Abusive Head Trauma and ICON

What is abusive head trauma?

• ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’
• Child Abuse
• Catastrophic injuries:
  • Bleeds in the brain and behind eyes
  • Fractures
• Babies can be shaken, thrown or hit
• It affects approximately 24 of every 100,000 babies admitted to hospital each year
• Research suggests 1 in 9 mothers may have shaken their baby and up to 2 in 9 felt like doing so.

Who shakes and why?

• 70% perpetrators are males – fathers/male surrogates (Kesler et a 2008; Altman et al 2010)
• Can occur in every socio-economic group
• Coping with crying: Living on the edge
• Caregivers lose control and shake – baby stops crying
• Demonstrable relationship between the normal peak of crying and babies subject to AHT. (Barr et al 2006)
• Increase in cases in the 1^st month of life, a peak at 6 weeks during the 2^nd month and a decrease during the 3^rd to 5^th months of life

Triggers

• Crying is considered the main trigger
• Peak of crying is 6-8 weeks of age
• The parents or the mothers partner are responsible for AHT in 75% of babies
• A majority of perpetrators are male
• The most at risk groups are:
  • Male baby
  • Below 6 months
  • Low birth weight
  • Regular contact with health professionals

ICON

ICON is a programme of intervention based around coping with crying. The programme requires the same messages being shared with parents and carers at different stages by different professionals.

ICON represents:

• I – Infant crying is normal
• C –Comforting methods can help
• O – It’s OK to walk away
• N – Never, ever shake a baby

For further information please visit the ICON website.