The Shaken Baby Syndrome, what is it and how can you prevent it?

A 26-year-old man from The Hague must serve two years and three months in prison for violently shaking his daughter, which led to her death in 2012. Unfortunately, this girl is not the only child to die in this manner: each year, 80 babies end up in the emergency room with brain injuries, and in thirty cases, the cause is severe shaking. Four of these babies even die. This severe shaking is also known as Shaken Baby Syndrome.

In Shaken Baby Syndrome, a child is violently shaken. This typically lasts between 5 and 20 seconds, during which the child is shaken about 40 times. Often, it is not a matter of severe abuse but of sheer helplessness, for example, because the baby won't stop crying. To quiet the baby, parents—often out of fatigue or stress—resort to shaking, smothering, or even hitting the child. The consequences can be dramatic.

Possible consequences of Shaken Baby Syndrome
There is a very high chance that babies will suffer permanent damage after being severely shaken. Examples include bleeding in both eyes (this occurs in 50 to 80% of babies), brain hemorrhages, paralysis, coma, and breathing problems. In the long term, your child may even become intellectually or physically disabled, develop a behavioral disorder, have learning difficulties, or experience epileptic seizures. In the worst-case scenario, the child, like the father in The Hague, may die.

What can you do to prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome?
As a parent, you may sometimes feel desperate, but never shake a baby. Crying is very normal for a baby. During the postpartum period, there is little crying, in the second week this averages 1 hour per day, and around 6 to 8 weeks, crying increases to an average of 3 hours per day. Eventually, you will get to know your child and understand the cause of the crying. Ensure peace and regularity, comfort your child, and intervene in time when it becomes too much for you. Place your baby in a safe place, walk away, and call someone for help or wait until you have calmed down. Every parent feels desperate at times, but make sure to indicate when you can no longer cope. In any case, nevershakeyour child.