When is cerebral palsy diagnosed?

Cerebral palsy is a complex disability and diagnosis is not always an easy process. Doctors may suspect cerebral palsy if a baby has slow motor development, has tight or floppy muscle tone, or displays unusual postures.

The time varies when parents are given an official diagnosis that their child has cerebral palsy. Most children with cerebral palsy are not born prematurely. Most are born at full term and it is not until they do not meet the usual infant milestones that any form of disability is considered. If a baby is very premature, early scans (such as MRI) might show that they have an injury to the brain, but at that stage it is often too early to predict the impact.

http://cerebralpalsy.org/about-cerebral-palsy/diagnosis/