Overview
Diagnosing shaken baby syndrome may be difficult for several reasons:
- Healthcare providers don’t always get the truth about whether or not shaking was involved in an infant’s injury.
- Babies and very small children can’t tell healthcare providers what happened or what hurts.
- Many symptoms of shaken baby syndrome (such as irritability, vomiting or lethargy) are also common in other conditions, such as viral infections.
Therefore, a healthcare provider will use visual clues and tests to diagnose the condition and determine how severe it is. They’ll check your baby’s eyes for bleeding, look for marks on their skull, arms or legs, and check for bruises around their neck and chest.
What tests will be done to diagnose shaken baby syndrome?
Healthcare providers may use certain imaging tests to diagnose shaken baby syndrome. These tests can show signs of swelling or bleeding in your baby’s brain and also show skull or rib fractures. These tests may include:
- X-rays.
- Computed tomography (CT) scans.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.
Your baby’s provider may also perform an eye examination to look for evidence of retinal bleeding (bleeding at the back of their eyes). The bleeding may be above, within or below their retinas. The layers of your baby’s retinas may also be split apart as a result of injury (retinoschisis). The jelly-like filling inside their eyes (vitreous) may also fill with blood.
Symptoms
When to see a doctor
Complications
- High blood pressure.
- Diabetes.
- Heart failure.
- Some types of heart valve disease.
Prevention
- Control high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
- Don't smoke or use tobacco.
- Eat a diet that's low in salt and saturated fat.
- Exercise at least 30 minutes a day on most days of the week unless your health care team says not to.
- Get good sleep. Adults should aim for 7 to 9 hours daily.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Reduce and manage stress.
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