By Tim Bonfield
The Cincinnati Enquirer

For no apparent reason, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center has experienced a surge in the number of infants suffering shaken baby syndrome.

Since Jan. 1, the hospital has documented six cases of "inflicted brain injury," which can be caused by roughly shaking a baby, by throwing a child against a hard surface, or both.

WHO TO CALL

For more information about shaken baby syndrome, contact the Council on Child Abuse, 936-8009.

The number is surprising because the hospital typically sees 14 cases in a year, said Dr. Robert Shapiro, medical director of the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children.

He said some of the six children died from their injuries and others face lifelong mental retardation and physical disabilities. He declined to be more specific.

In some of the children, tests revealed signs of prior abuse. But Dr. Shapiro said he could not be more specific about the numbers involved.

The injured babies came to the hospital from various neighborhoods on both sides of the Ohio River. All cases were referred to local police and children's service agencies for further investigation.

Medical staff used X-rays, brain scans and other tests to determine that the causes of injury involved more force than would be likely from an accident, such as a child falling from a crib or a changing table.

"Inflicted brain injuries look very different from accidents. The injuries involved are usually much more severe," Dr. Shapiro said.

It is too early to say whether Greater Cincinnati is seeing an overall rise in child abuse. By year's end, this surge in cases could turn out to be a statistical coincidence, Dr. Shapiro said.

Still, the hospital chose to make the recent cases public to raise awareness about the issue.

"The tragedy is that all of these cases are preventable," Dr. Shapiro said. "In some of these cases, other people probably knew what was going on and failed to report it. Family members and neighbors who see abuse going on should not sit idly by."

Dr. Shapiro says he doesn't like to use the term "shaken baby" because the words don't fully reflect the severity of the injuries involved nor the various ways the injuries can occur.

About 25 percent of "shaken" babies die from their injuries. Two-thirds of the survivors suffer lifelong impairments ranging from mild learning disabilities to blindness to severe mental retardation and loss of limb function, he said.

The brain damage typically occurs because a parent or other caretaker loses his or her temper with a crying infant. One way to prevent tragedy is to set the crying infant down in a safe place, then walk away for a while. Another is to be careful about who is allowed to watch the baby.

"Not everyone is qualified to care for an infant," Dr. Shapiro said.

The Southern Ohio Council on Child Abuse is trying to raise $125,000 for the first year, or about $500,000 for five years, of a program to make personal visits to parents of newborns while they are in the hospital.

The proposed program would set up a network of volunteers who would sit down with parents, show them a video, and personally discuss what to do to avoid shaken baby syndrome.

E-mail tbonfield@enquirer.com