Dr. Gonzalez Costea is a specialist in Ophthalmology in Murcia expert in ocular pathologies in both adults and children. In this article he explains what shaken baby syndrome is, a pathology that occurs as a result of excessive shaking in a baby that can cause irreversible eye damage.
Children are fragile beings who depend on adults during their growth period. Shaken baby syndrome is a problem caused by parents or adults who aggressively shake the child and that generates irreversible causes, so we must be very careful in how they are treated.
What is shaken baby syndrome?
The skull of babies is characterized by being hard when it is forming, since the brain is soft and must be well protected. When the child is shaken in an aggressive way, this very soft brain hits very hard against the walls of the skull repeatedly. This causes many symptoms that will result in a serious neurological problem, often irreversible.
Shaken baby syndrome occurs when the adult grabs the baby by the arm or trunk and shakes the baby very aggressively.
Why does shaken baby syndrome occur?
There is no genetic predisposition to shaken baby syndrome, as it occurs when there is an aggressive action on the baby. These aggressive acts are usually related to young parents, to those who had expectations of what parenthood is and it is not what they expected, to parents who take drugs or to those who suffer from psychological problems.
One of the most common causes of the shaken baby syndrome is the baby’s excessive crying. Many parents lose patience when they see that there is nothing they can do to stop the crying and, becoming nervous, shake the child aggressively.
Symptoms of shaken baby syndrome
Some parents fear to provoke this syndrome when the child is choking, but it is not a frequent cause. When the child is choking, the child should be turned face down and given two blows on the back, but this has nothing to do with shaking the child’s head.
A small percentage of children suffer severe eye injuries, which can lead to blindness. A small proportion of children who suffer from shaken baby syndrome, usually under the age of one year, eventually die because they do not recover from the injuries caused.
Usually the shaking can be detected by physical injuries such as bruises and bruises, although in some cases they may not be seen. In the absence of these physical symptoms, the physician may suspect it if the child has seizures or does not feel like eating. If this is detected, the physician will usually order a fundus study to check for retinal, intraretinal or subretinal hemorrhages. This occurs in most cases of children suffering from aggressive shaking.
Other symptoms caused by the syndrome are cerebral palsy, hearing loss or behavioral disturbances.
If the physician has suspicions that the child has been abused, he/she is obliged to report it to the court.
When do the symptoms of shaken baby syndrome occur?
Shaken baby syndrome causes two types of injuries, immediate and those that will appear during maturation. The immediate ones are usually hemorrhages, since the laceration of the vessels caused by the violence manifests itself at the same moment. When there is swelling or edema in the brain, the child may end up showing language disorders, may not be able to hold the neck, or may have speech and walking delays.
Can shaken baby syndrome be treated?
The small mistake of parents who lose their nerve ends up developing irreversible sequelae, for which there is no treatment. The only hope is that the most sensitive areas of the child’s brain are not affected, in the hope that the symptoms will be as mild as possible.
The only way to treat the syndrome is through prevention, patience with the babies and avoid losing control. There are associations aimed at helping parents who feel that they are not patient with their children or who lose control when dealing with them. If parents detect that the loss of control is severe, they should make a visit to a psychiatrist.