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A pilot program designed to prevent shaken baby syndrome will be launched in 12 Iowa counties.
It’s designed to teach new parents how to handle crying babies and how to prevent shaking or slamming a child, which can result in brain injury and death.
Shaken baby syndrome is the leading cause of young child homicides, said Polly Carver-Kimm of the Iowa Department of Public Health, which announced the program Friday.
In western Iowa, Adair, Audubon, and Carroll Counties will be among the 12 locations to use the new program.
Kimm said the program, called PURPLE, has been used in several other states.
Each letter in the word represents a phase of development in which children cry. For example, P can mean peak crying. The baby may cry more each week and the most often at two months, then less often at three to five months.
New parents will receive a DVD and a booklet, in addition to education from a nurse on how to cope with a crying baby.
The Iowa Legislature passed a bill in March creating the program. Nebraska has had a state-mandated shaken baby education program since a similar law was passed in 2006.
Nebraska provides parents with a video that can be watched in hospitals or on the Web site of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Council Bluffs has had its own Shaken Baby Task Force since 1997.
Through that group, Jennie Edmundson Hospital nurse Jean Armstrong teaches parents and schoolchildren about dealing with a crying baby without resorting to violence.
Contact the writer:
444-1310, elizabeth.ahlin@owh.com
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