PARENTS of new-born babies are being shown a 10 minute video in Scottish maternity hospitals which could prevent the children suffering preventable head injuries in the all-important first year of their lives.
Leading charity NSPCC is behind the initiative after research published in the medical journal The Lancet showed the number of non-accidental head injuries perpetrated by mothers and fathers on babies in the first 12 months was almost 25 in every 100,000 between 1998-99.
Mostly this is down to exasperation caused by a baby crying; the temptation to shake, hit or even throw a baby when it won't be quiet is apparently overwhelming in some over-stressed new parents who can't understand why their infant isn't content after bathing, feeding and cuddling. As a baby's soft little head is particularly fragile, that's the damage can be devastating - and it's often irreversible.
Brain damage, cerebral palsy; visual, speech and language problems; hyperactivity, fits and aggressive behaviour in later life can all be caused by such misguided parental response to crying, even though it's a young baby's only means of communication.
Such trauma can also cause the child to die. Non-accidental head injury (formers called Shaken Baby Syndrome) remains the most common cause of fatal child maltreatment. An analysis by NSPCC in November 2013 showed at least half of the survivors have significant neurological impairments.
In the charity's video, real-life parents to raise awareness of how vulnerable babies' heads are, and to give other parents information about coping with crying and thus avoiding non-accidental head injury. It was originated by health care professionals in New York State ten years ago, and it reduced the incidence of injuries in babies by 47 per cent over five years.
Now the programme has been rolled out to hospitals in NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Tayside, following its successful trial at Wishaw General in 2011.
Audrey Fleming, team manager for the non-accidental head injuries project for NSPCC, explains: "A recent study by the NSPCC indicated that one in nine new parents felt they wanted to shake their baby. We looked at best practice from around the world in how to help parents keep calm and keep their babies safe. We learned from a programme in America which had been successful in educating parents about the pressures of crying and the importance of not taking their stress out on their baby.
"Working with doctors, midwives, parents and other experts, the NSPCC created a powerful new film to help parents to care for a crying baby and reduce the risk of them becoming stressed and harming their child. It gives such advice as walking away from the baby, and calm down out of the room before coming back in to soothe it. Other parents in the DVD show how they have coped by cradling, rocking, and talking to their crying baby, or playing music or putting on the television to create some background noise. All these things seem simple but they really can help."
Some babies start to cry from the moment they're born, though crying tends to start at around two months. NSPCC believes it is best to show the film in hospital before parents are discharged because that is when they are most receptive, and it's often the time when the father is most likely to be present: around 86 per cent of fathers attend the birth of their baby.
She said: "This programme is phenomenal and is having the most amazing impact. We would like to see it in every maternity hospital in Scotland, and invite those interested in this most essential child protection tool to get in touch with us."
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