#SBS, Put down the child, and Walk away!

When I took a parenting class, I did deep research on a topic called "Shaken Baby Syndrom." I did a whole huge report on what I had found out about what happens when you shake a baby... Now me, myself I am not a parent but I have had little siblings as well as cousins and other family members. I know how frustrating having a crying baby around feels and you're not alone. I promise...

Kidshealth.org says the symptoms of SBS are:

Most cases:
death

Children who survive may have:

partial or total blindness
hearing loss
seizures
developmental delays
impaired intellect
speech and learning difficulties
problems with memory and attention
severe mental retardation
cerebral palsy

Yes a lot of problems that usually end up in death. There are those who do make it out but they are not well and usually have to stay in the hospital a long, long time, or even forever...

This is a video that shows what happens when you SHAKE a baby...

As it says it only takes ONE shake and that can damage a baby's brain...

Now lets revisit kidshealth.org more on this topic...

What Is Abusive Head Trauma?
Abusive head trauma (AHT) is an injury to a child's brain as a result of child abuse.

It can be caused by direct blows to the head, dropping or throwing a child, or shaking a child. AHT is also called shaken baby syndrome (or SBS), inflicted traumatic brain injury, and shaken impact syndrome.

Head trauma is the leading cause of death in child abuse cases in the United States. Because the anatomy of infants puts them at particular risk for injury from this kind of action, the majority of victims are infants younger than 1 year old.

AHT can happen in children up to 5 years old, but the average age of victims is between 3 and 8 months. The highest rate of cases is among infants just 6 to 8 weeks old, which is when babies tend to cry the most.

How Do Head Trauma Injuries Happen?
These injuries happen when someone (most often a parent or other caregiver) vigorously shakes a child or strikes the child's head against a surface. In many cases, the caregiver can't get the baby to stop crying and out of frustration or anger shakes the baby. Unfortunately, the shaking may have the desired effect: The baby cries more at first, but may stop crying as the brain is damaged.

When someone forcefully shakes a baby, the child's head rotates uncontrollably. This is because infants' neck muscles aren't well developed and provide little support for their heads. This violent movement pitches the baby's brain back and forth within the skull, sometimes rupturing blood vessels and nerves throughout the brain and tearing the brain tissue. The brain may strike the inside of the skull, causing bruising and bleeding to the brain.

The damage can be even greater when a shaking episode ends with an impact (hitting a wall or a crib mattress, for example), because the forces of acceleration and deceleration associated with an impact are so strong. After the shaking, swelling in the brain can cause enormous pressure within the skull, compressing blood vessels and increasing overall injury to the brain's delicate structure.

Normal interaction with a child, like bouncing the baby on a knee or tossing the baby up in the air, will not cause these injuries.