More protection for shaken babies

Brisbane researchers are hoping to prove the dangers of shaking babies by creating a model that will show how quickly babies can be injured.

The University of Queensland research team of civil engineers and a child health expert is working on a numerical model that will tell when a baby's brain could be damaged by violent shaking.

Shaking can cause Shaken Baby Syndrome, which swells a baby's brain and triggers internal bleeding. Shaken Baby Syndrome causes death in one third of cases while other babies will have permanent brain damage.

The research team has been using a replica of a six-week-old baby to refine their numerical model of a baby brain which consists of complex formulae.

They record the doll's head and neck movements when it is shaken and compare these with brain scans and video of injured babies.

"From our analysis we can predict what sort of stresses are within the brain and these stresses will tell us whether there are injuries," UQ civil engineering PhD student Zac Couper said.