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Simulator shows damage babies suffer from shaking

Photo

Photo by Gina Duwe

Parts of the brain light up on the shaken baby syndrome simulator to show the type of brain damage a baby suffers from shaking.

Photo

Photo by Gina Duwe

Jenny Dalsen of the Exchange Family Resource Center, Janesville, demonstrates how the shaken baby simulator's head lights up to show brain damage suffered from shaking.

JANESVILLE — The cries from the baby doll sound real and inconsolable.

The translucent skull on the simulator allows a user to see what kind of brain damage a baby can suffer from just a little shaking.

Red lights glow in the back of the brain when a person mildly shakes the baby. The lights indicate the caregiver has just visually impaired or blinded the baby.

At the next level of forceful shaking, lights go on in the front of the baby’s brain, which controls memory and emotion. The baby’s loss of those functions can cause learning disabilities and behavioral disorders.

After enough shaking, the baby stops crying.

By then, injury to the brain is extensive.

The sides of the baby’s brain light up in addition to the front and back. The baby has lost the ability to speak and hear and would be paralyzed on one or both sides, if not die.

The shaken baby syndrome simulator is being used throughout the community to promote awareness of what happens when a baby is shaken, said Mike Faust, president of the Exchange Club of Greater Janesville, which bought the doll.

“I don’t think people realize how little it takes to permanently affect a child,” he said.

Prevention of child abuse is one of the core principles of his service club, which is loaning the simulator to community groups.

The simulator has been used at schools, workshops and the Rock County Baby Shower last fall, said Dan Fredricks of Dean Clinic and a member of the club. He was amazed at how many people refused to try it because the baby’s body and cries seemed so lifelike, he said.

The life-like baby is a neat teaching tool, said Jenny Dalsen of the Exchange Family Resource Center, which will host a workshop Thursday on shaken baby syndrome.

“The reason that it’s kind of an insidious problem is it doesn’t show obvious damage,” said Dr. Mark Boettcher of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Riverview Clinic, “and the amount of force that could be used by an adult or older child can cause horrible consequences with a young infant.”

Fortunately, it’s a problem Boettcher hasn’t encountered often in his 16 years at Dean. He’s seen only two documented cases.

In Rock County, 2,622 allegations of child abuse and neglect were made in 2010. Of those, 1,670 met requirements to be screened for assessment, according to Rock County Human Services data.

Abuse to an infant can be so damaging because an infant’s neck is weak and its head is relatively big for its body size, Boettcher said.

An infant doesn’t have good head control until 6 months old, but even then a child’s neck is relatively weak for the child’s head, he said.

That’s why state law requires children to be placed in rear-facing car seats until they are 1 year old, he said.

“It’s not until a child is walking that their neck is really strong enough to fully protect their head,” he said.

With mild shaking or putting a baby forcefully into a crib, a baby’s brain will slosh against the inside of the skull and cause bruising and damage, he said. External damage might not be visible, but doctors might sometimes see in a physical exam hemorrhages of the retina inside the eye. CT and MRI scans document the damage.

“That’s why the rule is never shake a baby,” Boettcher said.

Shaken Baby Syndrome effects

Shaken baby syndrome causes irreversible damage, including damage that can lead to death.

Children who survive may have:

-- Partial or total blindness

-- Hearing loss

-- Seizures

-- Developmental delays

-- Impaired intellect

-- Speech and learning difficulties

-- Problems with memory and attention

-- Severe mental retardation

-- Cerebral palsy

Signs and symptoms

Severe cases of abusive head trauma can lead to a child arriving at the emergency room unconscious, suffering seizures or in shock. In less severe cases, a child who has been shaken may experience:

-- Lethargy

-- Irritability

-- Vomiting

-- Poor sucking or swallowing

-- Decreased appetite

-- Lack of smiling or vocalizing

-- Rigidity

-- Seizures

-- Difficulty breathing

-- Altered consciousness

-- Unequal pupil size

-- An inability to lift the head, focus the eyes or track movement

Source: KidsHealth.org, part of The Nemours Foundation’s Center for Children’s Health Media