Preventing child abuse

We have been following the case of an 18-year-old Wilmington woman, Meagan Stuhan charged in the death of her four-month-old son.

He died of internal injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome.

According to New Hanover Regional Medical Center shaken baby syndrome is the most common form of child abuse in children 6-months-old and younger.

Hospital personnel say some parents shake their babies to try and get them to stop crying, but even the smallest shake could be deadly.

Pediatric coordinator, Mary Beth Koehler, has seen frustration over a crying baby turn into abuse. She says many parents do not know that shaking a baby, even a little, can cause bleeding in the brain.

She says to prevent abuse from occurring, New Hanover Regional Medical Center educates all new parents on ways to cope with a crying newborn.

Research showed a program like this was needed.

“Before they started this initiative they called people in the state of North Carolina and asked and it was mostly moms who answered the phone, ‘Do you shake your baby as a matter of discipline,’ and they said ‘yes’, by and large a huge amount,” said Koehler.

Koehler says if your baby’s crying becomes too much, put the baby in a safe place, then try to calm down before your actions cause any harm.

She also recommends calling a friend to help watch the baby for a while.

Do what ever you need to do to de-stress, but most importantly never shake the child, and know that sometimes you are not going to be able to make the baby stop crying.

For more information, please visit dontshake.org.