Hello, I am new to this forum or forums at all. I wanted to get advice from other parents with children who have cp. I am expecting a baby girl in March and wanted some advice on coping with an infant and a child with cp. My son with be two when she is born and he does not walk just yet. Do they make adaptive double strollers? Just looking to connect and get advice. Thanks.

hey, my first son with CP was 2 when my second boy was born 8 months ago. my son also is not walking and pretty much not sitting so was in the same boat. The best advice is get as much help as possible in the first 3 months. I really struggled emotionally having devoted evey minute of our lives for 2 years to Dom only to have this little person turn up and take me away from him. But in the next second wanting to focus all my attention on the baby and try and enjoy a 'normal' baby experience. IT is obviously physically hard when they don't walk and you have a new baby but you also realise it was the best decision to give them a sibling and force you to think about something else other than CP. Re buggies we jsut got a Phil and teds double one but we are now applying for special buggy for Dom thru wheelchair services and will put a buggy pod on side for the baby if I am on my own and out and about with them. Most families i have come across made the decision to stop at one child or had their child with CP after other children so good to speak with someone in same boat as me. There is no doubt that the second child is going to suffer a little from being dragged round appts but we just do as much with the baby as possiblewhen get the time on our own with him to try and make up for it.

Thanks for the reply...it is nice to talk to someone who is in the same boat. Yes, I realise it is going to be a lot of work, but it will be worth it. Does your first son enjoy his brother? I think it will be good for my son and if not now then down the road. My husband and I wanted to make sure that we continued to live our lifes. So being 8 months pregnant... I am just a little nervous. Do you have a website for the stroller or pods? Thanks for your advice.

Hi DomsMum,
I too would be interested if you have a link to the mobility aids your are applying for. I will add the link to the mobility tools section.

Thanks,
-Mike (Admin)

I am the mother of four and my youngest has right-sided semi-spastic hemiplegia with a seizure disorder. My five year old daughter Allie does very well with her older siblings. Her brother and sisters have always been encouraged to treat her normally and it has made her want to try everything that they do. They are very accepting of her limitations and tend to encourage her. She has only recently noticed that she is different than other children, even though she uses a walker for some of her mobility issues at school.

No but I would like to hear other stories. We only have Sarah (she's three) but we're looking to add to our family very soon.

yes, i have a son who is 20 months younger then my child with cerebral palsy. camden will be 3 in december and his lil brother is 14 months old. it tends to be a lil difficult, but its really not that bad.... and they love each other and play etc.

We have three children. Our oldest,then Brian,then our daughter. Brian learned to walk six months,before our daughter was born. He was only 4 1/2 then. That was the best thing,except for having our girl. He was always good with his silbings. No matter what age. Life sure is busy.

visit ulzibat, search wiht google

My Eldest, Ellie, has CP and she was 7 months old when we found out we were pregnant again, the week after that we got her official diagnosis of CP.

It never crossed our minds that CP would be a problem until much later in the pregnancy, and the more we thought about it the more we realised that having a sibling with such a small age gap would be a benefit for her, they can teach each other things and then when they are at school i'll always know that Ellie has her little sister there to keep an eye out for her.

Ellie is now 20 months and Willow is almost 6 months and they get along amazingly, they are always rolling around the floor together and ellie loves to bum shuffle up to Willow and give her a hug and a kiss. Once Ellie's walking life will probably get slightly easier but at the moment we're doing better than i thought we would be.

We have 2 pushchairs, it spreads the weight and it can often be much easier than trying to get a double around the shops, plus if i take them out on my own i have a harness for Willow and Ellie goes in her Pushchair.

Although life isn't always easy with them (nappie times are fun, there pooping at the same time lol) i wouldn't change either of them, they are just amazing

My name is Jessica. I'm a 29 year old woman with CP. I don't know all of the technical terms for it, they didn't use them with my mother in the 80's, but it only affects my left side. My left arm and leg are shorter than the right, I have hammer toes on my left foot and I can't wiggle them at all. The doctors told my mother that my left hand and arm would draw into my chest and be useless, but I proved them wrong there as I use it quite normally.

I wanted to start with a description of my situation so that you can get a good idea of what I can share with you. If anyone has any questions for me as someone who has been where your child is headed, don't hesitate to ask. I always wanted to share what I knew about CP, but it is obviously limited to my own experiences. I would love to be able to help a parent or parent's relax a bit, for their child's sake. And remember... there's no such thing as a stupid question.