I am an pediatric occupational therapist and I worked with a few children
with arthrogryposis. Unfortunately, I wasn't the You are correct in that
the baby shouldn't have probems nursing unless the jaw was involved (which
is fairly uncommon although I have seen it). The other issue may be a
cleft palate. There is an increased rate of cleft palate with children
with arthrogryposis. The good news is, even in the affected joints, you
never know how much movement they will be capable of. Once the baby is
born it may seem that it doesn't have much movement but as it gets
stronger and older it will work muscles around joints that were previously
thought to be stationary and will often get movement. If the mom is
committed to nursing, I would suggest monitoring the baby closely to
ensure intake is adequate and getting in touch with an occupational
therapist right off the bat so they can help with some exercises and
stretches that the mother may need to do right away to maximize the jaw
movement of the child. These children don't have much muscle movement and
therefore don't put on weight at the same rate as others. I would monitor
the baby's weight gain but don't necessarily hold it to the same rate as
the "charts". Feel free to contact me if you need additional information
as I may be able to come up with other suggestions for specific problems.

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