It was two years ago this month that Duke Sienkowski picked up his 3-week-old daughter, Emily Ann, and shook her to death in the family`s Glen Ellyn home.
And it was just last week when another baby was shaken to death. This time it was 2 1/2-month-old Quincy King-Sanders, who was allegedly shaken in Waukegan by his mother`s boyfriend.
Both babies died for the same reason: They cried.
No one knows for certain how many babies have been killed or seriously injured because their parents or caretakers lost control and shook them. But experts say it is sufficiently commonplace that there is a name for it.
More Top Picks Best Gooseneck Desk Lamps For Crafts
”Shaken baby syndrome,” physicians call it. The term is a commentary on the tragic reality that babies are killed for what they do naturally.
Almost always, the event that brings on an infant`s abuse is inconsolable crying, experts say.
While no one excuses child abuse, parents can certainly sympathize with the frustration of trying to quiet a crying baby. Parents will try everything- giving the child a bottle, changing a diaper, cuddling, rocking, swinging or even going for a drive in the car. Sometimes, nothing works.
Fran, the mother of three who lives in a western suburb, joined a group called Parents Anonymous two years ago to help her deal with the frustrations of raising children. Fran said she has never shaken one of her kids, but she can understand how it happens.
”You don`t know what they need,” she said. ”You change them, burp them, feed them . . . what do you do? When it`s the middle of the night, and you`re tired, and you want to go to sleep, what do you do? Who do you call at 2 in the morning and say, `I can`t deal with this anymore. I`m ready to shake the child?` ”
Physician John Caffey, who coined the medical term ”shaken baby syndrome,” first wrote about the problem in 1972.
At that time, playful and disciplinary shakings were widely practiced and considered innocuous by both parents and physicians.
But in his article, ”On the Theory and Practice of Shaking Infants,”
Caffey pointed out that such shakings could cause permanent brain and eye damage, and even death.
Two decades after Caffey called for a nationwide education campaign on the subject, many parents remain unaware of the dangers of shaking infants.
And since then, experts have found little to tell them who among us will dangerously shake a baby in a moment of frustration.
”Human behavior is unpredictable,” said John Goad, child protection administrator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
”Human beings are imperfect, and they often do maladaptive things, like blowing up in the middle of the night when the baby won`t stop crying.”
Reports of child abuse, in general, are more commonplace among low-income families faced with severe financial pressure. But cases involving shaken babies defy categorization. Cases come up among the wealthy and the poor, among the well-educated and the ignorant.
”It is not an issue relegated to people who are abusive,” said Jacy Showers, director of the Ohio Research Institute on Child Abuse Prevention.
”In a lot of cases it`s the only instance of inappropriate physical discipline that`s occurred.
”I could make the argument that any of us have the potential to abuse,” she added.
Quincy King-Sanders, for instance, spent part of his short life in a homeless shelter and in a one-bedroom apartment with six other people.
”That`s a set-up for abuse,” Showers said.
On Wednesday, charges against Lorenzo Ellison, 30, of Waukegan, were upgraded to murder in the death of Quincy, a spokesman for the Lake County State`s Attorney`s Office said. In addition, the state child welfare agency removed Quincy`s two siblings from his mother, Jackie King.
Last year, when Duke Sienkowski was sentenced to 5 years in prison for shaking his daughter to death, he told the court: ”I knew it was wrong. I knew I was frustrated. I knew when I did it I made a mistake.” He was watching the child while his wife was at work.
Sienkowski had no previous criminal record.
Since 1970, Parents Anonymous has helped parents deal with the frustrations of raising children.
Kathy, who lives in Rockford, is the mother of four children who are now grown. She is a longtime Parents Anonymous member from Rockford.
Once she shook one of her infant children.
”When you`re shaking, it`s retaliatory action,” she said. ”You`re not even thinking.”
The child did not suffer any injuries from the incident, she said.
Kathy is not proud of how she handled the pressures of raising four children.
More Top Picks Best Cricut Vs Silhouette Cutting Machines
”It sounds like a bunch of excuses, and it is,” she said. ”I can just relate how I felt terribly alone and terribly judged. If I didn`t handle things and know how to take care of this kid and make him quiet, society would look down on me.”
A quarter to half of the American public does not know that shaking babies can harm them, surveys show.
”People who would not put a loaded gun to their baby`s head shake their baby, but they`re not as knowledgeable that it can be just as dangerous,”
Showers said.
Illinois is the only state in the nation with legislation calling for an education campaign to make parents aware of the danger. The campaign, however, is largely one of intent. The state did not give the measure any money.
Last year, Du Page County hospitals launched a program to inform new parents of the risks of shaking, an undertaking that hospitals in four other states also have begun.
The handouts offer basic tips about why babies cry and what parents can do about it. Babies generally cry when they are hungry, wet, tired or want company. Feeding and changing them may help, but sometimes even that doesn`t work, the sheet cautions.
”Be patient,” the sheet adds. ”The baby does not hate you or want to ruin your life. If you have had all you can take, wrap the baby in a soft blanket and put the baby on his/her side (in a quiet, dark room if
possible).”
Parents are asked to return a postcard that asks questions about the material. Forty-five percent, said they were less likely to shake their baby after reading the material, and 83 percent said other parents should read the information.
Louella Freeman, director of Hinsdale Hospital`s maternal, child and women`s services, recalls the story of one patient who was moved when she received the information.
A friend`s child was shaken playfully by the father, who did not know that such behavior could harm the baby, the woman said.
The child, she added, is now blind.