Shaken Baby Syndrome Essay

Shaken Baby syndrome (SBS) is recognised as the most dangerous and elusive form of child abuse. Moreover, it is the leading cause of death and/or long-term neurological disability in infants younger than two years of age (Bechtel et al, 2011). SBS is caused by shaking and is considered to be completely preventable. Frustrated parents try to end a baby’s inconsolable cries by shaking the infant; while this works it has grave consequences. In this essay, I will firstly be describing what SBS is. Secondly, the underlying pathology behind it and its consequences. And finally, I will be exploring the if and how education intervention helps to prevent this irreversible syndrome.

Shaken Baby Syndrome is also known as abusive head trauma or inflicted traumatic brain injury. It was first described by John Caffey in 1974. It is defined as “the violent shaking of a child with or without contact between the child’s head and a hard surface” (Barr et al, 2009). The age that SBS mostly occurs and the age at which babies cry most are directly proportional (Blumenthal, 2002). SBS is a form of brain injury and the exact cause is hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (Blumenthal, 2002). The effects of SBS is due to a combination of subdural hematomas, retinal haemorrhage and skeletal injury.

• Subdural hematomas.
The

And if this did not work, caregivers were made to understand that sometimes an infant’s cries cannot be soothed and that the best course of action is to walk away, calm down and then return. If they were having difficulty calming down, they were to call a friend or family member to talk through their frustrations. They were also told that crying does not always indicate that something is wrong. It is a normal part of a child’s development and does cause any physical pain to the child. And most importantly they were reminded never to shake the baby (Bechtel et al,