Between Tradition and Medicine: Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Silent Danger Facing Infants in Nigeria
In recent days, a disturbing video has circulated widely on social media, showing parents dedicating their child in a church in Nigeria. During the ceremony, the infant was shaken forcefully. For many viewers, the scene was painful to watch. For medical professionals, it was alarming.
What many do not realize is that such actions place an infant at risk of Shaken Baby Syndrome, also known as Abusive Head Trauma. This is not a rare or abstract medical condition. It is a severe form of physical abuse that can permanently damage a child’s brain or end a life within seconds.
What Shaken Baby Syndrome Is
Shaken Baby Syndrome occurs when an infant or young child is violently shaken. Babies have large, heavy heads, weak neck muscles, and very soft brains. When shaken, the brain moves back and forth inside the skull. This movement causes bleeding, swelling, and bruising of delicate brain tissue.
Doctors describe a classic triad of findings in Shaken Baby Syndrome: subdural hematoma, which is bleeding around the brain; retinal hemorrhages, which involve bleeding in the eyes; and encephalopathy, meaning widespread brain injury. These injuries can result in blindness, seizures, learning difficulties, cerebral palsy, or death.
A Nigerian pediatrician, Dr. Faidat Yusuf of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, has warned that even brief but forceful shaking can cause permanent harm. She explains that infants’ skull bones and neck muscles are not developed enough to withstand such motion. Diagnosis often requires brain imaging such as a CT scan, but by the time symptoms are clear, damage may already be severe.
The Hidden Risk in Everyday Practices
In many Nigerian homes, vigorous shaking is woven into newborn care. Bath time, play, and soothing rituals often involve tossing, turning, or shaking infants. These actions are commonly led by older women, especially grandmothers, who are respected as custodians of childrearing knowledge.
A familiar scene illustrates this danger. A grandmother bathes a two week old baby, lifts him into the air, tosses him repeatedly, then holds him upside down and shakes him vigorously, singing as she does so. The baby cries sharply. Moments later, he quiets while nursing. To observers, the crying may seem temporary and harmless. In reality, the brain may already have suffered injury.
These practices are rooted in beliefs that shaking makes a child stronger or less fearful. Similar rituals exist across Africa. Among the Xhosa community in South Africa, for example, purification ceremonies may involve turning a newborn upside down and passing the baby through smoke. While cultural identity and tradition matter deeply, medical evidence shows that violent shaking has no benefit and carries serious risk.
Why Shaken Baby Syndrome Is Often Missed
Shaken Baby Syndrome is frequently underrecognized, especially in low and middle income countries. Symptoms may be subtle at first. A baby may become unusually sleepy, irritable, or vomit repeatedly. There may be seizures, tremors, difficulty breathing, or swelling of the soft spot on the head. Bruises or fractures may also be present.
Because these signs can resemble common childhood illnesses, abuse is not always suspected. Limited access to diagnostic tools and poor documentation further complicate recognition. As a result, many cases go unreported, untreated, or misclassified.
Primary care pediatricians play a critical role. They must consider Shaken Baby Syndrome in any infant presenting with neurological symptoms, especially when explanations are unclear or inconsistent. Early suspicion can save lives.
Stress, Frustration, and Caregiver Risk
While cultural practices contribute to risk, caregiver stress is another major factor. In many cases worldwide, babies are shaken in moments of frustration when crying will not stop. Postpartum depression, exhaustion, and lack of support can push caregivers beyond their limits. This underscores the need for mental health awareness and support for new parents, not blame or silence.
Prevention Is the Only Cure
There is no specific cure for Shaken Baby Syndrome. Treatment focuses on managing symptoms and complications, such as surgery to relieve brain bleeding or medications to reduce swelling. Even with treatment, many children are left with lifelong disabilities. Prevention is therefore essential.
Parents and caregivers must understand that crying is normal. When overwhelmed, the safest response is to place the baby on their back in a crib and step away briefly. Asking a trusted person for help is not a failure. It is an act of care.
Equally important is education across generations. Younger parents must find respectful ways to explain the dangers of shaking to older relatives who help care for newborns. Health workers, faith leaders, and community leaders all have roles to play in reshaping harmful practices without dismissing cultural values.
A Call to Protect the Smallest Lives
Newborn bathing rituals and naming ceremonies are meaningful parts of Nigerian life. They should remain moments of joy, not sources of hidden injury. Expert medical opinion is clear. Forceful shaking of infants is dangerous, unnecessary, and potentially fatal.
Shaken Baby Syndrome is preventable. Awareness can stop it. Every adult who holds a baby carries responsibility for that child’s brain, future, and life. Tradition must never outweigh safety, and silence must never protect harm.
