Can I rock my baby to sleep? Is it harmful to rock my baby to sleep?

The problem of baby sleeping has always been a difficult problem for new parents. When babies are young, they cannot understand what their parents say. What should parents do to coax their babies to sleep correctly? Let's talk about whether you can use the rocking method to coax babies to sleep.

Is it okay to rock your baby to sleep?

Do you know that shaking your baby may cause "shaken syndrome"? Because newborns have relatively large heads, soft bones, and no self-protective movements, violent shaking can create a huge impact force in the baby's brain, posing a health hazard to the baby. When parents are coaxing their babies to sleep, they should avoid violently shaking or lifting their babies.

So, since rocking a baby to sleep is bad for health, can you hold the baby to sleep? For babies, holding the baby to sleep will not only make the baby's sleep shallow, but also make the body curled up in the mother's arms, unable to stretch freely, and the muscles of the whole body cannot get rest, thus affecting the quality of sleep; holding the baby to sleep for a long time will make the baby develop a bad habit of not sleeping without holding, affecting the normal physical development. For mothers, if they often hold the newborn to sleep, it will seriously affect the normal rest, drag down the mother's spirit, and is not conducive to the recovery of the body.

Dangers of shaking your baby

The action of shaking the baby is not only used when coaxing the baby to sleep, but also when playing with the baby. Do you know that there are many hidden dangers in this shaking?

1. The neck is vulnerable to injury. Shaking a baby can easily damage the muscles and ligaments in their neck, and in severe cases, it can even sprain the baby's neck. This is because the baby's bones are not yet fully developed, and the bones are relatively soft. The head accounts for nearly half of the body weight, and the weight is supported by the muscles and ligaments of the neck. The gap in the subarachnoid space of the baby's brain is large, the neck muscles are weak, the ligaments are less elastic, and the cervical spine is not completely ossified, making it difficult to withstand large-scale shaking and high-throw shocks. When being shaken, it is easy to get injured.

2. It causes temporary congestion of the brain. The baby's brain is still in the early stages of development. Some parents throw their babies high up, which will cause the blood in the baby's body to impact the brain from time to time, which will cause temporary congestion of the brain. If you keep shaking the baby, or throw the baby up and catch the baby again and again, it is easy for the brain tissue in the baby's head to collide with the harder head due to shaking or high throwing, causing brain damage. In this case, the baby may refuse to drink milk, be drowsy or easily get angry. In severe cases, there may be symptoms of increased intracranial pressure such as sudden coma, difficulty breathing, and projectile vomiting.

3. Cause local anemia. When being shaken, the baby is like an adult playing a high-speed amusement ride. The baby's body cannot withstand the huge centrifugal force, and the blood flows to one side, which can easily cause local anemia. The baby will become pale, have difficulty breathing, stand unsteadily, and even faint, vomit, etc. In severe cases, it may cause a significant decline in the baby's intelligence, severe movement disorders, blindness, and substantial brain damage, such as brain atrophy, brain softening, brain cysts, etc.

Will there be any problem?

Expert explanation: It is possible, but the probability is extremely low

Experts say shaking a baby too much can cause a bloody mass on the brain, a condition known as "cradle in the womb syndrome."

Experts explained that the brain of infants under 18 months old is not fully developed. Their brain is like soft tofu placed in the skull, and there is no connection between the brain tissue and the skull. If the child's brain tissue develops slower than the skull, a cavity will appear between the two. At this time, when the child is shaken for a long time at a certain frequency, it will cause subdural effusion. Once the cavity and effusion appear, the child continues to be shaken, the brain will also vibrate, the veins between the skull and the brain will be squeezed, and blood flow will be blocked, which will cause "minor concussion syndrome", chronic subdural effusion or chronic subdural hematoma. In more serious cases, blindness or even death may occur. However, in fact, the incidence of "cradle syndrome" is extremely low. So far, the hospital has not admitted a true "cradle syndrome" patient.

Experts believe that children are precious nowadays, and "I'm afraid no parents would use such high-intensity and high-frequency force on their babies." The "children were shaken unconscious" and "rattle effect" mentioned in the Weibo post are extreme cases, which should be intended to remind young parents that shaking children is risky and they should pay more attention.