This book describes Floppy Infant Syndrome, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

A Floppy baby is a baby with poor muscle tone

Often the baby is weak and unable to move easily alone

Infants with hypotonia are described as floppy

They may have poor regulate of the head and body

Infants with hypotonia when held feel like a rag doll

The poor baby cannot sit, walk or crawl

A baby with normal tone can be lifted easily

The floppy baby tends to slip from the hands quickly

The parent must hold the floppy baby carefully

The head may fall forward or to the side weakly

The baby is able to have reduced spontaneous moving

The baby has a weak cry and weak milk sucking

Some premature floppy babies improve as the baby gets older

Sometimes the muscle tone returns when the infection is over

Most of the floppy babies need physical and occupational therapy

This will help together with speech therapy regularly

-An original poem by Kenneth Kee

A floppy baby (Floppy infant syndrome) is born with poor muscle tone and muscle weakness.

The syndrome is produced by many inherited illnesses that are present at the time of birth.

A floppy baby is also termed infantile hypotonia.

Healthy muscles are never totally relaxed.

They maintain a certain quantity of muscle tone (tension and stiffness) that can resist movement.

Muscle tone reduces during sleep so if the patient droops down during sleep.

While sitting the patient up, the caregiver may find that the patient sits up with the head flopped forward.

Depending on whether there is an obvious weakness of the muscles or not, the cause is either central nervous system or neuromuscular cause.

Paralytic

Spinal muscle dystrophy

Werdnig-Hoffman disease

There is severe weakness with hypotonia.

Infants make few movements.

They may not be able to raise their arm upwards against gravity.

Non-paralytic

Cerebral palsy

Metabolic disorders such as celiac disease, glycogen storage disease

Genetic diseases such as Down syndrome, Marfan syndrome, osteogenesis imperfecta

Benign congenital hypotonia of unknown cause

There is hypotonia but only mild weakness in the non-paralytic.

Infants with hypotonia appear floppy and seem to be like a rag doll when held.

They rest with their elbows and knees loosely extended while infants with normal tone are likely to have flexed elbows and knees.

They may have poor or no head control.

The head may drop to the side, forward or backward.

Infants with normal tone can be carried up with the parent's hands placed under the armpits.

Hypotonic infants tend to slip between the hands as the infant's arms rise without resistance.

Genetic testing such as karyotype and FISH studies is performed to measure any genetic abnormalities.

Depending on the cause, infant hypotonia can improve, stay the same or get worse over time.

Babies with hypotonia caused by being born prematurely will normally improve as they get older.

Floppy Infant Syndrome in babies born to mothers with myasthenia gravis normally becomes better quickly.

Babies with Floppy Infant Syndrome produced by an infection or another disorder will normally improve if the underlying disorder is treated.

Floppy Infant Syndrome produced by cerebellar dysfunction or motor neuron diseases can progress rapidly and become life-threatening.

Floppy Infant Syndrome that is inherited will persist throughout a person's life even though physical treatment can help improve functions such as mobility and speech.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Introduction

Chapter 1 Floppy Infant Syndrome

Chapter 2 Causes

Chapter 3 Symptoms

Chapter 4 Diagnosis

Chapter 5 Treatment

Chapter 6 Prognosis

Chapter 7 Spinal Muscle Atrophy

Chapter 8 Down Syndrome

Epilogue