Signs and Symptoms of Shaken Baby Syndrome:
  • Lethargy / decreased muscle tone
  • Extreme irritability
  • Decreased appetite, poor feeding or vomiting for no apparent reason
  • Grab-type bruises on arms or chest are rare but may occur
  • No smiling or vocalization
  • Poor sucking or swallowing
  • Rigidity or posturing
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Seizures
  • Head or forehead appears larger than usual or soft-spot on head appears to be
    bulging
  • Inability to lift head
  • Inability of eyes to focus or track movement or unequal size of pupils

What Happens When You Shake A Baby
The brain rotates within the skull cavity, injuring or destroying brain tissue.
When shaking occurs, blood vessels feeding the brain can be torn, leading to bleeding
around the brain.
Blood pools within the skull, sometimes creating more pressure within the skull and
possibly causing additional brain damage.
Retinal (back of the eye) bleeding is very common

Immediate Consequences:
Breathing may stop or be compromised
Extreme irritability
Seizures
Limp arms and legs or rigidity/posturing
Decreased level of consciousness
Vomiting; poor feeding
Inability to suck or swallow
Heart may stop
Death

Long-Term Consequences:
Learning disabilities
Physical disabilities
Visual disabilities or blindness
Hearing impairment
Speech disabilities
Cerebral Palsy
Seizures
Behavior disorders
Cognitive impairment
Death

Why:

Babies' heads are relatively large and heavy, making up about 25% of their total body
weight. Their neck muscles are too weak to support such a disproportionately large
head.
Babies' brains are immature and more easily injured by shaking.
Babies' blood vessels around the brain are more susceptible to tearing than older
children or adults.

When:

Often, perpetrators shake an infant or child out of frustration or anger. This most often
occurs when the baby won't stop crying. Other triggering events include toilet training
difficulties and feeding problems.

Shaken Baby Syndrome Statistics
One shaken baby in four dies.
Some studies estimate that 15% of children's deaths are due to battering or shaking,
and an additional 15% are possible cases of shaking.
Of the 37 children that died in Florida in 1995-96 13 died from a combination of Shaken
Baby Syndrome/ Head Trauma.
Of the thousands that survive death, serious injury usually occurs.
SBS victims range in age from a few days to a few months old; the average is six months.
More than 60% of the victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome are male.
Almost 80% of the perpetrators of Shaken Baby Syndrome are male  















ATTN: The above facts and statistics are courtesty of dontshake.org, aboutshakenbaby.
com
Shaken Baby Syndrome/Child Abuse Facts