‘Years before we see shaken baby syndrome case again’

Cases of shaken baby syndrome are very rare in Malta, not even amounting to an average of one incident per year, according to a specialist in the field.

If your baby is crying and you feel that you are going to lose control, just put the baby down and walk away

“This is not at all common and it will take years before we see another case,” said the paediatrician, who preferred to remain anonymous.

Fourteen-month-old Maleek Olowoshile is in intensive care after suffering permanent brain damage when he was allegedly repeatedly shaken by his mother’s partner.

Nigerian footballer Akande Williams, 23, is being charged with the boy’s attempted murder.

Shaken baby syndrome is also known as abusive head trauma. When a baby is shaken vigorously, the brain moves and hits the skull. This may lead to internal bleeding and brain damage.

Research shows that most shaken baby injuries happen to children under two.

Babies and young children are especially vulnerable to this kind of injury because their head is proportionally larger than the rest of their body and their neck muscles are relatively weak, making it harder to support their head.

A baby’s skull is thinner and the blood vessels are more susceptible to tearing than in older children and adults, according to the Baby Centre, an international parenting website. Shaking a baby can be triggered by exasperation because the child is crying. “If your baby is crying and you feel that you are going to lose control, just put the baby down in a cot and walk out of the room until you calm down,” the specialist advised.

The story of Maleek recalls the case of Irish nanny Aisling McCarthy Brady, who appeared before a US court accused of assaulting and battering Rehma Sabir, one, causing substantial bodily injury. The girl died.

In 1997, 19-year-old English au pair Louise Woodward was convicted of the involuntary manslaughter of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen while he was in her care.