Shaken baby syndrome: what is it and what harm does violent shaking of babies entail
Shaken Baby Syndrome represents a severe form of physical abuse for babies in the first few months of life and can lead to severe damage to their health, even death. Parents who, desperate by their baby's consolable cry, try to calm him with a violent shaking can cause him brain trauma. Here's everything there is to know about shaken baby syndrome, but first watch this video on how to interpret the baby's cry:
What is shaken baby syndrome or "shaken baby syndrome"?
The "shaken baby syndrome" is defined by the American Academy of Pediatrics as a head injury in infants caused by a violent shaking. It is a real abuse committed against children, usually in their first six months of life.
The brain trauma caused by shaking can lead to very serious neurological complications. In fact, if the child is violently shaken while he is held by the torso, his head - large and with still undeveloped neck muscles - can undergo very dangerous rotations. These cause nerve damage and / or bleeding to the contents of the skull.
In most cases it is the parents themselves who are guilty: if the newborn despairs with an inconsolable cry, they could go as far as to make the extreme gesture of shaking, especially if they feel strongly tried and are unable to stop crying in any way. . In this way, however, they cause very serious damage, you must never do it!
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What damage does it cause to children's health?
Shaken baby syndrome causes very serious consequences in babies just a few months old. Their brains, in fact, are less solid than that of an adult and can deform more easily following a shake. When the baby's brain is shaken, it starts to rotate faster than the skull that contains it: this can cause a lesion of the blood vessels with consequent cerebral hemorrhages.
The severity of the damage caused to health varies according to the age of the child (the smaller it is, the more lethal it can be) and the violence itself of the shaking. If the shaking has caused a hemorrhage in the meninges, the child could present from a simple nausea loss of consciousness. If there is a cerebral edema (ie an accumulation of fluid in the brain that blocks blood flow) it can occur from simple headache to a state of coma. The appearance of small blood spots on the retina is a symptom instead of a retinal hemorrhage.
Symptoms do not always present themselves at the very moment in which the abuse occurs: in some cases the consequences could come out years later in the form of learning or behavioral disorders and it is therefore difficult to reconnect them to the abuse.
What are the risk factors?
Shaken Baby Syndrome must be known to all parents, because it is important that they become aware of the risk of their baby being shaken, often done without real awareness of the consequences. The brain of children is very delicate and not shaking it is essential!
The injuries caused require a certain violence and are not caused by the movements that are made every day in the care of children: you have to make a really violent shaking to cause brain injuries, but in this case even just one may be enough!
If you are wondering what are the risk factors that cause shaken baby syndrome, it has been found that children of young parents, who suffer from depressive states, who live in a certain social distress, are particularly at risk. -economic, who use drugs, have a low cultural level or have a history of family maltreatment in their childhood.
To prevent the syndrome it is important to ask for help: if you feel you can no longer cope because of your child's inconsolable crying, leave him in a safe place and move away for a few minutes, time to "come back to you" and calm down. Call a family member, some friend or - if necessary - a counseling center or a support association. Being a mother is difficult, don't be afraid to ask for help if you feel fragile and in difficulty!
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