Never, Never, Never Shake a Baby
Facts about Shaken Baby Syndrome
The baby is crying and he won't stop.
The other kids are arguing over the TV remote, the baby is crying, and your wife calls to say she's running late. You're worried about the new round of layoffs at your job.
And the baby is crying, crying. You try to give him a bottle, but he won't take it. You pick him up to comfort him, but he won't stop crying.
Dinner is burning in the oven. The other kids are still fighting. You are yelling. The TV is blaring, and the baby is crying, crying, crying.
If he doesn't stop crying, you are going to go crazy, and you grab him under the arms with your two hands, and…
Please, please stop. Never, never, never shake a baby.
The consequences of giving in to a moment of anger and frustration can be devastating for your baby and for your family.
Shaking a baby for even a few seconds can leave him disabled, blind,
hearing impaired or dead.
Babies' heads are large and heavy. Their neck muscles are weak and their
brains are easily injured.
When a baby is shaken, his brain bounces back and forth inside his skull cavity, injuring or destroying brain tissue. The blood vessels feeding the brain can be torn, leading to bleeding around his brain and behind his eyes.
Shaking a baby can cause him to fall unconscious or unresponsive, cause
him to have seizures,
cause his breathing to stop.
Shaking a baby is child abuse. One third of the reported victims die,
and one third suffer permanent, debilitating injuries.
If you are afraid that anger, frustration and stress might cause you to harm a baby in your care, please follow these three simple steps:
Stop. Put the baby in his crib or other safe place and leave the room for a few minutes.
Calm down. Call a friend or a neighbor. Take 10 deep breaths. Take 10 more. Do something for yourself. Change your activity. Sit down, close your eyes, and think of a pleasant place in your memory.
Try again. Go back to the baby and try again to deal with the problems at hand.
And remember: Never, never, never shake a baby.
Other facts about Shaken Baby Syndrome:
The average age of the victim is between three and eight months. Approximately 60 percent of shaken babies are male.
People who shake babies are almost always parents or caregivers, who act rashly out of stress, anger or frustration when the baby is crying uncontrollably. Other triggering events include toilet training difficulties and feeding problems.
It is estimated that males, often in their early 20s (usually the baby's father or the mother's boyfriend) are responsible in 65 to 90 percent of SBS cases.
Immediate consequences for the baby: Cessation of breathing and heartbeat, or extreme irritability, seizures, limp arms and legs, decreased level of consciousness and vomiting.
Long-term consequences for the baby: Learning disabilities, physical disabilities, partial or total blindness, hearing impairments, speech disabilities, cognitive disabilities, cerebral palsy, seizures, behavior disorders, death.
Consequences for the person who hurts the baby: A lifetime of remorse, and maybe time in prison.