The Period of Purple Crying Program Helps Parents After Baby’s Birth
- April 22, 2013
Crying for no apparent reason can happen a lot during the first five months of life. This can frustrate a newborn’s parents and care givers. Brookings Health System in Brookings, SD, is participating in a new, state-wide program, The Period of Purple Crying, to provide support, education and information to a newborn’s parents and care givers on these regular crying spells.
Designed to help prevent shaken baby syndrome, and based on more than 25 years of research, starting in May Brookings Health System’s New Beginnings Birth Center will provide The Period of Purple Crying DVD and booklet to all new parents before they are discharged.
“Although no parent likes to hear their baby cry, crying is a natural and normal part of baby development. This program is designed to help parents through this difficult time and understand the dangers of shaking a baby,” said Obstetrics Director Mary Schwaegerl of the program developed by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Along with providing parents and care givers with soothing tips, the DVD and booklet stresses that sometimes there is nothing a parent or care giver can do to calm a newborn’s tears. And, because a healthy newborn may cry anywhere from 45 minutes to five hours on a regular basis during the first five months, it works to educate parents on what to do if or when they become frustrated.
Because it is important that all care givers realize the risks associated with shaking a baby, the DVD and booklet are a gift to all parents funded by Brookings Healthcare Auxiliary.
New Beginnings Birth Center is an eight-bed OB unit with three labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum (LDRP) rooms and five postpartum recovery rooms. The unit provides full OB services to expectant parents and enables area residents to deliver their baby close to home with a local physician. To learn more about this and other educational programs New Beginnings Birth Center provides to new parents, visit www.brookingshealth.org/OB.
About Brookings Health System
Brookings Health System, located in Brookings, South Dakota, includes a 49-bed hospital, the 79-bed Brookview Manor nursing home, and Brookhaven Estates apartments. It is a non-profit, city-owned facility that offers the community a full range of inpatient, outpatient, and extended care services. The emergency room is staffed 24 hours a day and provides around the clock medical-nursing care for patient needs ranging from minor injuries to life threatening crises. For more information about the services offered at Brookings Health System, please call (605) 696-9000 or visit us on the Web at brookingshealth.org.