Never, never, never

A little baby girl aged three months suffered six fractured ribs, both of her legs were fractured and her brain was so damaged that if she was to live, she would be a vegetable. Therefore, her mother did something no mother should ever have to do. The young mother did what was right and best for the little baby girl by taking her off the life support.

The little baby girl had been entrusted to a male caregiver who had probably had shaken her fatally.

This act is called Shaken baby Syndrome (SBS). SBS is the shaking of an infant or child by the arms, legs or shoulders with or without the impact of the head. Shaking, jerking or jolting can cause blood vessels in the head to tear or burst. This trauma can result in bleeding and brain injury with no outwards signs of abuse.

Often, frustrated caregivers feel that shaking a baby or child is a harmless way to stop them from crying. However, a baby's brain and blood vessels are vulnerable to whiplash motions such as shaking, jerking, jolting and impact.

The neck muscles of a baby or small child is weak, so the child's head is relatively heavy and the neck cannot support the stress of shaking or impact.

Therefore, shaking a baby or a small child with or without the impact of the head, can cause irreversible brain damage, blindness, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, spinal chord injury, seizures, learning disabilities and even death!

It is a tragic that healthy and intelligent babies and small children are suffering from these disabilities simply because their caregivers do not know the dangers associated to Shaken baby Syndrome.

More info about SBS.