In a heart-wrenching story, a mum has shared the horror that a fit of parental rage can inflict on a baby. The victim? Her very own newborn. Now, she wants all parents to be aware of the symptoms of shaken baby syndrome, what it is, and how to prevent it.
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Shaken Baby Syndrome: The Dangers Are Real
In 2018, Mum Angie Setlak shared her life-changing experience while leaving her newborn in someone else’s care.
She explained that she had a difficult pregnancy. Her partner cheated on her, causing her stress levels — and blood pressure — to soar.
As a result, Xavier was “born four weeks early because he wasn’t growing.” He was perfectly healthy though, but still was monitored in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before going home.
It was when he was three months old and on Angie’s first day back at work, that her life turned upside-down.
“I had been fielding text messages from Xavier’s father all day about how difficult he was being, and I told his dad we would find another solution so he didn’t have to watch him during the day,” she said.
“While on maternity leave, Xavier’s father had been alone with him for two hours tops, and everything had been fine. His father worked nights, and the plan was for him to watch Xavier during the day while I worked, and then I would watch him at night when he worked.
My former partner had raised a 10-year-old after all, so even though I was very nervous about the situation, he kept reassuring me everything would be alright.”
However, at one point, the baby’s dad texted Angie, asking “if he could murder the baby now.”
Little Xavier was born one month prematurely. Image: Facebook screengrab
“I’ll be home soon…”
Angie told her partner that she’d be home soon. But never did she expect her son’s life to actually be in danger.
After the flurry of messages from the baby’s dad, Angie just kept thinking that in a few hours more she’d be home with her little one and that all would be okay. Then, at 2.30 pm, she got this message:
“Xavier stopped breathing. Come home now.”
When she called home, she was told her baby choked on milk, and that he and his dad were on their way to Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Angie rushed to the hospital, and when she heard her baby crying, she expected things to be alright, even though “there was a room full of doctors all for my tiny 10-pound baby.”
Eventually, she was allowed to approach her baby and hold his hand. But she noticed something unusual.
“He was suddenly quiet and pale. I knew something was not right.”
The doctors then told her that her little boy’s brain was bleeding.
The cause?
Consumed by anger while watching Xavier, his father had shaken the baby, damaging the little one’s brain. Little Xavier had to be put in a coma because he was suffering from seizures — one of the symptoms of shaken baby syndrome.
“I heard everything from ‘he might be blind’ to ‘he may never be able to learn, walk, talk, move…’” Angie wrote. “But still I knew he would come back to me.”
Xavier is now back home. He has to see multiple specialists every month. Image: Facebook screengrab
Finally cleared to go home
After over two weeks in the hospital, baby Xavier was finally allowed to go home. His father meanwhile, was arrested on the night the incident happened, for first-degree child abuse.
Three months on, for Angie now it’s more about the “now what” rather than the “why”.
Xavier still has a long way to go for a full recovery. He has weekly appointments with therapists and his brain basically has to be “awakened and re-wired”, says his mum. Also, he faces the risk of developing Cerebral Palsy, but that diagnosis can only be made in another two years.
Angie remains hopeful, despite all these challenges. However, she has this important message for all parents when faced with a baby who won’t stop crying or fussing:
“You go cry somewhere, or scream, or talk to someone. You get your frustrations out, and then come back to your sweet baby and start over again. To this day, Xavier still cries. And fusses.
“And I have moments I have to put him down and walk away. Because that’s what you do as a parent. I hope someone reading our story will take all of it to heart and realize how important it is to not shake a baby. No matter what, you never shake a baby. It’s so easily avoidable. A moment of rage changed my baby forever.”
What is Shaken Baby Syndrome?
In a fit of anger or frustration, it is possible for an adult to shake a young baby. However, those hasty few seconds of shaking can cause your baby’s fragile brain to slide back and forth within its skull, possibly inflicting irreversible brain trauma. This is known as shaken baby syndrome.
Shaking a baby vigorously and forcefully can result in shaken baby syndrome, a catastrophic brain injury. Abuse-related head trauma, shaken impact syndrome, and whiplash shake syndrome are additional names for this illness. A form of child abuse known as “shaken baby syndrome” results in serious brain damage. It can happen after only five seconds of shaking.
The symptoms of shaken baby syndrome and its consequences can be severe, even resulting in death.
Studies show that shaking babies vigorously can lead to severe retinal haemorrhage, coma, and even death. Terrifyingly, the damage is not always obvious. In mild cases of shaken baby syndrome, babies may seem unhurt, but develop health and learning problems down the road.
Why Does Shaken Baby Syndrome Happen?
Babies’ brains are squishy and their neck muscles are weak. They also have sensitive blood vessels. When a baby or young child is shaken, their brain may regularly strike the inside of the skull. The brain may expand, haemorrhage, or bruise as a result of this impact. Additional issues include broken bones and damage to the baby’s eyes, spine, and neck.
Shaken infant syndrome can affect children as young as two years old, but it can also affect children as old as five. The most frequent age range for shaken baby syndrome occurrences is 6 to 8 weeks, which also happens to be when babies cry the most.
Image Source: iStock
Shaken Baby Syndrome Causes
Shaken baby syndrome occurs when someone violently shakes an infant or toddler. People may shake an infant out of frustration or anger, often because the child won’t stop crying. Although shaking does eventually make the baby stop crying, it’s usually because the shaking has damaged their brains.
Given that a baby has been sobbing for a while, parents or other caretakers may shake the child. They could believe that by shaking the infant, the wailing will stop. The illness can also be brought on by intentionally throwing, dropping, or hitting the youngster in the head. A child’s brain may tremble inside of their skull if they are smacked or shaken.
For a variety of reasons, some parents or caregivers could be under stress. They might feel exasperated and unable to handle the demands of child-rearing. The fact that shaking a newborn might be so hazardous may just be unknown to other caretakers.
Playful interactions with an infant, such as bouncing the baby on the lap or tossing it in the air, do not result in damage from shaken baby syndrome.
It’s not brought on by:
- Gently rocking your infant on your knee.
- Launching your infant into the air.
- Cycling while carrying a child.
- Unintentional falls from furniture.
- Making abrupt stops or driving over bumps.
Although not advised because of their potential for harm, these activities won’t result in the kinds of wounds observed in shaken baby syndrome. Instead, these injuries typically happen when someone shocks the baby out of anger or frustration.
Immediate Signs Of Shaken Baby Syndrome
The youngster may show shaken baby syndrome symptoms right away after being shaken. Usually, the signs peak four to six hours after they first appear. While certain signs of shaken baby syndrome may not manifest for years, others might. Some kids may develop attention and behaviour issues later in life as a result of being shaken as infants.
Shaken Baby Syndrome Symptoms
According to Mayo Clinic, symptoms of shaken baby syndrome include:
Shaken baby syndrome symptoms and signs include:
- Extreme fussiness or irritability
- Not babbling, smiling, or talking
- Lethargy (excessive fatigue, immobility, or inability to stay awake).
- Cuts on their chest or arms.
- A broad forehead or head.
- A swollen soft place atop their skull.
- Impossibility of raising one’s head.
- Dilated, widened pupils.
- An inability to maintain attention or follow eye movement.
- Tremors
- Difficulty staying awake
- Breathing problems
- Poor eating
- Vomiting
- Pale or bluish skin
- Seizures
- Paralysis
- Coma
If your infant exhibits signs of shaken baby syndrome, call 911 or take them to the closest emergency room right away. This kind of injury poses a serious threat to life and may cause lifelong brain damage.
Symptoms of shaken baby syndrome can be severe. Image: File photo
What Effects Does Shaken Baby Syndrome Has On Babies?
Serious medical conditions may happen such as:
- Subdural hematoma: A subdural hematoma is an accumulation of blood between your child’s dura and the surface of their brain (the tough outer membrane surrounding their brain). This can occur if the veins connecting your child’s brain and dura are overstretched, leading to tears and bleeding.
- Subarachnoid haemorrhage: Bleeding between your child’s brain and the arachnoid, the membrane that encases their brain in a web-like structure.
- Direct brain trauma: This can happen when your child’s head’s inner surfaces are struck by the brain.
- Brain damage: If your infant stops breathing while shaking, this could cause brain damage due to a lack of oxygen.
- Brain cell damage: This can happen when wounded nerve cells release chemicals that worsen your child’s brain’s lack of oxygen.
- Retinal haemorrhages: Bleeding in the retinas at the back of your child.
- Neck and spinal cord damage: Injury to your child’s cervical spinal nerves, resulting in harm to the neck and spinal cord.
- Fractures: These could affect your baby’s ribs, collarbone, arms, or legs in addition to a fractured skull.
Shaken Baby Syndrome Treatment
If you think your child may have shaken infant syndrome, call 911 right away. After being shaken, some babies cease breathing. If this happens, performing CPR might keep your infant breathing while you wait for help.
The American Red Cross suggests the following steps for performing CPR:
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Gently place the infant on their back.
It is better if two persons carefully transfer the baby if you suspect a spinal injury so that the head and neck don’t twist.
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Set up where you’ll be.
Put two fingers in the centre of the breastbone if your child is under one. Put one hand on the centre of the breastbone if the child is older than 1 year old. To maintain the baby’s head tilted back, place your other hand on its forehead. Pull the jaw forward rather than tilting the head if you fear a spinal injury, and keep your mouth open.
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Compress the chest as necessary.
Push roughly halfway into the chest while applying pressure to the breastbone. While counting aloud, apply 30 chest compressions without halting. The compressions ought to be swift and forceful.
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Take deep breaths to help.
After the compressions, check for breathing. Cover the infant’s mouth and nose tightly with your mouth if there are no signs of breathing. Give two breaths while making sure the airway is clear. To get the chest to raise, every breath should last around one second.
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Perform CPR until aid arrives, repeating the pattern of 30 compressions and 2 rescue breaths.
Keep checking to see if you are breathing.
The baby may occasionally throw up after being shaken. Roll the infant carefully onto their side to avoid choking. Ensure that you roll their complete body at once. The risk of additional spinal cord injury is lower while rolling in the event of a spinal cord injury. It’s crucial that you refrain from picking up the newborn or giving it food or water.
Shaken Baby Syndrome cannot be treated with medication. When a brain haemorrhage is severe, surgery may be necessary to treat it. To release pressure or drain extra blood and fluid, a shunt, or thin tube, may be inserted in this situation. In order to remove any blood before it permanently impairs vision, eye surgery may also be required.
How Not To Shake A Baby: Prevention Tips
Shaken baby syndrome understandably occurs due to the frustration of caring for the baby. More often than not, it’s because the baby won’t stop crying, setting parents’ already frayed nerves on edge.
To protect you and your cherished one from the tragic consequences of a moment of anger, here are some essential tips:
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Keep your cool
Parenthood is a stressful journey and your anxiety levels can easily spiral out of control. Be sure to know how you can calm yourself down quickly.
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Share the workload
Arrange to take turns looking after the baby with your partner, parents, and other caregivers! Draw on your support system to avoid burning out.
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Make sleep a priority
Your impulse control gets worse when you’re sleep-deprived. Schedule the overnight care with your spouse such that both of you get enough shut-eye.
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Reach out to someone
Join an online parenting support group and reach out to your friends who are experienced mums. Not only will you pick up strategies on caring for a newborn, but you’ll also take comfort from hearing about other parents’ struggles and realising you’re not alone!
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Have realistic expectations
Due to the media’s romanticized portrayals of parenthood, we may have rosy expectations of baby behaviour. Our tots can’t always be perfect, cooing bundles, and we aren’t going to ‘naturally’ know how to calm them every time they fuss. Adjusting your expectations will help reduce your frustration at the messy reality of parenthood.
Mayo Clinic, Healthline, Cleveland Clinic, Love What Matters, Health
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