SAN ANTONIO – Pediatric abusive head trauma is the nation’s leading cause of child abuse deaths among children under the age of 5, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On its website, the CDC states, “It’s not just a crime. It’s a public health issue.”
The agency found that babies less than 1 year old are at greatest risk for injury, and the most common trigger is inconsolable crying.
Cheryl Weise, who supervises the Nurse-Family Partnership program at the Children’s Shelter, said although nearly half will die, “Those that live are often seriously injured, but sometimes they’re not as seriously injured. They're just different.”
Weise said they can suffer hearing, vision or memory loss, or develop epilepsy, learning disabilities, and possibly language, attention and emotional disorders.
“These are children who were shaken perhaps, but nobody ever knew,” Weise said, because there is no visibly bruising, the injury lies hidden within their skull.
Weise said shaken baby syndrome is a sub-set of pediatric abusive head trauma that also can result from being slammed against a wall or object.
She said saving lives is the goal of the Nurse-Family Partnership, a statewide program with eight registered nurses who do home visits. She said they each monitor 25 low-income pregnant women until their babies reach the 2 years of age. Weise said the average age of the mothers is 17.
Weise said the nurses try to make them better mothers and increase their self-sufficiency in hopes of reduce the chance of abuse.
“A lot of them feel isolated and they’re alone. Some of it is because of intimate partner violence,” Weise said.
She said often the mothers are working, so they leave their first-born with their husband or boyfriend, or even an aging family member, who are unable to care for the child.
“If a mother sees changes in behavior, that something she must pursue,” Weise said.
She also said mothers must learn to put the baby down and walk away for a short time, because babies will cry.
“Mothers shake their babies too, it’s not just others,” Weise said.
National Child Abuse Prevention Month is wrapping up, but to report any suspected cases, call the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services hotline at 1-800-252-5400.