02 Feb 🤔Wondering if it’s normal that your baby cannot hold their head up and they are more than 3 months old? 😬Are you wondering if your baby has low muscle tone because they don’t seem to move like other babies their age?

Low muscle tone also known as Hypotonia, is a medical condition characterised by decreased muscle tone or muscle stiffness. 👶🏻Babies with hypotonia, tend to have muscles that feel unusually soft and lack the typical firmness or tension that is present in a baby with normal muscle tone. Hypotonia can affect various muscle groups in the body, including the trunk, limbs, and face. It can be either generalized, affecting the entire body, or localized, affecting specific muscle groups.

The causes of hypotonia can vary widely. Congenital hypotonia may be the result of genetic disorders, such as Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, or certain metabolic disorders. Acquired hypotonia can be caused by conditions like cerebral palsy, brain damage, spinal cord injury, or certain infections. Sometimes the cause for a baby’s hypotonia is not known, yet the signs and symptoms of hypotonia impacts their gross motor skills, fine motor skills and speech and language skills.🥺

Early detection and Early intervention is the key to overcoming the impacts of hypotonia.💪
Here are 3 Early signs of Hypotonia in babies:
1. Baby feels heavy when they are carried because they do not hold their own trunks upright. Most parents will report that they feel like baby will slip out of their arms or baby feels like a “koala bear” that hangs onto you.
2. Baby has poor head control in all positions, including on their tummy, in supported sitting and in supported standing.
3. Baby’s shoulder, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles feel soft and “double jointed”. If you hold baby’s wrist and shake their hands, their hands continue to flap after you stop shaking their wrists.

If you notice any of the 3 above signs in your baby, and you are concerned that baby may have hypotonia, ring My Favourite Physio on📱 (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists today!

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