Shaken Baby Syndrome NEVER, NEVER, NEVER SHAKE A BABY!!

The dangers of shaking a baby are becoming more and more apparent often with disastrous results. The sudden shaking motion causes the baby’s fragile brain to slam against the skull wall, often resulting in cerebral hemorrhage, contusion and edema, bleeding within the brain, or tears in brain tissue. The potential outcome is generally severe brain damage or death.

WHAT IS SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME? (SBS) SBS is the medical term used to describe the violent shaking and result sustained from shaking. Shaking must be of such a force that an independent lay observer would recognize the act as dangerous. SBS most often occurs when a child receives numerous rapid shakes; head impact is not necessary, but does frequently occur.

STATISTICAL FACTS Shaking a baby or child can cause severe consequences such as blindness, brain damage, seizures, broken bones, paralysis and even DEATH. The number one reason a baby is shaken is because of inconsolable crying. Almost 70% of the perpetrators of Shaken Baby Syndrome are male.

STATISTICAL FACTS More than 50% of offenders are natural parents, 17% are non-relative caregivers, 17% are boyfriends of the mother, and 6% are stepparents. The average age of the offender is 22 years old with a range of years old. 80% of the offenders have no previous history of child abuse.

STATISTICAL FACTS Tossing a baby in the air or bouncing them on your knee has the potential to cause damage, but not severe enough damage to cause SBS Shaken Baby Syndrome accounts for an estimated 10-12% of all deaths due to abuse and neglect in the U.S. A baby’s neck is too weak to support his heavy head. Consequently, when shaken, the head flops back and forth, causing serious brain damage.

STATISTICAL FACTS A baby’s brain and the blood vessels connecting the skull to the brain are fragile and immature. Therefore, when a baby is shaken, the brain ricochets about the skull, causing blood vessels to tear away and blood to pool inside the skull.

What are some reasons caregivers shake their babies?

A caregiver momentarily succumbs to the frustration of responding to a crying baby by shaking SBS usually happens when the caregiver is angry and loses control Caregivers may be inadequately prepared for parenting.

They may be under stress and cannot deal with the frustrations of parenting. The caregiver personalizes the infant’s crying as inadequate caregiving.

WHAT DAMAGE CAN IT CAUSE? SBS can be lethal- ONE IN FOUR shaken babies die from their injuries. Those who do survive may suffer from blindness caused by bleeding around the brain and eyes,

or disabling brain damage, including mental retardation (mild to severe), paralysis, seizure disorder, speech and learning disabilities, neck and back damage, and dislocated bones.

DIAGNOSIS SBS is usually confirmed through a MRI or CT scan; however, retinal scans are also one of the better diagnostic tools. MANY INCIDENTS OF SBS ARE NOT REPORTED DUE TO FEAR. YOU MUST SEEK IMMEDIATE AND EARLY MEDICAL ATTENTION IF SBS IS SUSPECTED- THIS COULD PREVENT DEATH OR SERIOUS HEALTH CONSEQUENCES TO THE BABY

SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME AFFECTS EVERYONE SBS not only affects the child and the parent for the rest of their lives, but society as a whole. In Florida SBS is prosecutable as a felony conviction and perpetrators may serve 20 years to life in prison for this crime. IN ARKANSAS perpetrators may serve years in prison for conviction of SBS

TheHometownChannel.com - News - Sitter Gets 20 Years In Baby's DeathTheHometownChannel.com - News - Sitter Gets 20 Years In Baby's Death 09/16/06 BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- A jury has recommended a 20-year prison sentence for a Rogers baby sitter who was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of a four- month-old boy she was accused of shaking. Samantha Anne Mitchell, 32, was convicted Thursday and sentenced during a hearing on Friday. Circuit Judge David Clinger accepted the jury's sentence and also fined Mitchell $15,000. Chief Deputy Prosecutor Van Stone reminded jurors that Mitchell made no effort to get medical treatment for the baby, Dominick Sanders.

Prosecutors said Mitchell instead put Dominick in a baby swing, where he sat slumped over until his mother picked him up almost an hour later. Doctors testified that treatment could have made a difference in the outcome. The baby died three days later after being removed from life support. Mitchell, in an interview with police after the incident last March, denied shaking the infant. Drew Miller, Mitchell's defense attorney, suggested Mitchell's two-year-old son could have hurt the baby or that the baby could have been accidentally hurt while on a swing.

RESOURCES “Shaken Baby Awareness” The Epilepsy Association of Central Florida (407) Video link: s/ /detail.html s/ /detail.html