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Low muscle tone??
I will admit I am freaking out a bit and am coming here beacuse I don't know where else to go...
Brief history... Our twins were micropreemies born at 26 weeks with no major medical issues. Our DS had severe reflux and was not put on his tummy a lot because he would always throw up, our pediatrician told us to put him in the saucer or jumper instead so we did.
At our 10 month pedi appt she was concerned that he wasn't crawling so we did an EI for PT and he qualified. The PT that came said he has frog leggedness or low muscle tone, at the time I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Other than his legs we dont see any other real symptoms of low muscle tone. But now that we've been waiting to get into PT time I've been googling low muscle tone/ hypotonia (sp??). Now I am freaking out...I'm upset because it feels like a constant roller coaster ride with having preemies and that there might be something really wrong...
Has anyone gone through this or experienced low muscle tone with their babies? Did PT work? Was it a sign of a bigger issue, and how did they figure it out?
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Re: Low muscle tone??
Neither of my kids was crawling at 10 months, FWIW. My son crawled just after he turned 10 months and so far had developed typically. My daughter crawled closer to 11 months and then walked at 18 months. She's got a bunch of things going on, one of which is low tone in her core. She also has hydrocephaly (benign), gravitational insecurity (vestibular processing issue that affects balance and comfort with her body in space), and some OT challenges.
That said, we did PT starting at 3 months - 11 months for torticollis, then again to help her with walking and jumping from 18 months - 2.5 years. At 2.5, we figured out the vestibular piece when she was more able to verbalize how her body felt and we started OT in addition to PT to address the tone challenges.
She is 5 years old now and still receives OT and PT, but she has made amazing progress. At 3 years old, she could not walk up and down stairs. Now, she can do all the structures on the playground and keeps up with peers. Outside observers would never know she has motor challenges.
Stay off google! Low tone can be linked to other things, or it can just be low tone. For us, the tone was NOT a sign of a bigger neurological issue. Good luck and hang in there!
My daughter, Lily, was born at 26 weeks. She has low tone and severe reflux. We have had her in PT (once, every other week) since she came home from the hospital (1 month adjusted). But, it became apparent after a while, this wasn't enough therapy. For a while, Lily's doctors would brush off our concerns. They told us "She was really early. She just needs time to catch up." But, she wasn't catching up. So, this past January, when Lily was 8 months adjusted, we started carting Lily to PT, OT and Speech every week. Since then, Lily really has made a lot of progress. But, she still hasn't caught up, and I don't know if she ever will.
You see, around the time we began adding therapies to Lily's weekly regime, I began to suspect Lily had Cerebral Palsy. Besides low tone, Lily was displaying some other unusual symptoms - clenched fists, early hand preference, uncoordinated movements, and she had retained some infantile reflexes (like the startle reflex). When I told Lily's doctors about my suspicions, they weren't willing to diagnose anything. They told me it was too early - again, they said, Lily just needed to grow. But, they did order an MRI.
In June, when Lily was 14 months adjusted, she finally got her MRI. The MRI showed that Lily had periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) and overall grey matter lose. Coupled with the symptoms I described earlier, the PVL clenched the diagnosis - Mild to Moderate Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy. We still will not know the full affect of Lily's grew matter lose for some time. The Neurologist we met with said the grey matter lose could lead to learning difficulties or attention issues in the future. Of course, I wanted to know more so I googled it.
And, that brings me to my next point, STOP GOOGLING! Yes, google has a lot of great information. Google also has a lot of mis-information. And, more often than not, it just scares us and makes us crazy. Case in point: When I googled, "grey matter lose," I came across a website that said overall grey matter lose is linked to conditions such as Autism, and mood disorders like bi-polar or schizophrenia. Well, of course we can't tell if my daughter has a mood disorder this young, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't have autism. She doesn't show any red flags and she is VERY social. But, now that the all mighty google has told me there is a link between these two conditions, of course I am second guessing my daughters every action. The neurologist we spoke to NEVER even mentioned Autism!
Anyway, going back to your original post. While my daughter did end up having bigger issues, that does not mean your child will. My daughter's low muscle tone could have been more severe than what you are experiencing with your son. Also, you did not mention any other red flags - any other symptoms that would indicate you are dealing with a bigger issue.
It is good your son is starting PT. I would just keep a watchful eye on his progress and his behavior. If you have any other questions, just let me know!
Hi i'm new here and english is not my first language but i PT physical therapy?
My older son has low muscle tone, and has been in physical therapy for a year now, his progress is very slow so we just went to see a neuro doctor yesterday and he ordered some blood tests and if they show nothing then they will take a little part of his muscle and do some tests.
He didnt crawl, never on 4 but moved around by dragging himself on the ass but started that late, he was 10,5 months when he did that first, he never rolled him self as a baby i think he was around 9 months when he could roll from back to stomach ( my younger son did this at 4 months) i was just told that some babys are slow and this was nothing to worry about it wasnt until we had our younger son that we realised how far behind he really was.
When he started walking at 15 months i didnt notice anything it wasnt until a month later that i thought well all the kids in my mom group that have started walking started walking and then like 2 days later they were running. My son had been walking for a month and he still walked like he had just started it yesterday, he was aleays falling really clumsy and his balance wasnt good.
Then i saw that his feet didnt look right to me, his heels were twisted so we went to see a doctor and he got special shoes made for him but the doctor didnt say anything about the low muscle tone.
He started physical therapy at 23 months and i do see some progress, he is doing better, but still not really good enough,
Sorry for steeling your post here i am just so relived to have found other moms with kids like mine, here in iceland i havent found anyone really and just been googeling to try to find things an what could possibly be wrong with him.
Good luck with your son and hopefully PT will help him!!