So I have had several people ask me what hypotonia means. This is the best description I could find. This pretty much sums up Madie's body in a nut shell.
"Hypotonic infants, therefore, have a typical "floppy" appearance. They rest with their elbows and knees loosely extended, while infants with normal muscle tone tend to have flexed elbows and knees. Head control is usually poor or absent in the floppy infant with the head falling to the side, backward, or forward. Infants with normal tone can be lifted by placing hands under their armpits, but hypotonic infants tend to slip between the hands as their arms rise unresistingly upward. While most children tend to flex their elbows and knees when resting, hypotonic children hang their arms and legs limply by their sides. Infants with this condition often lag behind in reaching the fine and gross motor developmental milestones that enable infants to hold their heads up when placed on the stomach, balance themselves, or get into a sitting position and remain seated without falling over. Hypotonia is also characterized by problems with mobility and posture, lethargy, weak ligaments and joints, and poor reflexes. Since the muscles that support the bone joints are so soft, there is a tendency for hip, jaw, and neck dislocations to occur. Some hypotonic children also have trouble feeding and are unable to suck or chew for long periods. Others may also have problems with speech or exhibit shallow breathing. Hypotonia does not, however, affect intellect."
Though Madie fits some, but not all of the characteristics of hypotonia, there are days that are very challenging. The most being the dead weight of lifting around a floppy baby. Madie's little body is like a 4 month old with a 14 month intellect. Madie is currently getting physical therapy once a week to help with fine and gross motor skills. Some days it seems to help, but other times I feel it just makes her more fatigued. Just the smallest exercise for Madie is like running a marathon.
Though Madie fits some, but not all of the characteristics of hypotonia, there are days that are very challenging. The most being the dead weight of lifting around a floppy baby. Madie's little body is like a 4 month old with a 14 month intellect. Madie is currently getting physical therapy once a week to help with fine and gross motor skills. Some days it seems to help, but other times I feel it just makes her more fatigued. Just the smallest exercise for Madie is like running a marathon.
1 comment:
I do know what you mean . my son has translocation down syndrome and is super hypotonic. He is seven and did not learn to walk until he was four. He only learned to jump last year. A good physical therapist does help. Yes Aidan fatigues extremely easy and now because he had a growth spurt and is morre active his hip and knee joints are even more elastic causing shearring on the knees. It is frustrating. my son finally got to be active like other children and now they want him to be inactive to save his knees.
Anyway , I hoe that the therapy helps. They may want to do a chromosome test to see if Madilyn has mosaic down dynrome as down syndrome is the one of the leading causes of hypoonia. She may have a few of the symptoms of down syndrome but be normal in every other way.
Or she may just have hypotonia and with therapy, growth and persistence she will learn to do things physically espeailly with a lot of love and support from mom :)
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