When a by cries, parents or caregivers may think that shaking a baby will make the baby stop crying. Some may not know that the results of shaking can be more devastating than one could think of.
Recently in USA, more than 2,000 infants and children were hospitalised as the result of being shaken by their caregivers. Physicians suspect that the numbers are even higher.
Shaken baby syndrome refers to the violent and unnecessary repetitive shaking of an infant or young child. A combination of a heavy head, weak neck muscles, and a soft and rapidly growing brain can lead to severe bruising of the shaken child’s brain.
Blindness, mental retardation, or death can occur as a result.
Shaken baby syndrome can also occur when a child is bounced up and down on a person’s knee or tossed in the air, which are very commonly done by mothers and caregivers in our country.Babies are extremely vulnerable to head injury because uncontrolled jerking motions can cause bleeding in and around the brain and behind the eyes.
Shaken baby syndrome happens most often in infants up to one year; infants aged two to four months have the most risk. Shaken baby syndrome does not usually happen after age two, but children as old as five or six can be damaged in this way if the shaking is extremely violent.
A child or baby who has been shaken and has pressure on the brain feel extreme irritability, vomiting tendency, convulsions (seizures), lethargy, inability to focus or follow movement with his or her eyes, and may even become unconscious. Shaken baby syndrome should be treated immediately.
Babies cry for a variety of reasons — when they’re hungry or need to be changed — but sometimes babies cry because they are having a hard time adjusting to life. If there is no medical reason for the crying, the best thing to do is to let your baby cry and keep your frustration under control.
Here are some additional things you can do when a baby cries:
Feed slowly and burp often; Offer a pacifier Hold the infant against your chest and walk or rock; and Take the baby for a ride in a stroller or car.If you’ve had all you can take, lay the baby on his or her back — making sure he or she is safe from harm — and take a break. Let the baby cry it out.
