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A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

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Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#431

Post by scythe »

mdorazio wrote: post #355
Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #250

When I was getting ready to turn dad for the first time, I read a few books on pregnancy, children and parenting. My trust on medicine dropped substantially when I discovered that doctors have poor notion of statistics, so they take for granted improper studies results. I remember one classic one is the "no coffee when pregnant", the study says this causes problems, the test was performed on rats and by feeding them…

I think it's both funny and sad that you're doing the exact same thing as the "bad" doctors in TFA and then are on here commenting about it. A quick search on Google Scholar for "caffeine pregnancy" reveals a number of studies that show a non-trivial link in humans to increased miscarriage chances, at levels of consumption that realistically occur with heavy coffee drinkers. I.e. your conclusion is not so clear-cut a…

From your second link:

>The results of this literature review suggest that heavy caffeine use (≥ 300 mg per day) during pregnancy is associated with small reductions in infant birth weight that may be especially detrimental to premature or low-birth-weight infants. Some researchers also document an increased risk of spontaneous abortion associated with caffeine consumption prior to and during pregnancy. However, overwhelming evidence indicates that caffeine is not a human teratogen, and that caffeine appears to have no effect on preterm labor and delivery.

Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#432

Post by sandworm101 »

MacsHeadroom wrote: post #418
dcow wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn’t even true for the US. In the US we believe it’s better to let a criminal run free than deprive an innocent of their liberty.

"It is better to let 100 criminals go free than to imprison 1 innocent man." — Benjamin Franklin

A quote I have never heard from anyone running to be a DA, judge, sheriff, magistrate, or any other participant beyond defense attorneys. Such sayings do not reflect reality.

Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#433

Post by derbOac »

mdorazio wrote: post #355
Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #250

When I was getting ready to turn dad for the first time, I read a few books on pregnancy, children and parenting. My trust on medicine dropped substantially when I discovered that doctors have poor notion of statistics, so they take for granted improper studies results. I remember one classic one is the "no coffee when pregnant", the study says this causes problems, the test was performed on rats and by feeding them…

I think it's both funny and sad that you're doing the exact same thing as the "bad" doctors in TFA and then are on here commenting about it. A quick search on Google Scholar for "caffeine pregnancy" reveals a number of studies that show a non-trivial link in humans to increased miscarriage chances, at levels of consumption that realistically occur with heavy coffee drinkers. I.e. your conclusion is not so clear-cut a…

The problem that became very salient to me dealing with miscarriage is that women who have healthy pregnancies are also more likely to have problems with morning sickness, and are more likely to avoid things like coffee that are likely to make them feel even more nauseous. Women who have troubled pregnancies that are more likely to end in miscarriage are less likely to feel nauseous and therefore continue to drink and eat things as before.

So it's possible caffeine consumption is a sign of a troubled pregnancy rather than a cause of it. I'm sure there's a point where caffeine becomes problematic but that could be said of a lot of things.

There's a paper in NEJM or JAMA that pointed to this as a likely explanation but it's been a few years and don't have time to look for it now. I think they were looking at timing of caffeine consumption and nausea symptoms?

Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#434

Post by 12345hn6789 »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #14

My oldest son has special needs. He's 2e -- gifted and learning disabled -- and has a serious medical condition associated with being very underweight. I put him in preschool to get him to talk. He could use sentences but wasn't. At the start of kindergarten, first, second and third grade, I spoke with the teacher, explained he was difficult, let them know I welcomed communication on any issue. They were thrilled and…

[flagged]

Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#435

Post by jurgenaut23 »

Thank you so much for investigating this matter so thoroughly and fighting for justice so eagerly. As the father of a 4-month-old baby, I couldn't imagine anything more devastating than having him taken away by the authorities for something neither my wife nor I have done. I can only imagine the despair of the families to whom this happens, let alone the impact on the poor kids themselves.

Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#436

Post by CrHn3 »

irjustin wrote: post #210
CrHn3 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Formula is adequate as far as macronutrients go, but it lacks sugars present (at varying levels-about 20% of the population are FUT2 non-secretors and cannot produce the α1,2-fucosyltransferase enzyme that is used to make human milk oligosaccharides), stem cells and bacteria present in breast milk. Women in the US are often deficient in the strain that can metabolize the human milk oligosaccharides, b. infantis, and…

At least this one doesn't sound as bad as the other post, but it's still in the same vein - you've never been a mother who can't produce milk for her child. I've been as the husband there and are all your facts don't allow for people's situations. Formula is perfectly fine.

> you've never been a mother who can't produce milk for her child

That's your assumption.

You're missing the point, which is that you can supplement formula with both 2'FL and b. infantis and get immune system outcomes that are more similar to those that occur while breastfeeding [1]. The fact that milk typically faciliates a cascade of changes that lay the foundation for a healthy immune system is not at odds with formula feeding. Formula is adequate macronutrition, but if we cannot be honest about the ways in which it is not on par with breastmilk, we will never close the gaps.

1. https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2023/05/18/Abbott-s...

Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#437

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

mdorazio wrote: post #355
Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #250

When I was getting ready to turn dad for the first time, I read a few books on pregnancy, children and parenting. My trust on medicine dropped substantially when I discovered that doctors have poor notion of statistics, so they take for granted improper studies results. I remember one classic one is the "no coffee when pregnant", the study says this causes problems, the test was performed on rats and by feeding them…

I think it's both funny and sad that you're doing the exact same thing as the "bad" doctors in TFA and then are on here commenting about it. A quick search on Google Scholar for "caffeine pregnancy" reveals a number of studies that show a non-trivial link in humans to increased miscarriage chances, at levels of consumption that realistically occur with heavy coffee drinkers. I.e. your conclusion is not so clear-cut a…

I don't think that's fair toward me: the bad doctors never told me "do your research, form your opinion". They were always clear cut, they looked up on us for sleeping with our children and they "checked" the breastfeeding checkmark at the hospital even if my wife lamented pain during it and turned out my daughter had a really bad lip/tongue tie that took a month to be solved (with surgery). Notice that medical personnel even told her "you have to endure it, it's normal", as her breasts were cracking and she couldn't breastfeed anymore (had to pump).

I explicitly said, do your research at the end of the message.

P. S. The book might have been one of the following, I can't remember:

Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong--and What You Really Need to Know (The ParentData Series Book 1) from Emily Oyster

What to expect when you are expecting

I think it's the first one. I read many at the same time, so it's hard to remember which one had the information.

Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#438

Post by londons_explore »

I do wonder how many cases of 'shaken babies' are because the baby has stopped responding for some other reason, and a desperate mother tries to revive them by shaking?

I'm pretty sure I have seen such things in nature documentaries, where a mother shakes a stillborn/dead child as a last ditch attempt to bring them back to life.

If that really was what happened, I would struggle to convict the mother for murder if I was on the the jury...

Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#439

Post by bitxbitxbitcoin »

red_admiral wrote: post #373
Muromec wrote: post #215

Oh the good old, violent Easter European bias mixed into crap science.

There is a skin condition called Mongolian (Blue) Spot (wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_spot ) that doctors can mistake for an infant being beaten or otherwise abused. It has led to a lot of cases of false accusations and children being forcibly removed from their parents who were then charged with child abuse. According to Wikipedia, as to the distribution of this condition, > The birthmark is pre…

Damn that hits home. I’ve got a blue spot birthmark that was seen at elementary school which then led to child services showing up at home. This happened in the US and everyone involved was “non Indigenous.”

Re: A journey into the shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma controversy

#440

Post by lqet »

sandworm101 wrote: post #429
lqet wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that 10% of incarcerated individuals are innocent (which I do not find an unrealistic number), or are you saying that 10% of incarcerated individuals are wrongly in prison for crimes against their children?

10% of people are innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted . Whole innocence is another thing. But yes, there are a huge number of people wrongfully convicted. Things like DNA evidence is showing us that a great many mistakes are made. For those crimes convicted without things like DNA evidence, one must presume an equal rate of wrongful convictions. Courts are not FAA crash investigations, or any ot…

I agree, but I think OP referred to crimes involving violence against their own children.
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