United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Does anyone know what pain an infant experiences from
a bpi injury and/or during the recovery of the injury.

I have nerve damage in my leg from a back injury and I
know the pain was beyond awful. (I have had four babies, three surgeries, and suffer from migranes so my pain tolerance is high) I still have pain and uncomfortable sensations three years after the injury.

I get so panicky thinking that Abbie could feel any similar pain from her injury. She has never appeared
to be uncomfortable in any way in fact she is such a good natured happy baby.

None of Abbie's doctors have ever addressed this issue.
Any info?

Thanks

Carrie - Abbie's mom

Hi. From what I understand - there are some infants who do experience pain and some who do not. My daughter, now 9, never did show any signs of being in pain. She was always happy. I understand how upsetting the possibility of your little one being in pain must be, but if she is not showing signs of pain she probably isn't experiencing any pain. Trust your instincts.

My daughter cried all the time up until she was around 6 mo old. All the drs told me that she is not in pain from her injury. Well drs she was. Sometimes she would cry up to 8-10 hrs at a time non stop. Motrin was the only thing to stop the crying. Even though you are not suppost to give motrin to a baby (so the drs say)we just had to. We found out later at 10 mo old from the MRI that her shoulder had been dislocated and was in the socket wrong. This is what was causing her pain.

I requested an MRI when my daughter was 6 wks old. I really knew something was wrong with her shoulder, but no one would listen.

I really do not know why your little one is in so much pain, but what my own experience leads me to say look into the shoulder being out of alignment.

I hope this helps, good luck and God bless

Toni

My son appeared to be in pain when he was first born. It is even noted in his hosptial record. For the first few months we were not able to lay him flat on his back he would fuss a lot. So we put him on a Boppy pillow. We figured that pillow supported the shoulder so that it didn't hurt (as much). He is 11 months old now and doesn't appear to have much pain except when we do range of motion. But I must share that while at a special meeting at our church they did a special prayer over pain. I decided to received prayer for Ian's pain. It got better right away. Even his therapists noticed. I think he still has some pain but it has greatly decreased.
Kristie

Carrie - Maia had a LOT of pain and I knew that at the time but wasn't aware of just how much until she had primary and she was a changed child! We did do some acupuncture but it only lasted for about 3 days and we just couldn't afford to go 3 X a week.

She also has post surgery pain for quite a while and she had a lot of pain from her dislocation. So I know that pain is certainly part of Maia's experience.

-francine

My son seemed to have some pain the first few weeks but it seemed to completely have gone away- If your daughter is happy and behaving as if she is not in pain I believe it would be safe to assume she is not in pain.My experience with children/babies tells me first and foremost that the parents know, deep down, if their child is in pain, follow your instinct.

My son experienced pain at random intervals. My Dr attributed it to the nerve regenerating and described it like the tingling/pain that happens after your arm "falls asleep". Their brains do not know how to process this info well so it is just pain. These episodes would last about a week. With tylenol he was happy again. We learned to just give him tylenol whenever he was fussy.

Carrie,

My son is 8 weeks old and has a right bpi injury. He seemed to have a lot of pain when we brought him home but only seemed to bother him when we changed him. The doctor suggested putting button up clothes on him so we wouldn't have to lift his arm over his shoulder. The pain seems to have subsided, but still has some bouts with it. Hope this helps!!

Lisa

Thomas is 8 months now. He cried so bad till he had his primary surgery in Oct. he had 3 nerves injured and had to have 3 nerve graphs after we got over the first few weeks after surgery he was like a different child. He smiles more and is happy. He still can't sit and still has no movement in his shoulder and it hurts him some when we do rom but nothing like he was. He would scream if you laid him down, riding in the car seat, the only way was to hold him and rock him and sometimes that did not work the tylenol and motrin help but ask your doctor first how much you can give.
carron

I know that my daughter had pain when she was an infant. She did not like to be cuddled, or held in any way, shape or form. She would nurse, and then after that she would wiggle and cry until I finally figured out she would stop crying when I put her down. This was another issue that was difficult for me to deal with because I love to hold my kids. I loved it when my other babies would fall asleep in my arms. At the time, I just didn't know why she didn't want to be held. Now, with hindsight and a clearer understanding of BPI, the extrapolization I come to is that I was causing her pain every time I held her.