The No. 1 trigger for the shaking and abuse of infants is the frustration from a crying infant.
In an effort to help spread awareness about normal infant crying and the dangers of shaking an infant, Valley Medical Center (VMC) is participating in the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome’s public education campaign, Period of Purple Crying: Click for Babies.
VMC was a pilot hospital for the Period of Purple Crying, an evidenced-based program that educates parents about normal infant crying, ways to cope with the crying and the dangers of reacting in frustration by shaking or abusing an infant.
In 2011 VMC and UW Medicine were the only delivering hospitals in the state providing this kind of prevention program. Today 21 Washington hospitals have implemented the program.
Click for Babies is a grassroots effort that invites knitters and crocheters across North America to make purple baby caps, which will be delivered to families in November and December with the Period of Purple Crying program.
Now in its second year, Click for Babies is a collaborative effort among the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome and invited states and provinces that have implemented the Period of Purple Crying. Oregon, Washington, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, North Carolina, West Virginia, New Hampshire and Maine have joined the 2012 campaign, in addition to British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
“It’s been gratifying to see this program grow so quickly,” said Kelle Baxter, MSN, RNC, FNP-BC, IBCLC, perinatal clinical educator for VMC’s Birth Center, a member of the Shaken Baby Prevention State Task Force and the VMC ambassador for The Period of Purple Crying. “Parents and caregivers need to understand the sometimes exasperating features about normal infant crying, and how to reduce the stress and frustration parents experience when they have a baby who cries. Shaken Baby Syndrome causes such devastation and yet is completely preventable.”
Valley Medical Center is accepting purple caps through December at the Birth Center Admitting desk (on the second floor of the hospital). More information about the campaign, including patterns for caps, guidelines and details about the national campaign are available at www.clickforbabies.org..
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