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You are Here: Home Page > Shaken Baby Syndrome > Shaken Baby Syndrome  

Shaken Baby Syndrome

Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is the term used to describe a group of injuries that result from a child being violently shaken by another individual. The American Academy of Pediatrics describes the severity of the shaking as so violent that competent individuals observing the shaking would recognize it as dangerous. Some of the injuries associated with SBS include traumatic brain injury, retinal hemorrhages, blindness, fractures, seizures, paralysis and death. Poor feeding, vomiting, lethargy, and respiratory difficulty are also associated with shaken baby syndrome.

The number one reason for shaking a baby is inconsolable crying. The caregiver becomes frustrated, loses control and shakes the baby in order to stop the crying. There is usually no intent to harm the child and most often, the caregivers do not know that shaking is harmful to the infant. Males in their early twenties are the perpetrators in shaken baby cases 80% of the time. The abuser is usually the baby's father or the mother's boyfriend. Female perpetrators tend to be a caregiver other than the biological mother.

In the United States there are an estimated 1,000 to 3,000 cases of shaken baby syndrome each year. A new ICD-9-CM code has been available since 1996 to specifically identify "shaken infant syndrome." This new code identifies only hospitalizations, not deaths, due to SBS. In New York State alone, 42 hospitalizations were identified from October 1996 through December 1997 using this code. Of these cases, 83 percent were diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. Seventeen percent of the cases died while in the hospital and one third of all the cases were residents of New York City.

In New York State, almost 70 percent of the cases were male and approximately 80 percent of the victims were under the age of one. The average age of victims in New York State was six months old, with a range of three weeks to 22 months. From the 42 shaken baby hospitalizations identified in New York State, the average hospital charge was approximately $30,159. The average length of hospital stay was 15 days.

Many people do not know that shaking a baby is dangerous. Development of prevention and educational materials targeting the medical profession as well as parents and caregivers are a key component to raising awareness about the dangers and consequences of shaking a child.

NYS Dept. of Health, Bureau of Injury Prevention