Shaken Baby Syndrome

1
Shaken Baby Syndrome

• NEVER, NEVER, NEVER SHAKE A BABY!!

2

• The dangers of shaking a baby are becoming more
  and more apparent often with disastrous results.
  The sudden shaking motion causes the babys
  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.

3
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

4
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.

5
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 14-46 years old.
• 80 of the offenders have no previous history of
  child abuse.

6
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 babys neck is too weak to support his heavy
  head. Consequently , when shaken, the head flops
  back and forth, causing serious brain damage.

7
STATISTICAL FACTS

• A babys brain and the blood vessels connecting
  the skull to the brain are fagile 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.

8
What are some reasons caregivers shake their
babies?
9

• 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.

10

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

11
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,

12

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

13
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

14
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 5-20 years in
  prison for conviction of SBS

15

• TheHometownChannel.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.

16

• 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.

17
RESOURCES

• Shaken Baby Awareness The Epilepsy Association
  of Central Florida [phone]
• WWW.Thehometownchannel.com
• Video link http//www.thehometownchannel.com/news
  /9862534/detail.html