Most parents have been through it, the howls, the miserable faces, the flailing limbs of infants in such distress that it will take hours to calm them down.
Most parents find ways to cope -- strapping the baby in an infant seat and taking a drive, leaning against the dryer, holding the child close and humming and pacing. And when nothing else works, there's the simple decision to put the baby safely in a crib and walk away.
It's fortunate for the human race, says Salt Lake County District Attorney prosecutor Rob Parrish, that most parents have developed such strategies. "No baby's ever cried to death," he says.
But every year, a few parents or caregivers without coping mechanisms just crack. Since 1987, the state medical examiner has seen it all -- acute inflicted head injuries, blunt force injuries, one gunshot wound, according to records from the medical examiner's office.
Between 2005 and 2008, the number of shaken baby cases jumped from 16 to 48. Nationally, about 1,200 to 1,400 babies are shaken each year; about a third of them die. Of those who survive, 80 percent have permanent brain damage.
Parrish, who has prosecuted such cases since 1985, estimates that only 1 percent of parents simply cannot cope. Some may have been unprepared for the birth, or perhaps had bad parenting themselves. Most people find ways to get past it.
But the deaths continue. Just this week, a North Logan infant died of what doctors believe were internal head injuries "consistent with child abuse." The boy's father is in jail facing charges of child abuse homicide and two counts of seriously harming a child intentionally .
I asked Parrish how those accused of killing a child react. Some are remorseful, he says, but others "dig in their heels. They come up with a number of stories that don't fit, then change the stories when they're told they don't fit."
Or maybe, he says, a partner or spouse can't or won't believe the person meant to hurt the child. "Some take a long time to come around, but a lot of them finally do," Parrish says.
Meanwhile, the penalties for severely injuring or killing a child are harsh: a felony murder conviction for knowingly killing a child is punishable by 15 years to life in prison.
The Legislature recently increased child abuse homicide by a degree; recklessly causing a physical injury and then death is a first-degree felony with prison terms of five years to life. Manslaughter charges are rare. But lawmakers also ramped up a charge for intentionally killing a child to aggravated murder, which can carry the death penalty.
Due to the unending efforts of physicians, child advocates, police, prosecutors and so many others who care about children, intentional harm to children is on the decline.
It's another matter with shaken baby syndrome. Researchers have found that the depressed economy may be a factor, as is poverty and substance abuse. Finding a reliable caregiver can be nearly impossible for those without the means to pay.
Education is critical. Utah has launched a PURPLE Crying program in all 39 birthing hospitals in the state. Staffers give new parents a booklet and DVD that teaches them how to handle a baby whose "purple period" can last for months.
It's the next step in the long, hard work that so many advocates have done over the years. And so much more work remains to be done.
