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Shaken baby syndrome
We all know that babies need to be handled carefully, but an extensive study by scientists at the Royal London Hospital and the Sheffield University sheds new light on how easy it may be to harm or even kill a baby by shaking her.
The researchers examined the brains of 53 children believed to be killed by deliberate injury and revealed that even mild shaking can damage nerve fibres in the neck area that control breathing. The subsequent lack of oxygen causes the brain to swell, resulting in brain damage or death. It was thought that this could only be caused by violent shaking, which made the brain bash against the skull.
Jennian Geddes, a neuropathologist at the Royal London Hospital, told the New Scientist, ‘We focused on the point where the brain meets the spinal cord. A rocking motion at this point can damage the vital part of the spinal cord that controls breathing.’
Lawyers are anticipating that this new piece of medical research may make it more difficult to secure convictions for killing babies by shaking them. It could also provide a new basis to appeal, for high profile cases like that of Louise Woodward, the British au pair who was convicted in a US court in 1997 for the involuntary manslaughter of an eight-month-old boy in her care.
Nobody’s saying that bouncing a baby gently on your knee or other normal play activities would cause any harm. But Dr Geddes warns: ‘You can imagine scenarios that might produce the damage without it being deliberately inflicted. It would have to involve vigorous unsupported movement of the head,’ she says. So this rules out rough play at least until your baby’s crawling, and means taking care to support a newborn’s head if you’re walking with them in your arms.
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