Miramichi hospital launches program to reduce shaken baby syndrome incidents

MIRAMICHI, N.B. – A pilot project aimed at reducing incidents of shaken baby syndrome has begun at the Miramichi Regional Hospital.

The “Purple Crying Project” teaches new parents that it’s okay to get frustrated when their babies cry and that crying is in fact perfectly normal, not a sign of bad parenting.

Public health nurse Kim Scott heads up the pilot project.

“The whole premise of this program is to reduce shaken baby syndrome,” she said.

According to Statistics Canada, 30 per cent of unlawful deaths of infants in Canada are attributed to shaken baby syndrome.

“In frustration, sometimes they may shake a child and the brain shakes inside the skull and causes injury and can ultimately end in death. It’s a very serious thing,” said Scott.

New mother Elizabeth Su says the sound of her eight-week-old baby, Paul, crying excessively is incredibly stressful.

“I feel selfish because you are thinking, ‘Oh, it’s so loud, I can’t concentrate, I don’t know what’s wrong with him,'” she said.

The Miramichi hospital has rolled out the pilot project to help new parents learn how to sooth a crying baby and how to cope if their baby won’t settle. Scott says the program already exists in Nova Scotia and P.E.I., but this is a first for New Brunswick.

“Babies can cry for hours some days and sometimes up to five hours at a time,” she said.

The program teaches parents to understand that it is normal and when a parent is anxious to get help.

Su and her husband say there have been some tense moments in their house. But through the program they have learned to lean on each other for support.

“I can definitely see it happening especially if you are having a bad day and you hear the crying and it’s not stopping and you are by yourself,” she said.