All aboard the baby brain:
The March edition of The Psychologist has just appeared online and has two freely available articles: one article investigates whether women really suffer a reduction in mental sharpness during pregnancy, and another interviews baby psychologist Alison Gopnik about her work.
By Britt Combs The McDowell News
Published: February 9, 2010
What with the recent snowy weather, many in McDowell have seen more than ever of the inside of their homes.But not Carrie Price.
When nearly a foot of snow blasted North Carolina, she and her husband, Patrick, drove to Raleigh to take in a Carolina Hurricanes hockey game.
The team invited Price, a registered nurse from Rutherford Hospital's Birth Place, to take part in an event designed to prevent child abuse and raise awareness of some of the frustrations faced by parents of young babies.
"We had to drive there in the falling snow," she said. "What's normally a 3 hour trip took seven hours. We had a great time and it was very exciting to see the Hurricanes play."
Adding to the fun was the excitement of seeing the Hurricanes defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2. The trip was a blast and the Prices were glad to have an excuse to spend the night and make a
romantic weekend of it.She said she would have made the trip without the hockey game if it helped prepare parents for that difficult stage of their new babies' lives. She has seen more than enough to make her aware just how confused and powerless parents can feel when their babies are inconsolable.
"They used to call it 'colic,'" said Price, but, she explained, that gives the impression the tendency of some babies to cry for extended periods is a disease. In fact, she said, many babies go through a stage of crying for no discernable reason.
"That's why we call it 'The Period of Purple Crying'; because it's just a normal stage."
Price works to prepare new parents for this frustrating process. Hopefully, with information and tools ready, the parents will be better prepared to deal with the situation that has been cited as a aggravating factor in "shaken baby syndrome."
The mission to spread that awareness has become a favorite cause of Hurricanes Captain Eric Staal. He, his wife, Tanya and their infant son, Parker filmed a PSA to encourage parents to be cool when the screaming starts.
"We all know it's normal for babies to cry, but it can be really frustrating when they cry for hours and nothing we can do makes the crying stop," Staal explained in the message.
"The most important thing is what we do with that frustration. You just have to stay cool and know that this normal crying period will end."
Price, a mother of three, has been working in the maternity department at Rutherford since 2003. She said the Purple Crying campaign has enabled her to get a lot of information across to new parents very quickly -- at a time when they are exhausted and want to go home. And that, she said, has been key to having a lasting impact.
"None of my babies went through that stage," she said, "and not all babies do. But it is very normal." She said babies can cry for hours on end and the parents feel completely powerless to
comfort their babies.In the noise and chaos, combined with the frustration and helplessness, she said, a parent may be tempted to shake the baby -- a hasty decision that can leave the child with devastating, disabling injuries, and the parent with a lifetime of regret.
The best coping mechanism, she said, is to "simply put the child down in a safe place and get away until you can calm down." The injuries the child can sustain, often called shaken baby syndrome,
include blindness, seizures, learning disabilities and death.Lyn Jackson, of the group Keeping Babies Safe in North Carolina, said the Hurricanes' involvement has been very effective in changing what is considered "normal behavior" in infants.
She said the Price and the Purple Crying campaign have been successful in reducing child abuse because they take a positive approach, helping parents feel more capable, better prepared and better about their babies.
S.3003 A bill to enhance Federal efforts focused on public awareness and education about the risks and dangers associated with Shake Baby Syndrome.In view of Senator Dodd's decision not to seek reelection, let's hope the second time will be the charm...
Sponsor: Sen Dodd, Christopher J.[CT] (introduced 2/4/2010) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 2/4/2010 Referred to Senate committee.
Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - February 04, 2010)
By Mr. DODD:S. 3003. A bill to enhance Federal efforts focused on public awareness and education about the risks and dangers associated with Shaken Baby Syndrome; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, today I rise to introduce the Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Act of 2010, important legislation that promotes awareness and prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma, a devastating form of child abuse that results in the severe injury, disability or death of hundreds of children each year.
Child abuse and neglect is a well-documented tragedy for some of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, NCANDS, 794,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect in 2007. Babies are particularly vulnerable; in 2007, children aged 12 months or younger accounted for nearly 40 percent of all child abuse and neglect fatalities and children aged 4 years and younger accounted for almost 77 percent. Yet even these disturbing statistics may not paint an accurate picture; most experts agree that child abuse is widely under reported.
Abusive head trauma, including Shaken Baby Syndrome, is the leading cause of death of physically abused children, in particular for infants younger than one. When a frustrated caregiver loses control and violently shakes a baby or impacts the baby's head, the trauma can kill the child or cause severe injuries, including loss of vision, loss of hearing, brain damage, paralysis, and/or seizures, resulting in lifelong disabilities and creating profound grief for many families.
Far too many children have experienced the horrible devastation of Shaken Baby Syndrome. A 2003 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that as a result of Shaken Baby Syndrome, an average of 300 U.S. children will die each year, and 600 to 1,200 more will be injured, of whom 2/3 will be infants younger than one. Medical professionals believe that thousands of Shaken Baby Syndrome cases are misdiagnosed or undetected, as many children do not immediately exhibit obvious symptoms after the abuse.
Prevention programs can significantly reduce the number of cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome. For example, the upstate New York SBS Prevention Project at Children's Hospital of Buffalo has used a simple video to educate new parents before they leave the hospital, reducing the number of shaken baby incidents in the area by nearly 50 percent.
In Connecticut, a multifaceted prevention approach involving hospitals, schools, childcare providers, and community-based organizations in awareness and training activities, including home visits and targeted outreach, has raised awareness and encouraged prevention across the state. Hospitals in many states educate new parents about the dangers of shaking a baby, yet it is estimated that less than 60 percent of parents of newborns receive information about the dangers of shaking a baby. Without more outreach, education, and training, the risk of Shaken Baby Syndrome will persist.
With the introduction of the Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Act of 2010, I hope to reduce the number of children injured or killed by abusive head trauma, and ultimately to eliminate Shaken Baby Syndrome. Our initiative provides for the creation of a public health campaign, including development of a National Action Plan to identify effective, evidence-based strategies for prevention and awareness of SBS, and establishment of a cross-disciplinary advisory council to help coordinate national efforts.
The campaign will educate the general public, parents, child care providers, health care professionals and others about the dangers of shaking, as well as healthy preventative approaches for frustrated parents and caregivers coping with a crying or fussy infant. The legislation ensures support for families who have been affected by SBS, and for families and caregivers struggling with infant crying, through a 24-hour hotline and an informational website. All of these activities are to be implemented through the coordination of existing programs and/or the establishment of new efforts, to bring together the best in current prevention, awareness and education practices to be expanded into areas in need. Awareness is absolutely critical to prevention. Families, professionals and caregivers responsible for infants and young children and must learn about the dangers of violent shaking and abusive impacts to the head.
Additionally, this bill will include a study to identify the current data collected on Shaken Baby Syndrome and examine the feasibility of collecting uniform, accurate data from all states regarding the incidence rates of Shaken Baby Syndrome, the characteristics of perpetrators, and the characteristics of victims. It is my hope that having this information will enable us to better reach those who may be at risk for Shaken Baby Syndrome and, thus, prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome.
On behalf of the victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome, including Cynthia Gibbs from New York, Hannah Juceum from California, Sarah Donohue from New York, Kierra Harrison from Nevada, Miranda Raymond from Pennsylvania, Taylor Rogers from Illinois, Cassandra Castens from Arizona, Gabriela Poole from Florida, Amber Stone from New York, Bennett Sandwell from Missouri, Jamison Carmichael from Florida, Margaret Dittman from Texas, Dalton Fish from Indiana, Stephen Siegfried from Texas, Kaden Isings from Washington, Joseph Wells from Texas, Dawson Rath from Pennsylvania, Macie McCarty from Minnesota, Jake Belisle from Maine, Benjamin Zentz from Michigan, Chloe Salazar from New Mexico, Madison Musser of Oklahoma, Daniel Carbajal from Texas, Nykkole Becker from Minnesota, Gianna D'Alessio from Rhode Island, Brynn Ackley from Washington, Rachael Kang from Texas, John Sprague from Maryland, Ryan Sanders from Virginia, David Sedlet from California, Reagan Johnson from Virginia, Skipper Lithco from New York, Brittney Sheets from New York, Madilyne Wentz from Missouri, Nicolette Klinker from Colorado, Brianna Moore from West Virginia, Shania Maria from Massachusetts, Dayton Jones from Pennsylvania, Breanna Sherer from California, Evelyn Biondo from New York, Kenneth Hardy from Pennsylvania, Alexis Vazquez from Florida, Joshua True from Washington, Stephen David from California, Michael Blair from Arkansas, Olivia Thomas from Ohio, Kaleb Schwade from Florida, Aiden Jenkins from Pennsylvania, Isabella Clark from Pennsylvania, Aaron Cherry from Texas, Dominic Morelock from Ohio, Emmy Cole from Maine, Chelsea Forant from Massachusetts, Joshua Cross from Ohio, Gavin Calloway from Maryland, Christopher Daughtrey from North Carolina, McKynzee Goin from Oregon, Bryce McCormick from Florida, and many other innocent lives lost or damaged, I look forward to working with my colleagues to see that this legislation becomes law so that we can expand efforts to eradicate Shaken Baby Syndrome.
By MATTHEW PERRONE The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
WASHINGTON -- Expectant mothers are getting a new tool to help keep themselves and their babies healthy: pregnancy tips sent directly to their cell phones.
The so-called text4baby campaign is the first free, health education program in the U.S. to harness the reach of mobile phones, according to its sponsors, which include Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, WellPoint and CareFirst BlueCross and Blue Shield. Wireless carriers including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint have agreed to waive all fees for receiving the texts.
Organizers say texting is an effective means of delivering wellness tips because 90 percent of people in the U.S. have cell phones.
"Especially if you start talking about low-income people, cell phones are the indispensable tool for reaching them and engaging them about their health," said Paul Meyer, president of Voxiva, a company which operates health texting programs in Africa, Latin America and India.
Studies in those countries have shown that periodic texts can reduce smoking and other unhealthy behaviors in pregnant mothers. Meyer said the U.S. program, run by Voxiva, will be the largest health-related texting program ever undertaken.
Under the new service, mothers-to-be who text "BABY" to 511411 will receive weekly text messages, timed to their due date or their baby's birth date. The messages, which have been vetted by government and nonprofit health experts, deal with nutrition, immunization and birth defect prevention, among other topics. The messages will continue through the baby's first birthday.
Text4baby is expected to be announced Thursday morning by officials from the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy. Government officials will be publicizing the campaign in speeches and promotional materials.
Organizers hope the effort can curb premature births, which can be caused by poor nutrition, excessive stress, smoking and drinking alcohol. About 500,000 babies are born prematurely in the U.S. each year, and 28,000 infants die before their first birthday, according to the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. The nonprofit is among the sponsors of the campaign.
* * *
Researchers at the George Washington University have agreed to evaluate the effectiveness of text4baby by measuring health trends for mothers and newborns.
Legislators work to lower child abuse cases high in Kentucky
Posted: Jan 29, 2010 - By Elizabeth Donatelli - bio | emailFRANKFORT, KY (WAVE) – With several recent baby abuse cases in Kentuckiana, lawmakers are looking at ways to prevent them before they happen. In 2009, Kentucky had the most child deaths related to abuse in the country.
With 39 years under her belt as a critical care nurse, Justi O'Flynn, who works at Kosair Children's Hospital, has seen lots of kids play with dolls, but there is one that could save a life.
"This doll is the size of a 4-month-old baby and it shows the different areas of the brain," said O'Flynn. O'Flynn uses the toy most children cling to as a model of what can happen if a parents loses control.
"What happens when someone gets frustrated with a baby and they shake them and it causes the little vessels inside the brain to cause some bleeding," said O'Flynn shaking the doll.
When the doll shakes, its brain hits the side of the scull, lighting up the parts that can have lasting damage. The damage can happen by just shaking a child for as few as five seconds.
"Blindness; they can be ventilator-dependant," said O'Flynn describing what can happen to the baby. "They can have learning difficulties they can have learning disorders. They can die."
To teach this valuable lesson to parents, Norton Hospital is piloting a program.
"New mommies, new daddies, new caregivers, to watch this video to become educated one-on-one on comprehensive treatment to help prevent child abuse, specifically shaken baby syndrome," said Therese Sirles, director of child advocacy.
Lawmakers in Frankfort are proposing a bill that will spread the video message across the state, not just for parents, but teach front-line workers the signs of abuse and how to prevent it.
"We've been on defense with this," said Rep. Addia Wuchner (R-Burlington). "We're seeing them as first responders, law-enforcement is seeing them, the doctors are seeing them when they come in. Now we're taking in a sense an offensive."
The plan is to make the doll can once again be a comfort to children instead of a reminder of abuse.
The video teaches parents that all children cry and it is normal. If you're feeling overly frustrated, take a few steps back, count to ten, or call someone to come over and be with the baby for a little while.
Copyright 2010 WAVE-TV. All rights reserved.
The Fall 2009 issue of The Future of Children Journal presents research on policies and programs designed to prevent maltreatment.The lead article describes progress towards the notion of preventing inflicted harm, instead of dealing with the consequences...
The issue, published by Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Brookings Institution, examines the gradual shift in the field of child maltreatment toward a "prevention perspective" and explores how insights into the risk factors for maltreatment can help target prevention efforts to the most vulnerable children and families.
Contributors assess whether a range of specific programs, such as community-wide interventions, parenting programs, home-visiting programs, treatment programs for parents with drug and alcohol problems, and school-based educational programs on sexual abuse, can prevent maltreatment.
They also explore how child protection system agencies, traditionally seen as protecting children who are maltreated from further abuse and neglect, might take a more active role in prevention.
The full-text issue, executive summary,policy briefs, and article summaries are available at http://www.futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/journals/journal_details/index.xml?journalid=71
Progress toward a Prevention Perspective - Summary LinkFriends of Children events:
Matthew W. Stagner, Jiffy Lansing
Preventing Child Maltreatment Volume 19 Number 2 Fall 2009
Matthew Stagner and Jiffy Lansing chart developments in the field of child maltreatment and propose a new framework for preventing child abuse and neglect. They begin by describing the concept of investment-prevention as it has been applied recently in fields such as health care and welfare. They then explain how the new framework applies to maltreatment prevention, noting in particular how it differs from the traditional child protective services response to maltreatment.
Whereas the traditional response aims to prevent a recurrence of maltreatment once it has already taken place, the new framework focuses on preventing maltreatment from occurring at all.
Rather than identifying risk factors for maltreatment and addressing the problems and deficiencies of the primary caretaker, the new framework focuses on strengthening protective factors and building family and social networks to reinforce the ability of parents to care for their children.
Whereas the orientation of the traditional child welfare service approach is legal and medical, the new framework has a more developmental and ecological orientation. It aims to build on the strengths children have at particular points of the life stage and enhance the social context of the child.
Rather than putting families into the hands of unknown professionals who shuffle them from one program to another, including foster care, the investment-prevention model seeks to integrate professionals and paraprofessionals from the family’s community into their everyday life, as well as to ensure an interconnected system of services.
Finally, rather than seeking to minimize harm to the child, it aims to maximize potential—to strengthen the capacity of parents and communities to care for their children in ways that promote well-being.
Home visiting provisions have been included in health reform legislation. While your U.S. Senators and Representative are back in your state and district...tell them to keep home visiting in the final health reform package!
Before making your call, review CWLA's one pager explaining why home visiting is important! See http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/HomeVisitingisImportant.pdf
ACTION REQUIRED
Call your U.S. Senators and Representative and tell them to support home visiting in health reform legislation. The toll-free number to be connected to your lawmakers' offices is 1-800-828-0498
Support comprehensive health reform legislation!
Support the home visiting amendments that will reduce child maltreatment and save on unnecessary healthcare costs down the road.
BACKGROUND
The U.S. House and Senate are debating comprehensive health reform legislation. This legislation is too important to be trampled by partisan politics. The home visiting elements that are in the current health reform legislation refer to evidence based models that deliver parent education and family support to parents with young children.
Home visitation is an effective, research-based and cost-efficient way to bridge the gap between vulnerable families and the resources that will ensure that children grow up healthy and ready to learn.
There are many families who are in need of the prenatal and maternal health services that these home visits can provide.
Children who experience maltreatment are at a greater risk of adverse health effects and home visiting not only educates parents, but also provides access to mental health, educational, and social services that might be available in the community.
For more information on current home visiting legislation, check out http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/homevisitation.htm
Child advocates launch Hillsborough County campaign to save lives
By Stephanie Bolling, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Saturday, September 19, 2009TAMPA — Susan Martin- Warren looks at her 4-year-old son. A brace on his right ankle. A splint on his limp right hand. He talks and walks, but she worries about his development.
When Graham was just months old, his father caused permanent trauma to the left side of his brain. Doctors called it shaken baby syndrome. Authorities sent the father to prison.
Graham will live with the impairment for the rest of his life.
"We don't know what he will face as an adolescent and young adult. I worry about him everyday," said Martin-Warren.
It's the sort of incident that has led child advocates to launch a major campaign to reduce preventable deaths and traumatic injuries of young children.
"I got sick of hearing about kids dying from being wedged in a couch cushion or drowning in 6 inches of bath water. They had loving parents that didn't know any better. Their deaths were completely preventable," said Nick Cox, the Suncoast regional director for the Department of Children and Families.
So he and other child advocates have teamed up and launched an ambitious new effort. The campaign has gained sweeping momentum county-wide with partnerships between the Children's Board of Hillsborough County, the Department of Children and Families, Healthy Start Coalition of Hillsborough and public and private organizations.
"Most parents have good intentions and want the best for their child and most communities are equipped with the resources to aid parents, but the challenge is connecting the two together," said Carolyn Eastman, director of communications for the Children's Board of Hillsborough County.
She says the campaign focuses on three initiatives: safe sleeping, safe caregivers and water safety. To promote these messages, CBS Outdoor will post 16 billboards of rotating child safety messages, and HARTline buses will display 30 full-length ads on buses traveling all routes of Hillsborough County.
Hospitals will also play a big role, according to Jane Murphy, executive director for the Healthy Start Coalition. Beginning this fall, updated informational packages will be distributed to new mothers. The package will include a 95-page pamphlet outlining infant developmental processes and safety guidelines with a listing of community resources and phone numbers; a parenting DVD focusing on child safety that features mother Martin-Warren and her son Graham; a onesie reading "Put me on my back to sleep"; and a letter that parents will be asked to sign promising the child good care.
Some hospitals will offer one-on-one training and screening, including risk assessments, where they can provide parents with helpful advice, like where to get the best child care or how to obtain free car seats and baby beds.
Throughout the county, five Family Support and Resource Centers see about 60,000 families a year.
They too have committed to supporting the campaign and will tailor information and resources specific to their surrounding communities, Eastman said.
"The best result is when the entire community sees it as their responsibility to protect a child," she said. "If they don't know how to do it, then they will know how to find a resource and come together as community to help the impact of the needless amount of children that die every year."
The campaign will run at least through the end of next year, Cox said.
"If it saves one child, then it is worth it," he said.
Stephanie Bolling can be reached at (813) 226-3408 or sbolling@sptimes.com.
Three Middletown babies have been injured recently after being shaken severely by an adult.
The Connecticut Children's Trust Fund and the local group, Shaken Baby Syndrome Committee, are sponsoring a candlelight vigil at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Middletown South Green to talk about shaken baby syndrome.
Trae’s vision, his mother said, "comes and goes." He struggles to form words and walks with an uneven gait. But the slender youth clutching a pair of drumsticks is no less a part of the Trinity band than any of its other members — a fact that underscores the school’s mission statement.
"We . . . strive to educate, respect and recognize all students," it reads in part.
Band director Mario Casanova said he had no qualms about inviting Trae to make music with other students. Last year, a senior who played the trumpet marched with the Trojan band despite being legally blind. After his graduation the student embraced the band leader and thanked him for treating him like everyone else.
"We don’t know what Trae can or can’t do," Casanova said. "He doesn’t even know. But whatever he can do, more power to him. He loves music. And he’s having a great time.
Mountain View High School junior Londyn Whittier received a gold medal in Applied Technology at the 2009 Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, or FCCLA, National Leadership Conference held in July in Nashville, Tenn.Whittier earned a score of 91.3 out of 100 for her project on shaken baby syndrome in the Applied Technology category.She used a computer, video camera and a shaken baby syndrome simulator, which is a doll with a transparent head that lights up areas of the brain to indicate damaged areas when it is shaken, as part of her project.Whittier also received a 10 out of 10 score for her oral presentation.
Webinar Invitation
A Better Start:
Child Maltreatment Prevention as a Public Health Priority
Did you know some of the worst adult health problems in the nation can be linked to the toxic stress resulting from adverse experiences in childhood? Population health priorities, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes are associated with harmful childhood experiences such as abuse or neglect.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Violence Prevention invites you to learn how your public health agency can make a difference in the lives and health of both children and adults at an upcoming webinar. James Mercy, PhD, and Jack Shonkoff, MD, experts in child maltreatment prevention and early childhood development, respectively, will discuss several topics including:
The goals of this webinar are to develop a shared understanding of how the prevention of child maltreatment not only promotes optimal development but also reduces disparities in health and explore the important role public health agencies play in improving the health of children and families by preventing childhood abuse and neglect.
Speakers:
Date: Thursday, September 10, 2009
Time: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EST
Webinar Registration:
Click here to register for A Better Start: Child Maltreatment Prevention as a Priority.
Click here to learn more about CDC’s child maltreatment prevention efforts.MG Ward, S Bennett, and WJ King
Prevention of shaken baby syndrome: Never shake a baby.
Paediatr Child Health 1 May 2004 9(5): p. 319.
http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;19657516
L Meskauskas, K Beaton, and M Meservey
Preventing shaken baby syndrome: a multidisciplinary response to six tragedies.
Nurs Womens Health 1 Aug 2009 13(4): p. 325.
http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;19686555
Ana Isabel Curcoy, Victoria Trenchs, Marta Morales, Alicia Serra, Merce Pineda, and Jordi Pou
Do retinal hemorrhages occur in infants with convulsions?
Arch Dis Child 6 Aug 2009.
http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;19666457
A new study that looks at data on three generations of Oregon families shows that "positive parenting" – including factors such as warmth, monitoring children's activities, involvement, and consistency of discipline – not only has positive impacts on adolescents, but on the way they parent their own children.
The study will be published in the September issue of the journal Developmental Psychology in a special issue devoted to findings of some of the few long-term studies of intergenerational family processes.
Kerr said there is often an assumption that people learn parenting methods from their own parents. In fact, he said most research shows that a direct link between what a person experiences as a child and what she or he does as a parent is fairly weak.
"Instead, what we find is that 'negative' parenting such as hostility and lack of follow-through leads to 'negative' parenting in the next generation not through observation, but by allowing problem behavior to take hold in adolescence," Kerr said. "For instance, if you try to control your child with anger and threats, he learns to deal in this way with peers, teachers, and eventually his own children.
If you do not track where your child is, others will take over your job of teaching him about the world.
"We knew that these negative pathways can be very strong," Kerr said. "What surprised us is how strong positive parenting pathways are as well. Positive parenting is not just the absence of negative influences, but involves taking an active role in a child's life."
* * *
The researchers found that children who had parents who monitored their behavior, were consistent with rules and were warm and affectionate were more likely to have close relationships with their peers, be more engaged in school, and have better self-esteem.
"So part of what good parenting does is not only protect you against negative behaviors but instill positive connections with others during adolescence that then impact how you relate with your partner and your own child as an adult," Kerr said
"This research shows that when we think about the value of prevention, we should consider an even wider lens than is typical," he added. "We see now that changes in parenting can have an effect not just on children but even on grandchildren."
Link
Although the Texas legislature did pass hospital prevention legislation (SB 316) in 2005, it only requires hospitals to provide a brochure. Unfortunately, effective education requires more, but fortunately some hospitals in Texas are going beyond the minimum requirements of the law.The court also agreed to declare September as Shaken Baby Syndrome and Child Safety Awareness Month. About one in three Texans polled doesn't know it is dangerous to shake babies, Burrows said.
Future parents in south Staffordshire are to be given new life skills educational support and advice about the dangers of rough handling and shaking babies to help prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome.It sounds like a great project, and the project staff surely have good intentions, but it doesn't seem that creating a DVD about SBS prevention is a "unique" project.
Stop That Shake – Babies Break! – is a innovative project set up between South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust’s (PCT) and Torc Vocational Centre, Tamworth. Project leads Janine McKnight, Specialist Community Public Health Practitioner for South Staffordshire PCT and Alison Mennell, Health Tech Project Co-ordinator, of Torc, will also be working with safeguarding teams, police, paediatricians and students from Torc Vocational Centre.
The project has been given a £7,500 cash boost from the Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) and NHS West Midlands Innovation Fund to develop a DVD covering the cause, consequences, risks and prevention factors around Shaken Baby Syndrome.
* * *
In addition to funding Janine and Alison, who is also a nurse and midwife, will be given professional leadership support and enjoy project management training from QNI and West Midlands Innovation Fund team to develop their unique project.
Dr Patrick Kelly, a paediatrician at Starship children's hospital, said there were great hopes the programme would save lives. In it parents will be spoken to "in the first few days after [the birth] to talk about the dangers of shaking a baby". They would then have to sign a sheet of paper acknowledging the discussion and the ways to avoid abuse. If successful, the pilot scheme may be rolled out across the country. In the United States it has resulted in a 40 per cent reduction in abuse. Health professionals at Starship hope to have it running by the end of this year. The Shaken Baby Prevention Programme is being funded by the Ministry of Social Development, and is based on a programme developed by US professor Mark Dias. Kelly said the programme was suited to New Zealand's independent midwife network. The trial was awaiting the appointment of key staff and development of material such as a video.
Family determined to bring good out of baby's survival story
by: Jeffrey Wolf and: Cheryl Preheim
BOULDER - A 2-month-old who doctors did not think would survive was released from the
hospital on Monday evening.
His father, 27-year-old Ben Koller, is in jail accused of shaking, hitting, biting and suffocating his infant son. Social Services has given custody of Baby Jack to his grandmother, Claudia Riggs, his mom's mother. "I am just glad he's home," Riggs said. "The first few days they told us that he wasn't going to survive.But everyday he's been amazing us. He just keeps getting better and better." The 2-month-old has survived what seemed like the impossible. "Three weeks ago, if you would have seen him, you would have thought it was time to plan a funeral," said Mark Schmidt, the baby's grandfather, also on his mother's side.
Jack Koller had a fractured skull and couldn't breathe or eat on his own. He was also blind, but has regained his sight. "The MRI showed significant brain damage," Schmidt said. "It's horrendous. The one person who was supposed to be protecting was the person he knew to have the most fear about."
Police say Koller shook the baby when he wouldn't stop crying. Koller is being held at the Boulder County Jail on a $1 million bond. He faces charges of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.
Now, after 20 days at The Children's Hospital in Aurora, Riggs and Jack got to leave together. Riggs says they leave with a greater purpose. "He was happy to walk outside," she said. "It would be my hope that this would never happen again to another child. Somehow we are going to make really good things come out of this."
At home in Boulder, gifts were waiting from friends to help Riggs, who has just left her job as a ibrarian to be a full-time grandma to care for Jack. "I know I am going to become a huge advocate for [preventing] abuse and shaken baby syndrome. I may have a new career," she said.
Jack's mother is 20 years old and says she did not know about the abuse. She will be allowed to have supervised visits and she is getting parenting classes and counseling.
As for Jack's long term prognosis, doctors say they'll know more with time but he could have challenges with walking, talking and could have learning disabilities. But he's already shown he's a fighter so his family expects great things.
While Baby Jack still has a long recovery ahead, at least he gets to continue it at home. "This is a wonderful day. He is a miracle," Riggs said. As she held him in her arms, she told him, "We are all here to protect you and take care of you."
Riggs wants to make sure every day is a day they can look forward too. "Grandma is going to give you a bath tomorrow. We have a big day planned," she said. "I just want Jack to know he's very loved. I want to one day take him for a walk in the park. It will be a special day when that day comes," Schmidt said.
