The muscles are flabby, and walking is unsteady. The effects are similar to those of drunkenness - which affects the same part of the brain . Mixed Some of those affected have symptoms of more than one form of the disease. Such mixed cerebral palsy reflects damage in more than one area of the brain and is likely to be especially severe. Other problems often are part of cerebral palsy, such as loss of hearing, impaired vision, and difficulties with eating and speech.
Many affected children have occasional problems with bowel control.
Cause The most common immediate cause of the brain damage is abnormal bleeding into the brain. In childhood such bleeding may result from a severe infection such as meningitis or from a violent head injury. It was once thought that most cerebral palsy resulted from bleeding into the brain around the time of birth caused by lack of oxygen during a difficult or prolonged delivery. But evidence now suggests that most of the brain damage occurs during prenatal development, well before birth. The risk of a child having cerebral palsy can be raised by a number of factors during the mother's pregnancy.