How do I Determine if My Baby’s Disability Is Due to a Birth Injury?

Determining if your child’s disability resulted from a birth injury before, during, or after childbirth is challenging. Once your child shows symptoms indicating the cause for concern, you may wonder if medical negligence has contributed to your son or daughter’s disability. The best way to identify if a birth injury has caused your child’s disability is to speak to a birth injury attorney.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 3,613,647 babies are born yearly in the United States. Of this sum, for every 1,000th birth, six to eight babies will suffer a birth injury during or after birth. Furthermore, up to 61.1% of newborn or infant birth injuries in the United States have occurred at for-profit, public hospitals.

If you believe your child’s disability may have resulted from a birth injury, there is no time to waste. Top-rated lawyers at The Birth Injury Lawyers Group can help you identify if medical negligence or malpractice has contributed to your child’s suffering and difficulties.

What Are Common Symptoms of a Birth Injury?

Symptoms of a birth injury may appear immediately after childbirth or years later. Depending on your child’s injury circumstances, you may be unaware that anything out of the ordinary has occurred during the labor and delivery process. If a doctor is tired, makes a mistake, or fails to offer the highest standard of patient care, your child can be significantly affected by their negligence temporarily or for the rest of their lives.

Parents and caregivers often know their children best. A mother or father may be the first to pick up on abnormal symptoms if babies miss age-appropriate milestones or require extra assistance feeding, sleeping, going to the bathroom, walking, or sitting up. For this reason, it is crucial for parents to be aware of the signs of birth injury in newborns and infants.

Signs of a Birth Injury to Watch for Immediately Following Childbirth

In some severe cases, your child may show symptoms of a birth injury immediately after birth. Exhausted parents unaware of what signs to look for may be unaware their child has ever been harmed during labor or delivery. If your child has suffered from a birth injury, you may notice common birth injury symptoms after birth, including the following:

• Excessive drooling
• Low oxygen levels
• Low heart rate
• Seizures
• Sensitivity to light
• Weak or absent reflexes
• Skull fractures
• Muscle stiffness or looseness
• Facial nerve injury
• Difficulty suckling, eating, or swallowing
• Arched back while crying
• Hand curled into a claw-like shape
• High-pitched crying
• Excessive crying or fussiness

Babies who present with any of the following symptoms immediately after birth may have suffered brain damage during the labor or delivery process. Brain damage during or after birth can occur from birth asphyxia, long or difficult labor, maternal or fetal distress, or blunt force trauma to the head from commonly used birthing tools like forceps or vacuums. Babies who experience brain damage are at a higher risk of developing life-long disabilities like cerebral palsy, which affects your child’s motor skills and can take years to diagnose.

Birth Injury Symptoms from Ages 12 to 24 Months

As your child ages, you may notice other birth injury symptoms that may not have been apparent immediately after birth. Delayed symptoms and signs may appear as your child becomes slightly more independent and misses milestones appropriate for their age group. Signs of a birth injury to watch out for from ages 12 to 24 months include the following:

• Involuntary pulling of the neck
• Muscle spasms or lack of muscle control
• Difficulties eating, drinking, grasping utensils, or using cups
• Delays in speech 
• No speech development
• Lack of movement 
• Poor coordination
• Vision and/or hearing problems
• Unable to sit, stand, walk, or crawl without help
• Difficulty bringing objects to mouth
• Not turning their head after loud noises
• Cannot pass small things from one hand to the other
• Intellectual disabilities
• Difficulties walking or crawling

Birth Injury Symptoms from Ages 2 and Above

Depending on the type of birth injury your child suffers, their symptoms may be delayed or unrecognizable until they reach up to two years of age. Certain birth injury symptoms may become more noticeable as your child reaches the pre-school age as they fall behind or struggle to keep up with their peers at school or during play dates or activities. Common symptoms of a birth injury you may notice up to or after the age of two include the following:

• Tremors or shakiness
• Muscle looseness or stiffness
• Problems with fine motor skills
• Stiff or jerky reflexes
• Developmental disabilities
• Unable to draw circles or straight lines
• Unable to understand entire sentences
• Difficulties walking up and down stairs
• Difficulties running
• Blindness, deafness, or muteness
• Problems dressing, eating, or drinking without help

If your child displays any of the following symptoms, they may have suffered from a birth injury during or after childbirth. Common disabilities resulting from birth injuries, including cerebral palsy, birth asphyxia, skull fractures, brain damage, fetal stroke, and Erb’s Palsy, are typically very preventable and may indicate medical negligence or malpractice.

How Can a Birth Injury Lawyer Help Me?

Since it can be challenging to determine if your child’s disability results from a birth injury, it is always best to speak to a lawyer from The Birth Injury Lawyers Group. Attorneys for birth injuries can help you determine if your child was injured during or after birth and how the injury may have happened. If it is determined a birth injury occurred before, during, or after birth, birth injury lawyers can file a claim for medical negligence against responsible doctors and medical professionals.

Birth injury claims can be complex as the burden of proof lies on the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s birth injury attorney. Lawyers for birth injuries will investigate if medical negligence contributed to a birth injury and how doctors may have failed to offer the highest standard of care to laboring mothers or unborn babies.

Hiring a birth injury lawyer increases your chances of winning a settlement to recover your losses. Your attorney can offer expert legal advice and help you navigate tricky legal proceedings after you file a claim against at-fault doctors or medical professionals.

Talk to a Birth Injury Lawyer

When you notice your child is struggling more than their peers, you may wonder if a birth injury has influenced your child’s health or led to a disability. Determining what causes your child’s disability can be difficult. The best way to identify if medical negligence impacted your child’s health is to speak to an experienced lawyer for birth injuries.

Birth injury lawyers are well-versed in different types of birth injuries and how a doctor could have caused them. The Birth Injury Lawyers Group’s top-rated, highly-experienced lawyers can handle your birth injury case, no matter how complex. We can fight on your behalf for fair compensation so you can focus on what matters most, your family.

Don’t wait to get help if you believe your child may have suffered from a birth injury before, during, or after childbirth. You have options if a birth injury or medical negligence has caused your child’s disability. Learn if you could be eligible for compensation today.