible and I cannot believe the doctor did that. No you shouldn't lift under the armpit. My son is four and I try not to lift at all. At school they have all been warned too about the seriousness of this. What a doctor and I cannot believe he calls himself a specialist !!!!

Susie, in the awareness materials on this site, I found a brief statement about positioning in the document "Information for Parents of a Newborn with a Weak or Paralyzed Arm" (direct link - http://ubpn.org/awareness/A2002newparents.html or .pdf) -- it's under the subheading "The 1st Weeks of Life." I initially looked in the Info. for Schools document b/c I thought I remembered reading something in there, but I could not find it. I'm surprised actually and would love it if UBPN could include that in next year's school info. sheet. I realize that for older school children, picking them up wouldn't likely be an issue, but it could be for some of the younger ones.

I would suggest reading some of the other documents in the awareness section. You might find something there and it even if you don't find anything, there's a lot of great info. there anyway. There's also a medical emergency / alert card that you can print out and carry with you or have your child carry. It doesn't specifically address lifting under the arms, but does mention positioning in general.

I hope your son is feeling better.

-Tina