Never Shake a Baby......Shaken Baby Syndrome

I have a myspace page, I love it, it helps keep me in touch with friends and family, and lets face it, it is just fun!  So I get a bulletin message and it is about a little boy who has been a victim of SBS.  His name is Kaleb Schwade, he is now about 7 months old.  He has been in the PICU in Florida for over a month.  So I check out the my Help Kaleb myspace page, and then his moms page.  His mom and dad spent their first wedding anniversary in the hospital with Kaleb.  He is their first child.  When Kristy (mom) decided to go back to work they looked for a good daycare for their son, they did a back ground check, interviewed the day care provider, who is licenced.   5 DAYS! That is how long this person watched Kaleb.  So now this woman is out on bail, Kaleb is fighting for his life, his mom and dads lives have been turned upside down and this day care provider is out on bail!  So I have been telling everyone I know to check out this myspace page, and to NEVER SHAKE A BABY!!!  If one person is helped to walk away from a moment of anger toward a child then I have done some good.  If you are interested in checking out Kalebs story further, his mom has a blog in which she updates daily what is going on.  www.myspace.com/197879646 .  Sadly this is not the only child that I know of in the PICU due to SBS there is a child local to me who is 19 months old who is also fighting for his life due to this.  These children will never be the same, the parents will never be the same.  Sadly this is something that I beleive happens more than we know.  This is something that should be advertised on bill boards, it is the number one cause of child abuse deaths.  It is something that is totally avoidable!  I do not know much about this either, just what I have seen on the news, luckily I have never had to experience its symptoms personally.  I beleive that the violent shaking causes brain swelling, and can cause bleeding in the brain.  It can seperate the brain stem from the brain, causing the child to be in a vegetative state for the rest of their lives.  One of the ways to know that this has happened is the pupils will be different, because it is a brain injury.  I have also heard that sometimes the child will have flu like symptoms, becoming sleepy and unresponsive.  If you have a doubt take them to an emergency room, better to be safe than sorry.   A news show the other day, which was about Kaleb said that three out of four children will survive this, but they will always have the side effects.  In Kalebs mommys blogs she said Kaleb is now blind.  So I know this is not the best written piece of advice, but here is the bottom line, if you feel anger toward a child, leave the room, set the child down, in a safe place and WALK AWAY!  Leave the room, take a breather!  NEVER SHAKE A BABY OR A CHILD!  If you feel like you may harm a child/baby call someone for help, be it a friend, or the police.  There are even some places that will watch your child/ren if you need an emergency break.  If it is something you feel often seek counseling.  Take a look at Kalebs web page and see the consequences, it is not worth it.   So let me say one last time......Never Shake a Baby (OR A CHILD)