United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Chloe lifted her entire arm up off the bed this morning and lifted it all the way above her head!!!!
(She was laying down and she was half asleep, but she did it)
She has been moving at her shoulder, but never like this. YIPEE SKIPEE.
I think she might just regain full use of her arm.
PT does really work!!!!
If I could just get her to start using those other muscles now.
Has anyone else had an experience like this?
Chloe seems to wiggle her arm around more when she is semi-conscious. The other day I set her down in her bassinet on her non BPI arm and put her BPI arm across her chest which kept hitting her in the face.
I think she got mad because she started moving (wiggling) that arm. She'd strech it all the way out and then it would flop back in her face again.
I hope you guys don't think I am cruel because I am letting Chloe's arm hit her in the face. I just thought that if she really wants her arm out of her face she will try to move it.

Lets Celebrate.

And no I don't think you are cruel. I used to pinch the hand of my LOBPI daughter, now age 20, and look for a response. Finally one day she made a face, as if to cry. I would be the last one to call you cruel.

Don't forget to write it down in the baby book. Along the way, all those notes in her baby book were used by Doctors and School Staff.

Congrats,

It's the best feeling in the world. The first movement I discovered in my son is that he slid his arm up ( with the mattress as support) while he was sleeping. At first I was convinced that my husband had moved the arm while I wasn't looking. Until I moved it back and we both watched as he slid it up again. Other movements in his arm seemed to happen much more quickly after that.

No- I don't think you're cruel either. Our OT told us that having the child realize that they do have another limb is so important.

I am so happy to hear of your daughters progress. I'm new to this board (my daughter is 7 weeks old and has Erb's palsy). May I ask how much functionality your daughter began with and how old she is now?

I'm hoping to see improvements in arm functionality but thusfar they have been very minute. She does have full ability in her hand and fairly good wrist function. No movement in the biceps... and only some slight triggering in the shoulder (for Adduction).

Congrats on the movement!!!!

Cindy

Congratulations!

That IS VERY exciting!

Way to go Chloe!!!!!!!!!!!

So glad to hear of your daughter!!!!
My daughter began getting some movement back in her hand, and then she was able to move her arm while laying on her back. The progress was slow, but it happened.
We went to see Dr. Nath for a pre-evaluation before my daughter was going to have surgury (at a clinic about 2 weeks before) and they weren't even worried about doing an EMG because she wasn't doing any of the movements they look for to find bicep function. Well, we were unable to come up with the money to go to TX, and ended up going to Shriners in Philly.
About 2 weeks after she was supposed to have her operation in TX, she lifted her arm for the first time (it was stuck down between her body and the tray on her bouncy seat). I about hit the floor.
2 weeks after that we were off the the Shriners. Well, needless to say, her biceps had finally begun to work!! She can just barely get her hand to her mouth (done it 2x) but she can't turn her wrist over or anything. Every day she still learns something new. She just started crawling a few weeks ago.
Anyways, didn't mean to write a book. All I meant to say is that my daughter started out real slow as well, then her hand came back, then shoulder shrugs, then bending the elbow, but she was able to move it much earlier when she was laying on her back then when she was sitting up. She is 8 months old now.

That is sooo GREAT!!!!

Hooray for Chloe!
Hope this is only the beginning of more movement.

Nancy

Chloe is now 2 1/2 months old, but before this we had minimal shoulder shrugs and spontaneous hand movement.
Ever since we started the PT she has been doing so much better, her internal rotation is still pretty bad she won't externally rotate her arm at all. She only has extension in her arm at the elbow, no flexion.
We saw some docs at Children's Memorial here in Chicago and they said they see a flicker of biceps.
We also got a script for a splint for her wrist because she has no extension there so her wrist is always tucked down and her thumb is always inside of her palm.