29/08/2024
SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME (SBS)
After reading through this article to the end, you will NEVER allow any visitor to vigorously shake your newborn baby for whatever purpose it fulfills. You will also not violently shake your baby out of frustration by the baby’s inconsolable crying.
On the 20th of October 2003, 3-month-old baby Gerald was rushed by his parents to a general hospital somewhere in Lagos State, Nigeria.
He was noted to be having difficulty breathing and was slipping in and out of unconsciousness.
Unable to handle the case, they were referred from the general hospital to a tertiary referral hospital in Lagos where among other supportive tests, a CT scan of the brain was done. 3-month-old Gerald was found to have to be having blood accumulating between the skull and his brain.
Something has caused the blood vessels to be torn causing blood to spill internally into the infant’s fragile skull. On further interrogation of the parents, nothing significant was identified as the precipitating cause except that Gerald’s Aunty, who is his father’s elder sister visited 3 days before the onset of symptoms. Gerald’s mum tearfully recounted how Aunty Ekoma threw him in the air after shaking him vigorously. When asked, she said it was done to make Gerald less fearful and she did it to all her 4 children who are grown-ups now.
With this discovery of blood inside the infant’s brain and worsening condition, he was then moved from the Children's emergency room (CHER) to the Intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital following the advice of the consultant child brain physician. Within 3 hours, a hole was dug into the infant’s brain to drain the blood that had accumulated inside the skull.
After a tumultuous 3 months of battle in the ICU, Gerald was finally discharged to continue treatment at home. He will live for the rest of his life with cognitive and behavioral disabilities, speech delays, and movement disorders as a result of complications of SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME.
Five years down the line, Gerald is unable to speak, he is quadriplegic (inability to use hands and legs) and is now confined to a wheelchair, unable to eat by himself, and is only fed by a small feeding tube attached to his belly.
By age 5, he had gone through all 5 stages of puberty that would have normally begun at age 9 to 13 years.
Within these 5 years, he was taken in and out of the hospital for pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and bedsores.
On the 29th of October,2008, Gerald was rushed again to the hospital as a result of severe malnutrition and pneumonia but this time, he couldn’t make it and his short existence on earth came to an unfortunate end.
Gerald is one of over 600 to 1400 children less than 2 years old who suffer from preventable cases of Shaken baby syndrome every year in the US and in extension globally if parents had adequate awareness concerning this condition and took cautionary measures.
Now, you may want to know how shaking a baby violently can cause this form of traumatic brain injury, let’s explore!!
Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), also called Abusive Head Trauma, Shaken Impact Syndrome, Inflicted Head Injury, or Whiplash Shake Syndrome, is a serious internal brain injury resulting from violently shaking a child.
A baby‘s head is large and heavy making up ¼ compared to the rest of his body.
This large head rests on neck muscles that are too weak to support it. When a baby is violently shaken, the head flops back and forth.
Since the infant's brain is small and fragile, the brain moves within the skull. When a baby is shaken, their brain can strike the inside of the skull, damaging blood vessels and consequent bleeding into the skull and compression of the brain.
This can result in a range of severe consequences, including brain damage, Vision problems, Cognitive and developmental delays, and even physical injuries like broken bones and ribs.
Enough said, parents beware!!!
©DR TONY OFFIONG
