Backus educates on Shaken Baby Syndrome
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It is the visual that usually drives home the message of how easy this can happen, and the devastation it can have on families.
Luz Rivera, Statewide Coordinator of the Children's Trust Fund, cracked an egg cleanly into a clear plastic container during a recent training session at the hospital.
"Imagine that the egg yolk represents a baby's brain and the egg white represents the surrounding fluid that protects the brain," she said.
She then dropped the container with the egg to the floor - a distance of about four feet - to show that little damage occurred to the yolk of the egg; only a small portion had leaked into the white area.
She then shook the container as hard as she could for a few seconds, an action that completely mixed the egg yolk and white.
"A container shaken as though it were a baby being shaken in anger or frustration gives you a clear idea of the damage caused by violent shaking (a rotational force) versus the minor damage caused by a direct fall (a translational force)," she said.
"And just like the mixing of the egg, in less than three seconds of shaking, a baby's brain tissue has been irreversibly damaged," she said.
Ms. Rivera's demonstration was to drive home the danger of shaken baby syndrome during a training program at Backus. As the first hospital in the state to offer such a training program, more than 40 members from the Backus Birthing Center, Emergency Department, local pediatrician offices and several community agencies attended.
The event was originally set up for Birthing Center staff but expanded due to the great need to make everyone aware of the dangers of shaking a baby, said Andrea Dameron, RN, Clinical Educator, Birthing Center.
"It's the responsibility of healthcare providers to educate the public that it's never OK to shake a baby. It's also the patient's right to know," said Ms. Dameron.
Of the 43,000 babies born in Connecticut last year, 1,058 of those babies were born at Backus. "That's over 1,000 opportunities to prevent shaken baby syndrome," Ms. Rivera said to the crowded room.
According to the Children's Trust Fund, on any given day four children in the United States under the age of five will die or be permanently disabled when they are shaken by a parent or caregiver.
Shaken baby syndrome is defined as a serious and clearly definable form of child abuse by the American Academy of Pediatrics. According to studies, perpetrators of shaken baby syndrome are overwhelmingly male, and most often biological fathers, followed by a mother's boyfriend or the stepfather, mothers and child-care providers.
Two factors contribute to shaken baby syndrome: the adult is stressed and frustrated, and these feelings are intensified when the baby is crying.
"No one wakes up in the morning with the intent of harming their baby," said Ms. Rivera. "It's an action that comes on without warning and happens with an adult's momentarily loss of control."
The younger the child, the higher the risk - babies have a large head compared to the rest of their body size, their neck muscles are still loose and their brains are not fully developed.
The biggest risk factor is lack of parent education, said Ms. Rivera.
"They need to know why not to shake their baby; what happens when they do; and that the baby's brain continues to physically grow until the age of five and therefore is susceptible to severe damage from shaking," she said.
All attendees at Tuesday's training program received materials, including videos, posters, talking points and evidence-based prevention programs to bring back to their worksite for educating their co-workers.
It's a message should be universally delivered to every parent to avoid singling anyone out, said Lori Frances Chini, Program Supervisor for the Children's Trust Fund.
"Making it a ‘normal' message helps parents receive the information easier. Parents are the most common perpetrators and childbirth is a time of almost universal contact between parents and the medical community. They trust you as the professional," she said.
Connecticut does not legally mandate shaken baby syndrome education in schools, hospitals or daycare facilities, nor does it keep statistics on the number of deaths caused by shaken baby syndrome.
"It is our responsibility to protect our families," said Ms. Dameron.
"I want parents to know what to expect with a newborn baby," she said. "I want them to know its normal for babies to cry and normal for parents to feel frustrated. My goal is for this community training to spread this message while giving parents the tools they need to help them safely cope and manage during what can be a stressful time."