What are the signs and symptoms of shaken baby syndrome?

It’s a Friday evening, and you’re enjoying some wine while watching your favorite series. Suddenly, you hear the baby crying so much that it distracts from one of the most exciting moments on TV. You reluctantly pause the show and rush to check what’s happening with tiny Timmy.

Upon reaching his bedroom, you find him in distress, extremely irritable and unresponsive to your attempts to pacify him. While startled by Timmy’s sudden change in behavior, you try everything in your power within reasonable limits until he settles down.

But what if this situation is more than just baby aggression? What if there is an underlying medical condition responsible for such sudden shifts?

This article will provide insight into signs and symptoms of shaken baby syndrome (SBS). So put on your thinking caps as we discover what SBS entails.

Halt! Wait a Minute!

Before we delve any further, let us take a moment to distinguish between two common scenarios associated with babies’ irritability: colic vs. Abusive Head Trauma (what physicians call shaken baby syndrome).

Colic refers to excessive crying amid non-specific digestive issues; it typically affects infants between three weeks old till around three months but usually resolves independently over time without requiring intervention.

Shaken Baby Syndrome or abusive head trauma is caused by violently shaking a child often under 2 years old leading to death or severe brain damage due to bleeding inside their heads (intracranial hemorrhage) bleeding around their retinas (retinal hemorrhages), swollen brains with increased pressure commonly known as (

Inevitably, there are caregivers who intentionally make children sick out of attention-seeking propensities referred to as Munchausen By Proxy(MBP) . MBP has increasingly become prevalent because technology makes it possible for them not only can manipulate doctors through the testimonials they conjure but also turn the entire family against one another.

It’s pertinent to note that SBS is not synonymous with MBP even though MBP could perpetrate the former.

  1. Extreme irritability
  2. Vomiting
  3. Listlessness or decreased muscle tone (hypotonia)
  4. Difficulty staying awake
  5. Breathing problems:
  6. irregular breathing rates
    -upwards movement of eyeballs called sunsetting eyes
    6 Seizures

The Six stages of symptoms for shaking head syndrome

Stage One: Zoning out

When an infant suffers abusive head trauma, their brains can malfunction and cause zoning out effects where many cognitive functions like speech, memory mobility skills are disrupted.

Stage Two: Dehydration

Studies predict infants with non-specific signs suspected for child abuse have a relatively high risk of dehydration due to neglected feeds by caregivers attempting to provoke illness in children diagnosed with Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy (MBP).

Stage Three: Swelling Brain

Like you experience swelling on stubbing your toe while preparing breakfast, so does shaken baby syndrome exhibit brain swelling as blood gathers around the brain when shaky movements harm any part inside the skull prompt cellular damage making fluids ooze through cell membranes into tissue spaces causing blockages, which exacerbate elevating pressure on brain cells affecting functionality leading to further cellular death.

Stage Four : Vomiting

Children suffering from this condition are sporadically known to demonstrate excessive vomiting after being subjected t violent shakes continually without restraint until blood pools around and inside their skulls resulting in raised intracranial pressure compromising cerebrospinal fluid production responsible for producing immune-suppressive responding hormones among other benefits

Vomitting is typically caused by premature relaxing digestive tract muscles rapidly contracting before pushing stomach contents upwards towards esophageal sphincter triggered reflexively by several factors including uneasiness and using gravity Hence the baby’s discomfort when lying flat as it might trigger.

Stage Five: Fever

Shaken Baby Syndrome is known to cause various diseases, including fever. There is no surefire explanation for why this happens, but symptoms of infection may manifest a few days after aggressive violent shaking occurs

During an infant’s developmental stages, their immune systems aren’t exactly equipped with all the necessary supplements or requirements to combat pathogens expeditiously. This complication makes SBS plausible enough that illness can be seen in many scenarios despite varying severities acting such as risk-factors permitting invasive in/out procedures blood loss .

Stage Six : Lethargy

An easily upset and unresponsive child unable to keep attentive engaged tending towards being lethargic acts due having too long traumatic shake syndrome injury like SBS characterized mainly by not engaging cues from physicians and caregivers also marked by having less muscular toning than those in similar age ranges not suffering irreversible brain damage caused shaken-baby syndrome.

Conclusion

Children are precious gifts cherished around us whose safety needs constant protective measures We must provide abundant awareness about perilous missteps that have extreme medical repercussions like shaking infants vigorously. Any suspicion of abuse should be treated seriously; we must bolster our collaborative effort on child-care advocacy networks while demanding more focused discussions with legal officials accountable for enforcing measures protecting children against these harmful practices through instituting effective changes. So stay woke!

Random Posts