Assessment of developmental time periods and risks of brain damage in the fetus and neonate.

The life cycles of 18 infants with neurologic morbidity were divided into antepartum, intrapartum, neonatal and infant time periods. Specific events related to risks for each infant were assigned to these periods. In almost all the children multiple, rather than single, fetal, neonatal and infant risks were found, and along with the multiple risks, multiple time periods were found during which the risks occurred. It is difficult, and often impossible, to relate infant neurologic morbidity to a single event or time period.