By JASON CARSON
Don't shake the baby.
Never shake a baby. Ever.
The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, the California Department of Social Services and other organizations have recently launched campaigns such as these to prevent the occurrence of Shaken Baby Syndrome.
The syndrome has been the recent focus of media attention, as a result of the au pair case of Louise Woodward in Massachusetts. Woodward, who was convicted by a jury of the second-degree murder of eight month old Matthew Eappen, was set free after the presiding judge reduced the conviction to manslaughter.
So what was Woodward's crime?
Shaking a baby...
Sources agree that shaking a baby -- in play or out of anger -- can potentially cause lifelong injury and even death.
'Most of the people that shake babies don't mean to (hurt them),' said John Wynn, an Orem pediatrician.
In fact, 37 percent of parents and caregivers do not know that shaking a baby is dangerous, according to a study by the SBS Prevention Plus Program.
It is more often a simple matter of poor impulse control when a baby is crying uncontrollably, Wynn said.
'It only takes a moment to lose your cool and do something that will affect the baby for the rest of its life,' he said.
As an alternative to violent action, the CDSS, on its website, suggests the following when a baby cries:
-- Feed the baby slowly and burp it often.
-- Offer the baby a pacifier.
-- Hold the baby against your chest and walk or rock.
-- Put on soft music or sing.
-- Take the baby for a ride in stroller or car.
-- Put the baby in a baby swing.
If the baby still does not stop crying, or if the care giver feels that he or she might lose control, Wynn said to lay the baby in a safe place, shut the door and take a break.
'Walk away and count to ten. It's better to do nothing and let the baby be upset than to do more harm,' Wynn said.
Younger parents and care givers tend to shake babies more often than experienced ones. Fatigue also makes it more difficult for a person to stay calm, he said.
Although SBS usually occurs as a result of the vigorous, abusive shaking of an angry or frustrated adult, this is not always the case, according to the American Humane Association.
Wynn said he is aware of instances where the care giver believed the child had stopped breathing. In these cases, the parent or care giver panics and shakes the baby, in an attempt to make it start breathing again, causing injury to the child's brain.
In some rare cases, babies can be seriously injured by people who play too rough with them, such as tossing them into the air, according to the AHA.
Wynn said the chances of a baby being seriously harmed by being tossed into the air are slim.
'It needs to be a violent shake with a type of sheering force to it,' Wynn said.
Still, due to the chances of injury, he does not recommend tossing a baby into the air.
The CDSS encourages people to keep babies' heads well-supported when holding, playing with or transporting them.
Wynn, who has seen six cases of SBS, is working with one patient that bears the results of being shaken. He said the four-year-old boy was shaken by a baby-sitter in a moment of anger when he was about six months old. The child is now blind, as a result.
Children are not the only ones affected by SBS. Parents must also live with the consequences.
Referring to the mother of his SBS patient, Wynn said, 'She'll never have a baby-sitter again.'
She is even uncomfortable taking the boy to another doctor, Wynn said.
Five of the six SBS children Wynn has seen were shaken by baby-sitters or boyfriends, rather than the parents. In such cases, it is not uncommon for the parents to feel guilty about the injury or death of their child, Wynn said.
Experts encourage people not to leave their babies with anyone that appears uneasy or anxious around babies, especially crying babies.