CHILD PHYSICAL ABUSE
Shaken Baby Syndrome is the most serious form of physical abuse investigated by authorities. It results in more deaths and serious injuries than any other single form of physical abuse. It's a form of Abusive Head trauma (AHT).
- Brain injury inflicted when a baby is shaken violently.
- Usually triggered by inconsolable or constant crying and caregiver’s frustration or attempt to stop the crying.
- Shaking only needs to occur for 3 to 20 seconds to cause lifelong damage or death.
- Around one third of babies who are brought to hospital after being shaken die from their injuries.
- Most survivors are left with lifelong disabilities including blindness, cerebral palsy, deafness, mental disabilities, seizures, and muscular and nervous system conditions including paralysis.
- Delay in seeking medical attention is common
- Less severe incidents can go undetected, undiagnosed or untreated and be responsible for many mental and physical conditions and developmental delays and learning difficulties which may not be apparent until the child is up to 6 years of age.
- Often the incident that puts a baby in hospital isn’t the first shaking incident.
Shaken Baby Syndrome refers to brain damage inflicted on a baby when it is violently shaken.
Shaken baby syndrome usually occurs to babies younger than 2 years old – with most cases being seen in babies younger than 6 months – but there have been cases in children as old as 5 years.
Research suggests that perpetrators are fathers in 45% of cases, stepfathers or boyfriends in 25% of cases, and female babysitters and mothers in 15% of cases.
The shaking only needs to happen for as little as 5 seconds for permanent injury or death to occur and injuries can be worse if the baby is thrown or flung eg into a cot or against a floor or wall - and suffers an impact to the head or body. Even being flung into a cot and hitting a soft mattress can cause injury to a baby’s brain.
In many cases of Shaken Baby that we’ve investigated, one or the other parents has not been aware of the shaking incident – so don’t presume that whoever drops the child off to day care is the perpetrator – they may be as keen as you are to know what’s wrong with their baby.
