Brain damage can happen in an instant

A crying baby can drive a new parent up a wall. That’s why Mary Warren wants to teach parents of newborns a dozen ways to stop the crying so they will never resort to shaking the infant.

Warren coordinates the Never Shake a Baby Arizona Program. She spoke Aug. 4 in Tubac at a breakfast meeting of the Exchange Club about what happens when a baby is shaken.

Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is “a non-accidental form of brain injury,” Warren said.

Shaking causes the baby’s brain to wobble and strike the skull, she said. The movement can cut off the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain and cause swelling.

“When that brain sloshes back and forth, blood vessels break and nerves tear,” Warren said. In 80 percent of SBS cases, the eyes are damaged. Some victims also suffer fractures to their ribs, arms and legs.

Crying is normal behavior for an infant, Warren said. So is the parent’s frustration.

“But how you choose to deal with it can be a matter of life and death,” she emphasized.

Shaking can stop the crying, but at a terrible price, Warren explained. She showed a video with a diagram of two infant brains. In the shaken baby, there were wide patches of dead cells in the brain.

The film featured young victims of shaking. Long after the injury, the children still had problems with their eyes and balance.

Before a shaking, “these babies are fine,” Warren said. “In one 20-second episode, they’re no longer fine.”

Roughly one third of shaken babies die from brain injury, another third survive with lifelong disabilities, and another third may escape injury. But when they begin school, these survivors may have learning or behavioral problems, Warren said.

“The costs for this are very high and it’s preventable,” Warren said.

In 2005, 30 Arizona babies went to the hospital with SBS. Their initial treatment cost about $1.5 million and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) paid 70 percent of the bills.

In 2007, about 22 shaken babies were treated in Arizona hospitals, Warren said.

The cost to treat one survivor, over a lifetime, can reach $4 million to $9 million for medical care and special education.

“We want to train hospital nurses to train parents how to cope with crying,” Warren told the audience of about 30 firefighters and professionals involved with children and youth.

Parents need to check to see if the baby is hungry or needs a diaper changed, Warren said. If that’s not the case, try cuddling, rocking, or taking the baby for a walk, she suggested.

When nothing works, the parent should lay the baby down in the crib and walk away for a few minutes, Warren said. “They sense your frustration, so calm yourself down.”

She listed five “S” words to cope with crying: swaddling the baby, holding it in a side position, shushing in the baby’s ear to mimic sounds in the womb, swinging the baby in your arms or a wind-up swing, and letting the baby suck on something �“ a breast or pacifier, but not an empty bottle.

Warren has helped about 20 Arizona hospitals set up programs to prevent SBS.

After a nurse explains SBS, the parents sign a form promising to tell caregivers about the dangers of shaking. They fill out a section called, “My plan if my baby cries a lot” and list phone numbers for the baby’s doctor, a friend and a family member.

Warren said she hoped to meet with Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales about starting an SBS program.

Joyce Hubbard, past president of the Exchange Club, said the club had donated a copy of the shaken baby video to the hospital a few years ago.

Maternity staff show videos on baby care and car safety, and the SBS video, to new mothers before they go home, said Dina Sanchez, a hospital spokeswoman.

After her presentation, Warren answered questions.

What about tossing a baby into the air as a form of play? asked Marina Galhouse, director of the Santa Cruz Training Programs Inc.

If the baby hasn’t developed strong neck muscles, “you are just asking for problems with the child’s brain,” Warren said. Even when playing “horsy,” an adult needs to rock the baby gently on his or her knee.

Is it dangerous to shake an older child?

It won’t depress health and lung function, but it can cause brain cells to die, Warren answered.

“Why has this not been a push in the high school curriculum?” asked Alex Catalan, a firefighter with the Rio Rico Fire District.

It’s up to individual school boards to decide, Warren said.

Parents who are feeling stressed may call a 24-hour child help hotline at 1 800 422-4453 or the Birth to Five Helpline at 1(877) 705-KIDS, open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, visit www.nevershakeababy.org.