Hypotonia is an abnormally severe loss of muscle tone. The muscles feel soft and doughy. Diagnosing the cause of hypotonia in a particular child is very difficult. Hypotonia is a symptom of many cerebral, spinal, genetic, or muscular diseases. Injury or trauma can also cause hypotonia.
Doctors use certain medical procedures to determine why the child has hypotonia.
Normally developing children tend to develop motor skills, posture control, and movement skills by certain ages. Motor skills are divided into two parts. Gross motor skills include the ability of an infant to lift its head while lying on the stomach, to roll over from its back to its stomach. Normally, children develop the gross motor skills which enable them to get into a sitting position and remain seated without falling over, balance themselves, crawl, walk, run, and jump by certain ages. Fine motor skills include the ability to grasp a toy or finger, transfer a toy or a bottle from one hand to another, point out an object, follow a toy or a person with the eyes, or to feed themselves.