Yes. Some birth injuries are not immediately apparent and may not show symptoms until months or even years after a child is born. While certain injuries are obvious at birth, others develop gradually as a child grows, misses developmental milestones, or begins to experience physical or cognitive challenges. This delay can make it difficult for parents to connect the injury to events during labor or delivery, but delayed symptoms do not mean the injury was unavoidable.

Understanding how and why birth injuries can appear later is critical for parents seeking answers and legal support from a birth injury lawyer in Philadelphia.

Why Some Birth Injuries Are Delayed

Not all birth injuries cause immediate, visible damage. During delivery, a baby’s brain, nerves, and muscles are especially vulnerable. In some cases, trauma or oxygen deprivation occurs without producing immediate symptoms. The effects may only become noticeable as the child’s brain and body continue to develop.

Newborns also cannot communicate pain or limitations. Subtle neurological or motor impairments may remain unnoticed until a child begins to crawl, walk, speak, or learn more complex skills. In other cases, swelling or inflammation from birth trauma can initially mask the severity of an injury.

Because child development occurs in stages, some injuries only become apparent when a child fails to reach expected milestones.

Common Delayed Signs of Birth Injuries

Parents are often the first to notice when something does not seem right. Delayed signs of a birth injury may include delayed crawling or walking, poor muscle tone, stiffness or weakness on one side of the body, difficulty with balance or coordination, speech delays, trouble swallowing, seizures, learning difficulties, attention problems, behavioral challenges, or sensory processing issues.

These symptoms can have many causes, but they may also be linked to trauma or oxygen deprivation during birth.

Conditions Often Linked to Delayed Birth Injuries

Several conditions associated with birth injuries are commonly diagnosed later in childhood. These include cerebral palsy, which often becomes noticeable when motor milestones are missed, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy caused by reduced oxygen to the brain, and brachial plexus injuries that later affect arm strength or movement. These traumatic brain injuries lead to cognitive or behavioral changes and broader developmental delays involving speech, learning, or social skills.

These conditions often require long-term medical care, therapy, and educational support.

How Medical Negligence May Cause Delayed Birth Injuries

Delayed birth injuries are sometimes the result of preventable medical errors during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Medical negligence may include failure to monitor fetal distress, delayed or improperly performed C-sections, misuse of forceps or vacuum extractors, improper use of labor-inducing medications such as Pitocin, or failure to respond to oxygen deprivation or umbilical cord complications.

Even if a child appears healthy at birth, these mistakes can cause underlying injuries that become apparent later as the child grows.

Legal Options for Birth Injuries Discovered Later

Learning that your child has a birth injury months or years after delivery can be overwhelming. Many parents worry it is too late to take legal action, but that is not always true. In many states, the statute of limitations for birth injury claims is extended for minors, allowing families to pursue a claim after an injury is discovered.

A birth injury claim may help families recover compensation for medical care, therapy, assistive devices, special education services, and long-term support. It can also provide answers and accountability for what went wrong.