UF Health Pediatrics Neonatal Brain Team Clinic

The most frequent brain injury for term newborns is hypoxic-ischemic injury (HIE) and for premature infants is intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and white matter injury (WMI). At the UF Health Pediatrics Neonatal Brain Team Clinic, our specialists make sure your child gets the treatment they need, whether it’s one of those aforementioned brain injuries or less common ones, such as stroke and cystic periventricular leukomalacia (PVL).

About Us

Our clinic:

• Evaluates your baby
• Ensures your baby has the necessary referrals. Most common referrals include Early Steps, physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), speech therapy, neurology, ophthalmology and hearing screening
• Provides feedback to the clinical team (your pediatrician, OT/PT/speech therapist and other consultants)

If your child had an MRI compatible with a neonatal brain injury, it’s important to act now.

It is difficult to detect developmental problems in a baby. We cannot test a baby in the same way that we ask questions to a school-aged child or adult. Early stimulation is important for your baby, as well as early detection of subtle deviations of normal development. The earlier we detect problems or disorders, the sooner we can help the infant overcome them. Infant brains have a great capacity of neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s capacity to remodel, adapt and recover. Although neuroplasticity is present throughout one’s lifetime, this capacity is greater during the first months of life. In addition, the brain can compensate for lost function and maximize remaining functions. Environment and specific stimulation play a key role in neuroplasticity.

Over the first few years of life, the brain grows rapidly. As each neuron matures, it sends out multiple branches (axons, which send information out, and dendrites, which take in information), increasing the number of synaptic contacts and laying the specific connections from neuron to neuron.

At birth, each neuron in the cerebral cortex has approximately 2,500 synapses (contact with other neurons). By the time infants are two or three years old, the number of synapses is approximately 15,000 synapses per neuron. This amount is about twice that of the average adult brain. As we age, old connections are deleted through a process called synaptic pruning. If a connection is NOT used (for example after brain injury), it will get weaker and weaker and finally deleted.

Early stimulation and therapies equals more opportunity to increase synapses, and therefore, more opportunity to maximize the potential of your child's brain.

Telehealth

Please contact your physician to schedule an appointment and they will determine if a telehealth visit is right for you. View our telehealth section for assistance in how to prepare for and connect to a scheduled appointment. If you still need assistance, please contact our office at 352.265.6200 if you have any questions or need help scheduling an appointment.

We appreciate your trust in our clinical care and look forward to serving your health care needs.