romy7 and others who know, is this a good thing? - cp

[madmouse]

ds 8months has a weak right arm/hand that he does not really use and seems to forget about.

it is starting to move more now, and particularly he is starting to fondle, bash and fuss it with his left hand. he also uses his left hand to stuff it in his mouth. does that mean improvement, as in he seems to know it exists now or does he think it is a toy?

we have had a few surprises recently like a toy coming by in two hands and the right hand getting in the way when feeding in the bumbo.

(madmouse prepares to be told that no one can answer that question )

[anonandlikeit]

I'm no expert, but it sounds like a positive step to me.
Certainly at that age ds2 had no awareness of his hands or arms at all. We would have to rub the back of his hands to remind him they were there IYKWIM.
The fact that some awareness is coming from him without a prompt sounds good

[saint2shoes]

tha fact he is aware of it has to be good.
can he sit up? if not do you get him to lie on his front over a rolled cusion thinh(sorry can't think what they are called) we did that a lot with dd, it helped her to see what she was doing iynwim

[PheasantPlucker]

DD1 has left sided hemiplegia, so little/no use of left hand/arm. When she was small one of the exercises we did continually was to help her bring her left hand to meet her right hand in midline, so she became aware of it. The fact your ds is doing this sounds really positive to me.

[Romy7]

sounds great to me lol! like pheasant plucker said - the really important thing is to encourage bringing hands to the midline (for bilateral functional use later)
if he finds it difficult to use that side, or difficult to 'join' the two in the middle, prop him lying down on his side for a bit with hands in front - use rolled up towels to prevent rolling if nec... it's easier to get the hands together then lol.
a gym ball is great too as if you prop him on it on his tummy (hold on lol!) he can bash with one hand and feel the vibrations with the other - and his mouth . in a bumbo you can try and encourage two handed play with a drum - there's a really good elc one that play a tune and has flashy lights if you whack it - you can try and encourage him by gently holding the good hand and helping him whack with the not-so-good side.
make sure you do equal stretches on both sides to keep shoulder joints freed up - and lots of massage on both arms ('sausage rolls' good) to stimulate etc and make the most of that newfound awareness that it exists - patting the back of his hand, stroking down the arm etc.
he's doing great! dd2 didn't mouth anything at all, let alone chew her hands lol - what a clever chap! [grin}

[madmouse]

Thanks all, was wondering who to ask and suddenly I knew.

He likes to lie on his right hand side to reach for things, but learning to lie on the left hand side was a physio exercise that he is only now starting to tolerate. Guess it makes him feel unsafe not having his capable left hand free.

thanks for all the suggestions, 2shoes he can sit with very little support, seems to have strength but lack a bit of balance, he will sit for a minute then topple. would you still use the cushion if he plays on his tummy all the time? (I gave him tummy time from the moment he was home from hospital at three weeks and unwittingly seem to have done him a huge favour with that - great head control and back muscles).In fact it is one of the positions in which he bashes his hands together.

I like the gym ball idea, might see if I can reinflate my birthball.

[Romy7]

if he's sitting unaided you can use the gym ball to strengthen all those muscles too and improve his balance - ask the physio to show you how... i'm not going to try to explain as it's a bit tricky - you have to have a really good grip of pelvis/ thighs, but it does help...
elc also used to do a really small bell rattle with a stick holder - it was one of the first things dd2 managed to hold - light, but a little noise for feedback. took a lot of practise. maybe one of those soft rattle wristlets? that can also help him to 'notice' that hand/ arm more...