Doctors can diagnose the condition in the first few minutes of life. They do routine checks of newborns' muscle tone at 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth. Sometimes hypotonia shows up a bit later, but it will usually be noticeable by 6 months of age.
How do I know if my baby has hypotonia?
Signs of hypotonia in a child include:
- having little or no control of their neck muscles, so their head tends to flop.
- feeling limp when held, as though they could easily slip through your hands.
- being unable to place any weight on their leg or shoulder muscles.
How do you check for hypotonia?
Other tests for hypotonia include:
- Computerized tomography or CT scan or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan to find out if there are any abnormalities or damage in the central nervous system.
- EEG (Electroencephalogram) – test to detect the electrical brain waves and brain activity.
