Shake Martinis But Not The Baby

By Dr. W. Gifford Jones

Tuesday, April 5, 2005

What do I know about babies? Not much, and that's why I rarely write about babies. But I recently learned a devastating fact about them. James Bond always insisted that his martinis should be shaken. But a report in The Medical Post shows that shaking a crying baby can be lethal. And it raises the question of who caused the brain damage, the parents or the baby sitter?

Dr. Ron Barr, a British Columbia pediatrician, recently presented shocking evidence on the extent of injury to shaken babies at a medical meeting in Montreal. Barr told doctors that studies show the incidence of shaken babies is higher than the worst suicide rates in the world!

Shaking a baby tosses its brain back and forth, rupturing veins and causing hemorrhage. The result is that 25 percent of these babies die and the rest suffer from permanent neurological effects such as blindness, cerebral palsy, developmental problems and learning disabilities.

It's ordinary people and often baby-sitters who shake crying babies. The shaker may be deceived into believing that because the baby calms down, it has learned a lesson. In fact, if shaking seems to work, they may shake the baby again and again to stop the crying. But they fail to realize what may have stopped the crying is a brain concussion!

Dr. Barr stresses that crying must be considered a normal reaction like sleeping. And that when extreme crying occurs, all too often the cause is labeled as colic. But 98 percent of the time this diagnosis is wrong. So no one should immediately go on a wild goose chase to adjust formulas. Bluntly, parents must get it out of their heads that the baby has a tummy ache.

So here's Dr. Barr's message. "If the baby is crying with no other physical symptoms such as diarrhea, or weight loss, then it is just crying." And sometimes the proper move is to put the baby down and walk away. As a non-pediatric expert that advice sounds sensible to me.

Barr calls this baby reaction "PURPLE" crying. Its peak time is the first few months of life. It's unpredictable, resistant to soothing, the baby's face indicates pain, and crying bouts may last up to three hours, commonly in the evening.

Dr. Jean-Claude Decarie, a Quebec pediatric neuroradiologist at Ste. Justine Hospital, says that if a baby is brought to Emergency drowsy and vomiting, doctors are always suspicious it may be due to the "shaken baby syndrome".

Solving what has happened requires more than the enquiring eye of a Sherlock Holmes. But today modern imaging technology helps radiologists decide if the baby has been shaken causing brain injury. A membrane is normally present that separates the left and right side of the brain. If an infant's CT scan is taken soon after the shaking incident and fresh blood is seen along the sides of this membrane, it is highly suggestive of brain injury which leads to brain loss.

Dr. Decarie sees up to eight cases of the shaken baby syndrome every month! And he says parents only confess after radiological evidence proves what has happened.

So who shook the baby, the parents or the baby-sitter? This question isn't easy to answer. Dr. Decarie says that although symptoms appear at an early stage it's still not possible to time the injury by a CT scan to prove who was the guilty party.

Doctors Barr and Decarie report that the number of cases of shaken baby syndrome is on the rise. They blame it on the various pressures of our society. I would add the sad fact that today, when so many unmarried teenagers are reluctantly forced to care for a screaming baby, something is bound to give.

My advice; pick your baby-sitter well and have him or her read this column.

W. Gifford-Jones M.D is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker graduate of Harvard. Dr. Walker's website is: Docgiff.com

My book, �90 + How I Got There� can be obtained by sending $19.95 to:

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Pre-2008 articles by Gifford Jones

Canada Free Press, CFP Editor Judi McLeod