The baby was born into the world, he is so gentle and defenseless, and besides, he still cannot tell about his needs and well-being. Therefore, all mothers want to be sure that everything is in order with their child. Some violations are observed in a huge number of children. This does not reduce the need to identify and correct them. One such problem is hypertonicity. But is he always a pathology?
Norm or pathology
It is important to distinguish between muscle hypertonicity in infants as a normal phenomenon in the first months after birth and as a pathological condition at a later age. The fact is that all babies are born with an increased tone of the flexors. In the womb, the baby is in the fetal position. In recent months, the fetus has become large, and if earlier it could change the pose and even kick, which was felt by the mother as pushing in the stomach from the inside, now he spends all the time in the same position. Its legs are bent, pressed to the stomach and slightly apart to the sides, the arms are also bent at the elbows, the cams are compressed. After birth, such a pose for the baby remains familiar and natural up to 6 months. However, if you try to gently straighten the baby's legs or unclench his fists, it will be easy. If the child has hypertonicity, noticeable resistance will be felt and the legs will be only half extended.
What causes hypertonicity
The child’s nervous system after birth cannot yet be called mature and ready for full-fledged activity. The brain and peripheral nervous system continue to ripen. The peripheral nervous system matures earlier. The cells located in it are usually responsible for muscle tension. And brain cells send an impulse into them, which at the right moment “disconnects” the voltage. The muscles relax. However, in a newborn, brain cells are still immature or connections between cells are not formed. The signal, talking about relaxation, does not originate in the brain or does not reach the "target". Muscles remain constantly tense. However, there is a limit to everything. If at first this is normal, then it indicates a slight lag in the development of the nervous system or serious pathology, for example, cerebral palsy. There are also mild cases when the hypertonicity in infants passes by itself. But still it is better not to take risks and consult a doctor. If in one case a child can outgrow his problems - maturation will occur a little later, or he can be helped on his own with the help of a light massage, then in another you can not do without serious medical and pedagogical help.
Causes of Hypertension
The causes of hypertension in infants are harmful factors that can disrupt or slow down the development of the nervous system. Various harmful effects can affect the developing organism in the womb, during childbirth and after birth.
Intrauterine factors: infectious diseases of the mother during pregnancy, exposure to bad habits - alcohol, smoking, drug addiction, intoxication for any other reason, severe toxicosis, severe stress.
During childbirth, the greatest risk is due to birth injuries, such as compression of the skull, damage to the cervical spine, and also hypoxia due to the entanglement of the umbilical cord or prolonged labor.
After childbirth, problems are less common. In this case, there is a danger of injury, severe intoxication, infectious diseases with high fever and convulsions, which generally weakens the body, including the nervous system.
Separately, the Rhesus conflict of the mother and child is isolated.
Signs of hypertension
It is possible to detect hypertonicity in a baby at 3 months. In these children, sleep is usually disturbed. They sleep restlessly and often wake up. When the child lies, he bends back, throws back his head, squeezes his arms and legs. If you try to unclench your arms or legs, then you feel resistance, and the baby may begin to cry. His limbs and chin can sometimes shake. The hands are usually tightly clenched into a fist; the thumb is often inside the fist. Even unsharp light and quiet sounds can annoy the child. After eating, children often burp. With hypertonicity, children walk on tiptoe. If the child is lifted by the armpits and placed on a flat surface, he will not step on a full foot, but only on its front part. The head is often turned to the side.
The symptoms of hypertension in infants are important to be careful. The sooner you see a doctor, the more effective the treatment will be.
The dangers of hypertension
What is the potential for hypertonicity in infants? Firstly, as already mentioned, it can be a sign of cerebral palsy or other pathologies in the functioning of the nervous system. It is important to discover on time. But even if everything is not so serious, hypertonicity is reflected in the development of the child's body. For example, the development of motor skills may lag behind, an incorrect gait and posture is formed. Speech pathologies are also frequent, because the tone can also spread to the muscles of the face and oral cavity. In some cases, the formation of the respiratory system and the physical development of the child as a whole suffers.
Hypertonic Diagnosis
To determine what is behind the increased tone and whether there is a more serious pathology behind it, doctors prescribe such studies. Neurosonography is an ultrasound of the brain performed in the fontanel. This is possible at the age of 1 year, while it is open. This method is safe and allows you to identify brain pathologies.
Electromyography. This method evaluates the state of the child’s muscles - their strength, the speed of nerve impulses passing through them, the symmetry of the muscles at rest and during movements.
Computed tomography of infants is rarely prescribed and is usually used if other methods have not given a reliable result.
If nothing is revealed, and the child has problems with tone, doctors often diagnose PEP - perinatal encephalopathy. This diagnosis can be heard very often, even too much. Overdiagnosis is not uncommon: sometimes doctors put PEPs in infants by mistake. Why it happens? The definition of the disease is too vague, and the diagnosis takes into account many different symptoms. It is very easy to make a mistake. The diagnosis is not severe, and most children with it develop normally or slightly lag behind. Moreover, there are children with PEP and advanced intellectual development - sometimes pathology can provoke the brain to compensatory intensified work.
Treatment
The neuropathologist should prescribe the symptoms and treatment of hypertension in infants. Treatment may include massage, physiotherapy exercises and exercises with fitball, swimming, bathing in decoctions of herbs (for example, sage and motherwort), electrophoresis and paraffin baths. Of course, medication for hypertonicity in infants may also be prescribed. Mom can master many procedures on her own. This is done after careful observation of the work of a specialist and his training in all the necessary techniques. A kid can treat other people's adults with distrust and fear, who do something with him, and this will cause crying and increased tone. A mother's touch will relax him much better. They are associated with warmth, comfort and safety.
Massage
Before conducting a massage with hypertonicity in infants, it is important to ventilate the room well, but there should be no drafts during the procedure. The air temperature can range from 20 to 23 C. It is necessary to massage on a fairly strong table. Before the procedure, wash your hands thoroughly with soap, remove jewelry so as not to scratch the delicate skin of the child. Massage is done with baby massage oil.
How to do massage
It is best to consult a specialist. He will be able to determine what exactly is most stressful in the child and how to help him. But if you want to do it yourself, massage will be useful even for healthy babies. It begins with stroking the hands. It is necessary to move from the palms to the shoulders, very gently and smoothly. Joints and ulnar cavities bypass.
Foot massage is performed in the same way - stroking from foot to thigh. After this, you can begin to bend and extend your legs. It is necessary to take each foot in the palm of your hand and very carefully bend each leg of the child 10 times.
Now you can massage the baby's feet. Draw a figure eight on its sole, slightly pressing on the leg. After that, massage each toe. The massage ends with a gentle stroking from the heel to the toes.
Gymnastics
Such exercises are used to stimulate motor activity and reflexes.
You need to put the baby on its side. Stroking the back from the buttocks to the neck. The child will bend slightly.
Flexion-extension of the toes. You need to take a foot in your hand and press in the area under the fingers and on its inner surface. The child in response to this movement bends his fingers and squeezes the foot. Then you can draw along the outer surface of the foot. The kid will stretch his foot.
Generally relaxing exercises for the whole body are the cradle and the rocker. The first exercise is performed as follows: the child lies on his back. Under his head and back you need to bring his hands and swing him from side to side. The same is true for the lower torso. You need to bring your hands under the buttocks and lower back of the baby and wiggle it. A "rocker" is done differently. You need to take the child by the armpits and swing from side to side.
Gymnastics with fitball
You need to put the baby back on the ball and swing back and forth, holding the sides. Lift the baby by the arms so that his chest comes off the ball. Perform vibrating movements while holding the baby.
Swimming
Swimming in the bathroom is carried out before bedtime - both before the day and before the night. The bath can be filled with warm water with a decoction of herbs. Warm water is already relaxing, and medicinal herbs will even better help reduce tone. For example, first the child takes a bath with a decoction of valerian root, the next day - the leaves of lingonberry, then - motherwort, and then sage.
After this, you can take a break, and then resume the entire cycle. But diving in the bathroom with hypertonicity in infants is contraindicated.