Preventing Shaken Baby Syndrome

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Michelle gave birth to her daughter, Maya, Wednesday night. Less than 24-hours later, she watched a video on the effects of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Hospitals say the information is a vital part of learning to care for a baby.

"No one ever wakes up and says, 'I'm going to shake my baby.' It's a response to a feeling, frustration, things like that," said St. Joseph's Hospital RN Chris Vona.

New York State requires parents and day care providers to be educated on Shaken Baby Syndrome which can result in serious brain damage. Doctors said that is what happened to Fajo Edwards when he was just three months old. Fajo's parents said he was fine before they dropped him off at day care.



"Parents are pretty in tune to their babies. So a parent would recognize, usually, most parents will recognize a definite change in them," said Vona.

Now at two-years-old Fajo is blind and he can not walk or talk. His former day care provider is on trial for endangering the welfare of a child.

One expert said Fajo's brain damage could have been caused by chronic bleeding and therefore unpreventable. But if his condition was a result of shaking it could have been prevented
Gentle motions are not going to hurt this baby. But it is any kind of motion that cause the head to snap to the back, then come forward, that is when the serious damage occurs," said Anne Andrianos, with Reach CNY Maternal Child Health.

After watching the video, Michelle knows what not to do when caring for her baby girl.

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• Preventing
• Shaken
• Baby
• Syndrome
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[MelissaAnne1215]

How hard is it? DON'T SHAKE THE BABY. You can't not relize that you're hurting the child if their head is flopping back and forth....Poor babies.

[Pam4Rob]

I live in syrace