Program targets prevention of shaken baby syndrome

A baby shows the effects of alcohol use by her mother. Another shows the signs her mother used drugs during her pregnancy and a third baby has been traumatized after being shaken by a parent.

These babies are mannequins/simulators the Healthy Families program will be using soon to educate the community about preventable actions that can lead to serious long-term effects or even death of infants and babies.

The three life-sized baby mannequins (representing: shaken-baby, fetal alcohol syndrome and drug-affected) made their debut at Wednesday's meeting of the Children's Services Council.

The mannequins were funded through a nearly $1,200 mini-grant provided by Heartland for Children for the Healthy Families' Shaken-Baby Syndrome project.

"We are educating the community on these very, very important issues that unfortunately that we face in our society," said Healthy Families Manager Deborah Hadley.

News reports have shown that parents, especially young parents, are under a tremendous amount of stress and sadly in too many of those cases the children bear the brunt of the parents' stress, she said.

Hadley referred to a 7-month-old Lakeland boy who suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain after he was banged against a wall on March 6. The boy died March 11 with his stepfather being charged in the death.

Statistics show that shaken-baby syndrome is the most common cause of death in abused children, Hadley said.

Though there may be no visible signs of injury, the effects could become apparent when the child enters school and is identified with learning and cognitive disabilities, Hadley said.

Shaking the life-sized shaken-baby simulator demonstrates the damage being caused across the brain through illuminated LEDs. The simulator's piercing cry stops abruptly.

The drug-affected mannequin bears a painful facial expression, tiny limbs and is small for its gestational age. It emits the cries of a real drug-affected infant.

The fetal alcohol syndrome mannequin represents some of alcohol's many devastating effects on a developing fetus, including small head circumference, narrow eye openings, flat mid-face, flat nose bridge and ear abnormalities.

The mannequins/simulators will be used at a Parent Education Group meeting, 6 - 7:30 p.m., April 29 at the Highlands County Health Department, 7205 S. George Blvd., Sebring.

The topic will be shaken-baby syndrome; those invited include interested community members and the Healthy Family and Healthy Start participants, Hadley said.