November 2011Vol. 12, No. 8Knitting Campaign to Prevent Infant Abuse
Contributed by Ryan L. Steinbeigle, Director of Development, National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome
The reverberation of clicking knitting needles can be heard radiating from across the country as knitters (and crocheters) come together to make thousands of purple baby caps to give to infants born in the month of November. The new grassroots campaign, called “Click for Babies,” is part of a national public education initiative created to help build awareness of the Period of PURPLE Crying and prevent infant abuse.
During the past few months, organizers in seven States have been collecting and storing baby caps with the goal of collecting enough that every baby born in November receives one. So far, nearly 14,000 baby caps have been collected from hundreds of knitters and crocheters across the country. The Click for Babies campaign is an annual initiative launched this year by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome in partnership with invited States and organizations that have implemented the Period of PURPLE Crying program.
The Period of PURPLE Crying is an evidence-based infant abuse prevention program that educates both parents and caregivers about normal infant crying and the dangers of shaking an infant. The program consists of a 10-minute DVD and 11-page booklet that remind parents that all babies go through a normal period of increased crying in the first few months of life and that it is never okay to react to the crying by shaking or otherwise harming an infant.
To learn more about the Click for Babies campaign, visit:
Learn more about the Period of PURPLE Crying program:
http://dontshake.org/sbs.php?topNavID=4&subNavID=32&navID=664
