CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force wants to reach the parents of every baby born in the state to reduce the number of deaths from shaken babies.
Dr. Desmond Runyan of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said that in a baseline survey of parents of children younger than age 2 in North Carolina found more than 2,000 of children were shaken by a caregiver annually.
Nationally, an estimated 1,200 to 1,400 children a year receive medical treatment after being shaken and an estimated 25 percent die and 80 percent of survivors are left with some form of life-long brain injury.
The project plans to communicate to every parent of the approximately 125,000 babies born in the state annually that this frustrating crying is temporary and ends via the intervention program "The Period of PURPLE Crying" developed by Dr. Ron Barr of the University of British Columbia.
The Period of PURPLE Crying describes the characteristics of crying in healthy infants. The "P" in purple stands for crying peaks at age two months and ends at four to five months; the crying is Unexpected; it Resists soothing; the child appears to be in Pain; it is Long lasting -- 2-5 hours; and occurs more in the Evening.
