Parents in Idaho want their children to be healthy and safe. Sadly, many infants are born with birth injuries. It’s important to know about these issues and how they can affect children.
What is a birth injury?
Birth injuries often involve trauma. Some, like scalp bruising, are temporary and mild and can gradually resolve on their own. However, there are other birth injuries a child can suffer that are more serious and permanent like cerebral palsy.
What causes birth injuries?
There are different factors that can cause birth injuries. Babies weighing over 8 pounds, 13 ounces are at a higher risk. The bigger the child, the more likely it is that they will have a difficult time traveling through the birth canal and assistive means will be necessary. This might mean the doctor will have to use forceps or vacuum extraction to help ease the baby through the birth canal.
Babies born prematurely before the 37th week of pregnancy are also more susceptible to suffering birth injuries. This is because their bodies are more delicate due to their smaller size. They are more fragile and are more prone to injuries during childbirth.
Difficult or prolonged labor is hard on the mother, but it can also be difficult for the child and lead to birth injuries developing. Obese mothers are also more likely to have babies with birth injuries.
If the baby has an abnormal birthing presentation such as the breech or transverse positions, it can present challenges. Breech is when the baby is in the birth canal feet first while transverse is a position where the baby is down with their back or shoulder in line with the birth canal. Birthing presentations like these commonly result in birth injuries.
Many birth injuries affect the baby’s head, face, shoulder or nerves. If your child has suffered such injuries, you might have cause to hold the doctor accountable.