Baby born without a brain?

Question

my friends niece had a baby born with anencephaly, which means he was born without a brain. But has a brain stem which allows breathing and heart beat. Does any one know anything about this? How long does a baby usually sustain life until it dies from this? Im just amazed, I had no idea a human body could function without a brain and just with the brain stem alone. He will never be able to do anything of course but its so sad. Hes perfect in every other way.

Answer 1

Most don't survive past a few days. I know this sounds a little out of place, but most of the time the docotr asks the parent to consider donating the baby's organs. Usually they are perfectly healthy except they don't have a brain.

Answer 2

Born Without A Brain

Answer 3

Baby Without A Brain

Answer 4

It's a tough call: The infant must have some kind of a brain stem otherwise its heart and organs would not function well enough to support its life. If it has a brain stem, then it will have other required lower level brain systems necessary to manage breathing and other automical functions. It most likely doesn't have a cerebral cortex, necessary for higher order brain fuction and conscious awareness. There are many, many unfortunate babies like that in the world. If the child has managed to live a year, it will probably survive for many more to come. This may or may not be a good thing depending upon the circumstances. The tragedy isn't in ending this disabled infant's life, or even in allowing it to continue; the tragedy is in not making use of science and technology to their highest degree, in attempting to find some means of enhancing that child's life, its conscious being. After all, human consciousness is more than just a whole brain, it is the whole body as well. The point, consciousness is more than just a function of the cerebral cortex, it is the whole central and peripheral nervous system taken together. Much depends on the beliefs and attitude of the parents and what they are able to endure for the rest of their natural lives.

Answer 5

I am a 35 year old mother of 2 with a career in healthcare. After a car accident 5 years ago that I bumped my head in, the dr. did the cat scan to make sure I was okay . I was, but it seems they discovered I was born missing my medial and inferior right cerebellum. They were amazed that it was possible. I have found only articles of injury to this part of the brain and by all accounts I should be in a vegetative state or dead. I am not obviously and know nothing about my rare condition from a medical stand point other than the brain will distribute duties to other parts of the brain when babies are born missing parts. I am not sure how that baby is doing since the original post was 7 years ago but in my case I believe the brain is a mysterious thing that is still being explored. Most importantly I believe in miracles that is my choice and belief.

Answer 6

Hello,
My fiance and I found out that I was pregnant with our first child in 2013, we thought that it was a completely normal pregnancy until 2 weeks before giving birth to her. I had to get a fetal MRI and our daughter was diagnosed with anencephaly. We were devastated considering the fact that the doctor who had told us had no bed side manner at all and basically just told us that our baby was going to die 3-4 hours after birth. My fiance and I went through several grieving periods within the next 2 weeks prior to her birth. We had decided on a natural birthing which the doctors told us would make her pass for sure and that there would be no need to monitor her for the simple fact that she was not going to make it through the birthing process. Our daughter was born on October 2nd, 2013 at 4:42 in the evening. We held her for hours, watching her move, listening to her cry. Wondering what we did wrong. She survived the first night at the hospital but we were all still anticipating that she was going to pass away, so to detach ourselves my fiance and I opted for her to go to a hospice house. We visited her every morning and every night for a week when we got a call that she was doing so well that we had to take her home. That was almost a year and half ago, and now our little Zamie Rose laughs, eats solids and bottles, rolls from one side, shows pain and emotions. Yes she will always need help even doing the basic things in life but the life expectancy cannot be determined from a doctor or anyone else. That baby will tell you how long he wants to be here, and if he decides that his venture to this earth will be a short one then you tell your friend and her niece that no matter what, he still chose to have her as a mother. Some greater force in the universe obviously thought that she could handle it, and she can. Like I said our daughter got 6 weeks at the very most, we were told on multiple occasions that she was not going to make it at all. But Zamie wanted different. Doctors don't know everything and they can't predict the future, just stay strong and never lose hope. I wish you, your friend, her niece and that adorable little baby boy the absolute best of luck. Thank you for letting me share my story and my little piece of information :)

Answer 7

Fortunately most do not live very long, however that isn't always the case. My cousin cares for severely brain damaged children in her job at a school. I visited her there one time, and noticed a beautiful boy, about 12 years of age or so. He was staring at the ceiling and every once in awhile he smiled slightly and moved the focus of his eyes to somewhere else.

I asked about him and was told he was born without a brain. The movement of his eyes was being directed by his brain stem .... and he actually wasn't seeing anything.

That was so very sad. Simply a shell without a person. I pray that your friends have the strength to get through this. But be consoled by the fact that the baby knows nothing .... and is not suffering.

Answer 8

my sister's friend is having a baby on friday. her baby has 3x the number of the 13th chromosome. her baby will be born with no brain just the brain stem, and a double cleft pallet and no eyes. how long do you think her baby will live for? and is there anything that can be done?

Answer 9

One of my best friends is raising her granddaughter who was born with just the brain stem. The doctors did not expect her to live longer than a few days at most. She is now 10 years old!

Answer 10

if they haven't died during birth, they will only last from hours to maybe a couple of days before they die. wikipedia has good information on it if you wanted to read about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anencephaly
if she is upset and feels like she did something wrong (happens a lot when something goes wrong in a birth or pregnancy) let her know that it's not her at all. if she wanted to try again she should talk to her doctor about being tested and monitored a lot during the next pregnancy.