For newborns, purple's in style

Noel Salazar, left, snugs a stretchy hat on his 1-day-old daughter, Alexandria Jules Salazar, while his wife, Rosalinda Salazar, smiles.

By LISA BRITTON
For the Baker City Herald

Alexandria Salazar may be just a day old, but she makes her preference for hats known in the only way an infant can.

She cries.

But then, as her mother gently slips a stretchier purple hat on her tiny head, Alexandria quiets and falls asleep in her father’s arms.

Crying babies is what brought about these purple hats, made to raise awareness about the Period of PURPLE Crying,  an infant abuse prevention program developed by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome (NCSBS) to educate parents on normal infant crying.

This month, the Birth Center at St. Alphonsus Medical Center-Baker City is decorated with purple hats of all styles, knit for newborns, displayed on a string secured across the main desk.

Sommer Sargent, manager of the Birth Center, said every baby born in November will receive a hat to take home.

From now on, November will be the official month to recognize the PURPLE campaign.

Baker City’s Birth Center implemented the PURPLE education three years ago, and all patients now watch a program preparing them for the amount of crying they might face with their infants.

The PURPLE message is: babies can cry a lot, often for no reason, and it’s okay to lay them down in a safe place and walk away for a break.

The goal is to prevent shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma, a form of abuse that happens when a person violently shakes an infant.

Each letter in PURPLE describes baby behavior during this period, which can last as long as five months. The letters stand for:

• Peak of Crying: Babies may cry more each week — the most at two months of age; then less by three to five months.

• Unexpected: Crying can come and go and you don’t know why.

• Resists Soothing: Your baby may not stop crying no matter what you try.

• Pain-like Face: A crying baby may look like they are in pain, even when they are not.

• Long Lasting: Crying can last as much as five hours a day, or more.

• Evening: Your baby may cry more in the late afternoon and evening.

The educational materials reassure parents that this type of crying is normal, and is a phase that will pass.

Eventually.

Anyone who cares for babies — parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, daycare providers — is encouraged to learn about PURPLE.

The NCSBS reports that 75 to 80 percent of infants who are shaken suffer permanent brain injuries, and more than 30 percent die as a result.

The purple hats were created by “Click for Babies,” an initiative organized by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome.

“Click” refers to the sound made by knitting needles, and “Click for Babies” recruited knitters and crocheters across the country to made thousands of hats.

Sargent said Oregon is one of nine states in the U.S. that has implemented the PURPLE program. The purple hats —2,300 for Oregon and Southwest Washington — were delivered to every hospital that uses PURPLE.

Anyone interested in donating can find the hat guidelines on the website www.clickforbabies.org. The phone number is 801-447-9360.

Monetary donations are also accepted.

More information is available on these websites:

• The Period of PURPLE Crying: www.purplecrying.info

•  www.clickforbabies.org

• National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome: www.dontshake.org