What is 'Shaken Infant Syndrome'?

What is 'Shaken Infant Syndrome'?

Remember, crying doesn't hurt a baby, SHAKING does!

It is a form of child abuse that causes critical brain damage, resulting from as little as five seconds of shaking.

It often occurs out of frustration or anger, usually because the child won’t stop crying.

Because infants have soft brains and weak neck muscles, shaking a baby or toddler can cause their brain to repeatedly hit the inside of the skull. 

This can trigger bruising in the brain, bleeding in the brain, and brain swelling. 

Other injuries may include broken bones as well as damage to the baby’s eyes, spine, and neck. 

While shaken infant syndrome is more common in children under age 2 - with cases occurring among infants 6 to 8 weeks old - it can affect children up to age 5.

Symptoms of shaken baby syndrome include: 

- difficulty staying awake 

- body tremors 

- paralysis 

- trouble breathing 

- discolored skin 

- vomiting 

- seizures 

- coma 

A doctor will diagnose by searching for the three conditions that often indicate shaken baby syndrome. Those include, encephalopathy, or brain swelling; subdural hemorrhage, or bleeding in the brain; and retinal hemorrhage, or bleeding in a part of the eye called the retina.

The doctor will then order a variety of tests to check for signs of brain damage, such as a CT scan or skeletal X-Ray.