![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blogcutterAnd just as importantly, will we ever find out which it was?
A 25-year-old Thurso father has been charged with aggravated assault of his six-week-old daughter, after the baby was removed from the home and rushed to hospital in critical condition. She later died.
It's possible that the father wilfully shook her, intending to kill her or inflict serious damage. Possible, but not very likely.
More plausible is that he did in fact shake the child a little. I know that's a stupid thing to do, but I can see how it might have happened. Maybe he was frustrated because she was crying. Or maybe he had actually done all the recommended things, including CPR, to an already unconscious baby, and the shaking was a last-ditch attempt to evoke some sign of life.
Or maybe he is totally innocent of any wrongdoing. Maybe there was some underlying and previously undiagnosed condition whose symptoms mimic those of shaken baby syndrome. She did after all have the distinct advantage of having a next-door neighbour who's a paramedic. And she was still alive when she reached hospital, yet all the expertise and technological gadgetry of the highly-regarded Ottawa children's hospital were unable to save her. SIDS happens!
And let's face it, the "experts" often get things wrong too. When my daughter was a baby, those experts said that you should never put a baby down on her back, because if she spat up in her sleep - as even the most expertly-burped baby is apt to do - she might choke to death. Nowadays, the experts say that you SHOULD put a baby down on his back - or at least, not his stomach - because the tummy-down position is linked to an increased risk of SIDS! As far as I know, the side-sleeping position is not deemed dangerous, but maybe with the next generation, that too will be demonized!
I would hope that next week's autopsy will shed some light on the mystery of the baby's much too early death. I hope the poor man is exonerated. And I hope that if he ever does father more children, he won't have the police and child welfare authorities constantly breathing down his neck!!
A 25-year-old Thurso father has been charged with aggravated assault of his six-week-old daughter, after the baby was removed from the home and rushed to hospital in critical condition. She later died.
It's possible that the father wilfully shook her, intending to kill her or inflict serious damage. Possible, but not very likely.
More plausible is that he did in fact shake the child a little. I know that's a stupid thing to do, but I can see how it might have happened. Maybe he was frustrated because she was crying. Or maybe he had actually done all the recommended things, including CPR, to an already unconscious baby, and the shaking was a last-ditch attempt to evoke some sign of life.
Or maybe he is totally innocent of any wrongdoing. Maybe there was some underlying and previously undiagnosed condition whose symptoms mimic those of shaken baby syndrome. She did after all have the distinct advantage of having a next-door neighbour who's a paramedic. And she was still alive when she reached hospital, yet all the expertise and technological gadgetry of the highly-regarded Ottawa children's hospital were unable to save her. SIDS happens!
And let's face it, the "experts" often get things wrong too. When my daughter was a baby, those experts said that you should never put a baby down on her back, because if she spat up in her sleep - as even the most expertly-burped baby is apt to do - she might choke to death. Nowadays, the experts say that you SHOULD put a baby down on his back - or at least, not his stomach - because the tummy-down position is linked to an increased risk of SIDS! As far as I know, the side-sleeping position is not deemed dangerous, but maybe with the next generation, that too will be demonized!
I would hope that next week's autopsy will shed some light on the mystery of the baby's much too early death. I hope the poor man is exonerated. And I hope that if he ever does father more children, he won't have the police and child welfare authorities constantly breathing down his neck!!
