Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention

When my baby was just days old up to 3 months , she had bouts of infantile colic. She would cry very loud in the middle of the night for minutes and there were times that her crying would even reach up to an hour. Being a first time mom, I tend to get rattled on what to do with my baby and find out what was wrong. So there were times that instead of just swaying her, I was already shaking her. Then my mom-in-law would tell me not to shake my baby. Just swing or sway her. She told me that it's not advisable to shake a baby. When I read an article about shaken baby syndrome, I now understand why mom-in-law kept on reminding me and my daughter's nanny not to shake her.

What I leraned about the article is that many of the injuries thousands of babies received every year because of severe shaking which can be avoided if parents and caregivers remember just these two words: Be patient.

Shaking is primarily a response to infant crying. But shaking can have dangerous consequences because infants have large heads and immature brains. A baby's neck muscles can't support the stress of vigorous shaking. It's head moves in a sudden whiplash motion that can cause bleeding inside the head and increased pressure on the brain which can cause irreversible brain damage, learning disabilities, mental retardation, blindness, deafness, seizures, paralysis or death.

Here are few tips when the baby just won't stop crying:

1.Make sure the baby is fed and dry.

2. Feed the baby slowly.

3. Burp the baby often.

4. Rock the baby gently or walk for a walk.

5. Take the baby for a ride in a stroller or in a car.

6. Try a wind-up infant swing.