The birth process is quite unpredictable and can result in complications for both the mother and the baby. Birth trauma is one of these complications.
What is it?
Birth trauma of newborns is called the pathological conditions arising during the course of childbirth, in which the tissues or organs of the newborn are damaged, as a result of which their functions are impaired.
Types of injury
All birth injuries are divided into:
- Mechanical... These are bone fractures, head injuries, birth tumors, various hemorrhages, injuries of the spinal cord and central nervous system, cephalohematomas, injuries of the cervical spine, nerve injuries, traumatic brain injury and other pathologies.
- Hypoxic... They are represented by damage to internal organs and brain tissues, which leads to hypoxia and asphyxia during the birth process.
Depending on the localization of the lesion, injuries are distinguished:
- Bones.
- Soft tissue.
- Nervous system.
- Internal organs.
Common causes
To the appearance of mechanical birth injuries give various obstacles in the advancement of the fetus along the female birth canal.
The cause of the appearance of hypoxic injuries is a complete or partial cessation of oxygen access to the child.
To predisposing factors in which the risk of child injury during childbirth increases, include:
- Large fetal weight.
- Prematurity of the child.
- A narrow pelvis of a pregnant woman.
- Mother's pelvic injury.
- Incorrect presentation.
- Mom's advanced age.
- The swiftness of the birth process.
- Delaying the delivery process.
- Stimulation of labor.
- Cesarean section.
- Use of obstetric aids and devices.
- Postmaturity.
- Chronic fetal hypoxia.
- Problems with the umbilical cord (entanglement, short length).
Symptoms
- The most common birth injuries are presented swelling of the soft tissues of the baby's head, which is called a birth tumor... It looks like a slight swelling on the head of a newborn. With this edema, babies may also experience hemorrhages in the skin in the form of small dots.
- Cephalohematoma is manifested by hemorrhage in the baby's head. It occurs due to displacement of the skin and rupture of blood vessels, as a result of which blood collects under the periosteum of the cranial bones. The tumor appears immediately after childbirth and increases in size in the first two to three days.
- Muscle hemorrhage often occurs in the neck (in the sternocleidomastoid muscles) and looks like a moderately dense mass of small size (for example, the size of a nut or the size of a plum).
- Among the fractures of bones, the clavicle (often the right) is most often damaged without displacement. With such an injury, when feeling the body of a newborn at the site of the broken collarbone, swelling, crunching and soreness are revealed. Fractures of the femur or humerus are much less common. With them, movements in the limbs are impossible, their lethargy and soreness is noted.
- Nerves can be damaged due to hypoxia and mechanical trauma. The most common nerve problem is damage to the facial nerve. Damage to the brachial plexus is also common.
- Traumatic brain injury can have different severity. In severe cases, the baby may die in the first days or even hours after birth. Also, with severe trauma, organic changes in the tissues of the nervous system are possible, manifested by paralysis, paresis, and the development of mental retardation. Immediately after childbirth, the baby may develop convulsions, suppression of the sucking reflex, breathing problems, severe crying, tremors of the arms and legs, insomnia and other symptoms of CNS excitation. Then the baby becomes lethargic, his cry and muscle tone weakens, the skin turns pale, the child sleeps a lot, sucks poorly, spits up a lot.
- Internal injuries are less common than other types of injuries and usually do not appear during the first time after childbirth. Your baby may have damage to the adrenal glands, spleen, or liver. The condition of the baby worsens from the third to fifth day of life, when the hematoma in the damaged organ ruptures, which leads to internal bleeding and anemia.
Effects
The prognosis for birth injuries is influenced by the severity of the injury, and the timeliness of treatment, and the correctness of the selected therapy. If the child was diagnosed correctly on time and started to heal immediately, in 70-80% of cases he will fully recover.
The least dangerous is damage to soft tissues and bones. The birth swelling usually disappears in one to two days without any consequences for the child's body. A small cephalohematoma resolves by 3-7 weeks of life without treatment. Due to hemorrhage in the muscles of the neck, the child develops torticollis, in which the head of the crumbs tilts towards the formation, and the chin is directed in the opposite direction. This condition is corrected with a special massage.
The size of the hematoma affects the consequences of damage to internal organs. It is equally important how the function of the affected organ is preserved. For example, a large hemorrhage in the adrenal glands in many children leads to the development of chronic insufficiency of these glands.
The consequences of hypoxic injuries depend on the length of the period when the child experienced a lack of oxygen. If such a period was long, a severe degree of delay in intellectual and physical development caused by the death of nerve cells in the brain is possible. Children may develop cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, seizures, nerve damage, encephalopathy and other pathologies. With an average degree of hypoxia in older children, increased fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and problems with posture may appear.
For what hypoxia is and how to avoid it, see the following story:
Therapy
In most cases birth injuries are diagnosed at the hospital, where the child is immediately prescribed the necessary treatment. In case of fractures, the damaged area is immobilized. In a serious condition, the baby is fed through a tube with colostrum, which is expressed by the mother.
In the treatment of injuries, depending on the type of damage, drugs are used for blood vessels and the heart, drugs that affect the central nervous system, hemostatic agents, oxygen therapy, the introduction of vitamins and glucose.
Some types of injuries also require surgical treatment. For example, with a rapidly growing cephalohematoma, the child is punctured. Surgical treatment is also indicated for hematomas of internal organs.
What can you do?
A newborn who has suffered an injury during childbirth should be under the supervision of a pediatrician, as well as narrow specialists, depending on the type of injury (neuropathologist, orthopedist). He is prescribed various rehabilitation procedures, for example, massage and gymnastics courses.
A mother should strictly follow all the prescriptions and recommendations of specialists, not forgetting about the correct care for the baby.
Prevention
The best way to prevent birth trauma in an infant is to monitor a pregnant woman and deal with her health problems in a timely manner. The expectant mother should:
- Planning a pregnancy, excluding smoking and alcohol both before conception and during gestation.
- To be examined and treat chronic diseases in time.
- Monitor nutritional balance and taking vitamins during pregnancy.
- Walk on childbirth preparation courses.
- Try do not contact sick people, and also not to self-medicate.
- Regularly visit a gynecologist in the antenatal clinic.
- Choose a good medical facility for childbirthby talking in advance with its experts.
