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I don’t know about you but the day I learned that you can shake a baby to death, I actually lost sleep. I was already in college but it was only then that I fully appreciated how fragile a baby really is.

It is a little surprising though, and unfortunate, how many people are still unaware that shaking a baby can be harmful, and how medical attention is delayed because a baby’s silence is usually mistaken for a blessed relief from his squalling.

Dr. Robert Reece, a clinical professor of Pediatrics at the Tufts University School of Medicine, defines Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) as “a term used to describe the constellation of signs and symptoms resulting from violent shaking or shaking and impacting of the head of an infant or small child. The degree of brain damage depends on the amount and duration of the shaking and the forces involved in impact of the head. Signs and symptoms range on a spectrum of neurological alterations from minor (irritability, lethargy, tremors, vomiting) to major (seizures, coma, stupor, death). These neurological changes are due to destruction of brain cells secondary to trauma, lack of oxygen to the brain cells, and swelling of the brain. Extensive retinal hemorrhages in one or both eyes are found in the vast majority of these cases. The classic triad of subdural hematoma, brain swelling and retinal hemorrhages are accompanied in some, but not all, cases by bruising of the part of the body used as a “handle” for shaking. Fractures of the long bones and/or of the ribs may also be seen in some cases. In many cases, however, there is no external evidence of trauma either to the head or the body.”

SBS is usually a result of frustration by an adult, or an adult-sized person, and is thus often related to abuse. Research shows it to be a leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, with an estimated 1,200 to 1,400 children receiving medical treatment for it yearly. Around 25 percent of these babies die. An estimated 80 percent of the survivors, on the other hand, are left with some form of life-long brain injury, ranging from learning disorders to paralysis and retardation.

SBS has been found to more likely result in death compared with short falls, even accidental ones down stairs or from arms of caregivers.

While SBS could be easily prevented, the frustration that results in a shaken baby is not. Babies, some of them high-need, communicate through their cries, something which an exhausted parent or impatient sitter can consider personal. This is all the more reason for parents to prepare themselves for the coming baby.

Sometimes, knowing what to expect is enough. Sometimes, knowing who can be at the end of the line when you’re at the end of your rope can be your saving grace. Warning family members who do not always know their strength may make them avoid rough play or decide to put the baby down for a while when all means to calm it has failed.

On a related note, one state in the country has decided to take the fight against SBS a step further. Child abuse prevention experts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Injury Prevention Research Center and School of Medicine and Duke University Medical Center will undertake a $7 million statewide shaken baby prevention project. The project aims to significantly reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries that occur when frustrated caregivers shake crying babies as well as educate these caregivers to vent frustrations in healthier ways.

Resources:
National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome
Medical News Today - Shaken Baby Project

Tags: Baby, Parenting, sbs, shaken baby project, shaken baby syndrome