Show Don't Shake Babies Shaking small babies by the arms can cause permanent brain damage and sometimes death in according to John M.D. of the departments of radiology and pediatrics of the Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Children's Hospital of IN HIS report on the whiplash shaken infant syndrome which appeared in the October issue of the scientific journal of the American Academy of Caffey proposes that a nationwide educational campaign be launched to alert parents to the harm of jerking and jolting of infants Caffey notes that many so-called are actually The danger of whiplash damage to infants may be as many while they would never think of striking an might shake their baby in AS CAFFEY casual whiplash shaking appears to be practiced to some degree nearly everywhere by many types of parents or parent-surrogates for a wide variety of The common motives for habitual casual whiplash shaking are punitive for minor misbehavior and disciplinary in normal Caffey said a review of previous research showed whiplash shaking to be frequent cause of later mental retardation and permanent brain CAFFEY emphasizes the high vulnerability of a baby's brain and eyes to the whiplash stresses of ordinary shaking by the infantile head is relatively heavier and the neck muscles of infancy are weaker than at any other age The whiplash stresses on the head from shaking the infant by the and trunk are therefore He concludes of the shaker may become handles and levers for mishandling the and the hands of an angry parent or jealous older sibling may I become weapons' in either violent whiplash shaking assaults or in pro- habitual less violent I casual whiplash shaking may be responsible I for small but cumulative and which slowly engender I cumulative permanent disorders of the brain and j eyes such as permanent cerebral mental re-f and permanent im-I of |