babies with disabilities???

[Kylie1007]

This might seem like a totally random question and I'm just asking out of curiosity after hearing about that 15 yr old girl with cerebral palsy today.
Would her mum have known that she had cerebral palsy (or other disabilities) when she was pregnant with her - was wondering if her baby's movements or development inside her would have been different to non-disabled babies? Can you tell (or sense) that your baby has something wrong with it like that unless you have blood tests or whatever at 12 weeks? Does that make sense?!

 

[Manda&Thomas]

i think its only blood test and certain scans that can show things but even then its not for sure
also i think downs babys are smaller
manda xx

 

[Lola's Mummy]

My friend has a little boy with cerebral palsy and she didn't know until he was born.

 

[libs]

Cerebral Palsy is generally caused by problems at birth (I think there are rare cases where it can be caused by lack of oxygen in the womb but near delivery) so you can't know before. It's generally caused by the brain being starved of oxygen which (in v simple terms) causes brain damage affecting different people in different ways. It's a lot more common amongst prem babies.

So no you can't tell as at that point they're not disabled.

My sister has CP - she was born (one of twins) at 28 weeks - about 26 years ago. My mum didn't know she was having twins (scans were still v rare) and the hospital refused to believe she was in labour (and that she was having twins which she suspected for a long time before) until too late. She was 2lb at birth and spent about 4 months in hospital after birth. Her twin unfortunately didn't survive long enough to come home.

My sister's CP affects her leg movement - she can walk with sticks after years of physio etc but still has to use a wheelchair for long distances. She has normal learning ability, except for some effect on logic (maths particularly is difficult for her) and reaction time which is low due to her brain making new connections where the old ones were lost. Her best friend has CP and a PHD and is a succesful journalist writing particularly about the experiences of disabled people.