The Shaken Baby Syndrome: An Odyssey: II Origins and Further Hypotheses

Subdural bleeding in the so-called “shaken baby syndrome” is recognized as a hallmark of this syndrome, and is often noted as chronic in nature, indicating an earlier time of origin than clinical presentation. In infants and neonates, the timeframe for generating such chronic intracranial bleeding is therefore limited. Neurosurgical, obstetric, and pediatric literature all recognize the significance of birth trauma in the generation of intracranial bleeding. This possibility is explored further here, with emphasis on features peculiar to Homo sapiens predisposing to intracranial bleeding during this timeframe. Encephalization and bipedalism combine to render the infant and mother susceptible to injury at birth.