SMA warning signs

What to look for if you think your infant has SMA?

Generally SMA infants start to show signed around two months of age.
Sadly the first signs of SMA symptoms are so common they often get mis-diagnosed or simply overlooked.
I've removed these common symptoms and just listed the ones that will get your doctors attention:

- Loss of reflexes.

Toe Curling Reflex: When the inner sole of a baby’s foot is stroked, the infant will respond by curling his or her toes. When the outer sole of a baby’s foot is stroked, the infant will respond by spreading out their toes.
Stepping Reflex: When an infant is held upright with his or her feet placed on a surface, he or she will lift their legs as if they are marching or stepping.
Patellar reflex: Striking the patellar tendon with a tendon hammer just below the patella stretches the quadriceps muscles in the thigh

- Frequent choking while drinking from bottle

- pitting or a cellulite look to the muscles in the thighs and stomach

When a muscles begins to atrophy, it will commonly appear like there are small dents or curdled like cellulite.  This symptom alone isn't a huge deal but combined with any other symptoms (above) is a real concern.

If your baby presents any of these symptoms, see your pediatrician and demand they do a genetic blood test for SMA.  A Genetic blood test yields 99% results, if the disease was inherited.  The small 1% that pass the test, yet still has SMA, is caused by a mutation where the parents are not carriers.  A muscles biopsy is not required to diagnose SMA.  The test results usually take about three weeks to come back.