Cerebral Palsy Symptoms and Signs in Infants and Toddlers

Every parent watches their baby's first months closely — the first smile, the first time they roll over, the first steps. When something seems different, it is hard to know whether it is normal variation or a reason to ask questions. This guide explains the symptoms and signs of cerebral palsy in infants and toddlers, how they tend to appear at different ages, and when a conversation with your pediatrician makes sense.

What Is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture. It is caused by abnormal brain development or damage to the developing brain — before birth, during labor and delivery, or in early infancy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability of childhood.

CP looks different in every child. Some children have mild coordination differences; others need lifelong support with movement, feeding, and communication. The signs below are the ones parents and pediatricians most often notice first.

Early Signs in Babies Under 6 Months

• Unusual muscle tone: the baby feels unusually stiff (hypertonia) or unusually floppy (hypotonia) when you pick them up.
• Head lag: when lifted from lying on their back, the head falls back instead of coming up with the body.
• Overextension: when held, the baby seems to push away or arch their back and neck.
• Leg stiffness: when picked up, the legs stiffen or cross like scissors.
• Feeding difficulty: persistent trouble sucking, swallowing, or coordinating feeding.

Signs From 6 to 12 Months

• The baby does not roll over in either direction.
• They cannot bring their hands together at the middle of their body, or have trouble bringing their hands to their mouth.
• They reach out with only one hand while keeping the other in a fist — a strong hand preference before 12 months can be an early sign.
• Sitting without support is significantly delayed.

Signs After 12 Months

• The child does not crawl, or crawls lopsided — pushing off with one hand and leg while dragging the other side.
• They scoot on their bottom or hop on their knees instead of crawling on all fours.
• Standing with support and first steps are significantly delayed.
• Walking, when it comes, may be on tiptoes or with a scissored gait.

What Doctors Look For: Tone, Reflexes, and Milestones

Pediatricians evaluate three things together rather than any single sign:

• Muscle tone — persistent stiffness or floppiness beyond what is typical for the age.
• Reflexes — newborn reflexes that persist past the age when they normally disappear, or asymmetric reflexes between the two sides of the body.
• Milestones — the pattern of delays across rolling, sitting, crawling, standing, and walking, not one missed milestone in isolation.

Diagnosis often involves developmental screening over time and, when indicated, brain imaging. The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents to raise developmental concerns at every well-child visit — you do not need to wait for a scheduled screening.

When to Talk With Your Child's Doctor

Trust your instincts. If your child shows several of the signs above, or you simply feel something is different, ask your pediatrician for a developmental evaluation. Early intervention services — physical, occupational, and speech therapy — can begin before a formal diagnosis, and starting earlier generally helps more.

It also helps to write down what you observe and when: which side of the body, which situations, how often. Those notes give your doctor a clearer picture than memory alone.

Can Cerebral Palsy Be Connected to a Birth Injury?

Some cerebral palsy has no connection to anything that happened during birth. But in some children, CP follows a brain injury around the time of delivery — most often from a period of reduced oxygen and blood flow, called hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). A difficult delivery, an emergency C-section, a NICU stay, or cooling therapy after birth are reasons the medical records may deserve a careful look.

An important distinction: a cerebral palsy diagnosis by itself does not establish that anything went wrong with medical care. Whether a birth-related brain injury was preventable depends on what the labor and delivery records show — and answering that question requires review by qualified medical experts. You can read more about how that review works on our cerebral palsy and medical negligence page. Several of the firm's verified results involve children later diagnosed with cerebral palsy after missed fetal distress — for example, this resolved case. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Questions About Your Child's Diagnosis?

If your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy after a difficult delivery and you have questions about what happened, Thomas & Wan offers free, confidential case reviews. We review the medical records with qualified experts and give you a straight answer — and there is no fee unless we recover for your family.