Will The Real Theodore Please Stand Up?

My good friend Matt wondered if perhaps, judging by my post from earlier today, I had gone all squishy on the readers of DadWagon. Rest assured I have not.

Fact: one of the requirements of discharge from the mother and child ward at the NYU Langone Medical Center (which I literally have nothing bad to say about; from top to bottom, they’ve been wonderful to us; may you all have your babies here) includes watching a short video (on the Maternity Channel) on inherent risks in shaking your baby. The name of the video: “Don’t Shake Your Baby.” Shaking your baby, it seems, can cause Shaken Baby Syndrome, which is bad.

Consider: we live in a country which finds it necessary to remind parents not to shake their baby until she is massively injured. God bless the American Bar Association. Below I’ve attached a video I found on youtube entitled “Don’t Shake Your Baby,” which, on my one quick view, seems more to do with making babies than caring for them.

Enjoy.

Published by Theodore

Theodore Ross is an editor of Harper’s Magazine. His writing has appeared in Harper’s, Saveur, Tin House, the Mississippi Review, and (of course), the Vietnam News. He grew up in New York City by way of Gulfport, MS, and as a teen played the evil Nazi, Toht, in Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. He lives with his son, J.P. in Brooklyn, and is currently working on a book about Crypto-Jews.

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1 Comment

  1. I just don’t understand how anyone in their right mind could think that shaking a baby is okay. I’ve been upset and frustrated before, but the thought of shaking either of my kids has never entered my mind. I have however thought about shaking myself a nice cocktail to relax from the stress of parenting!LOL.

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