the worrying rise in cases of shaken babies

Of her granddaughter Rose, Marie Fonteneau-Morana only has photos of the first months of her life. Rose, 6 months, was looked after during the day by a childminder. In June 2018, his parents were called by a Parisian hospital. “3:17 p.m., my husband calls me to tell me that there is a problem, that Rose is being taken care of by the Samu and that we have to go to Necker. He tells me ‘She’s intubated'”says the mother. At the hospital, the nursing staff evokes the syndrome of the shaken baby. The parents agreed with the opinion of the medical profession and stopped the treatment. Rose passed away on June 9, 2018. The childminder confessed to the facts and was sentenced in court to 15 years in prison.

Since, Marie Fonteneau Morana joined the fight of Aude Lafitte so that shaken baby syndrome is better identified. Aude Lafitte requires more prevention. “Each couple leaving the maternity ward must be made aware of the issue and receive prevention. To say that it exists and to say the consequences: that it is abuse, that it can kill the child and that if it does not kill it, it can have lifelong consequences”she believes. Four years after the death of her daughter, the pain is always live for Mary Fonteneau Morana. In 2021, in the Paris region, 32 babies died after being shaken. This is a very sharply increasing figure.