Shaken baby syndrome

The Child Abuse Prevention Council of Sacramento, all eight Sacramento birthing hospitals, and 24 Home Visitation programs joined together in June 2005 to unveil an innovative and comprehensive Sacramento County Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Program. The program is an evidence-based training program about infant crying and SBS for all new parents (18,000 annually) and is expected to reduce the rates of SBS by 50%. The $50,000 project is funded by the Sutter Medical Center Sacramento Community Collaborative Benefits Grant Program. SBS is the injury of multiple organs including the brain, eyes and bones caused by the violent shaking of an infant or young child. There may be many factors within a family or care giving facility that lead to violent shaking, but typically the “last straw” is inconsolable infant crying. Babies do not die of crying, but they do die from being shaken. These needless infant deaths CAN be prevented and the Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Program is designed to do just that. Great programs like these are needed to help under-prepared and under-resourced new parents understand that taking care of babies, while rewarding, will be frustrating. Emotional support and education are needed, otherwise, it is foreseeable that babies will continued to be shaken and suffer traumatic brain damage or death.