Model Mission: Four Powerful
Parenting Education Resources

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS)—also known by other names, including abusive head trauma, shaken impact syndrome, or whiplash shake syndrome—is a serious form of child abuse. The consequences of SBS, including total or partial blindness, hearing loss, behavioral problems, intellectual difficulties or developmental delays, cerebral palsy, or death, are terribly tragic and completely preventable.

The injuries caused by shaking a baby are devastating. Babies have weak neck muscles and cannot support their heads. Violently shaking a baby or young child can cause the brain to slam against the skull, resulting in damage to nerves, blood vessels, and brain tissue as well as swelling of the brain. This damage prevents a child’s brain from getting enough essential oxygen. Neck and spinal injuries may also occur.

Awareness and prevention are key with SBS. Our best-selling Shaken Baby Demonstration Model is a powerful teaching tool for childcare and parenting preparation classes as well as new parent education classes. When students gently handle the baby model, they will note a soft clicking sound as the brain moves inside the skull. However, when the baby is shaken with more force, a louder rattling is audible to demonstrate the brain striking against the skull inside of the head.

Lessons learned with the Shaken Baby Demonstration Model can help prevent the tragic permanent injury and death of young children. Using the model along with our Shaken Baby Syndrome Tear Pad and Shaken Baby Syndrome Folding Display is a great way to provide a memorable, interactive demonstration on the importance of SBS prevention.

Because primary (baby) teeth eventually fall out and are replaced by permanent teeth, parents many not understand why baby teeth matter. However, baby teeth are integral to children’s health and development. Baby teeth hold space for permanent teeth and help them come in straight. Children need their baby teeth to help them chew food, learn to speak properly, and smile. Decayed teeth can lead to severe pain, poor nutrition, and speech problems. The pain caused by even moderate tooth decay can contribute to lower self-esteem and emotional problems.

Baby bottle tooth decay (also known as early childhood caries) results from the frequent or ongoing exposure of a child’s teeth to drinks other than water. Early childhood tooth decay is often caused by putting a child to bed with a bottle of milk, formula, fruit juice, sugar water, or soda. Regularly drinking anything but water out of a sippy cup can also cause early childhood tooth decay.

Our Progression of Baby Bottle Tooth Decay Display is a stark visual example to parents and caregivers of the dental dangers that can occur when a baby or small child is put to bed with a bottle containing a liquid with natural or added sugars. Realistically depicting the deterioration of healthy primary teeth to mild, moderate, and severe decay, the display is ideal to use in discussions about the importance of caring for young children’s teeth and to emphasize that it is recommended that added sugars should be avoided for children younger than 2 years of age. Providing parents and caregivers with our Baby Bottle Tooth Decay Tear Pad helps reinforce information covered in teaching with the display.

Young children are naturally curious, and unsupervised consumption of medications is a common way for children to be poisoned. Keeping medicines in childproof bottles and locked in cabinets is an important part of child-proofing a home.

Our Medicine Cabinet or Candy Box? Display is a valuable teaching tool to help parents understand the importance of keeping medicines locked away from curious and prying little hands. It also is an engaging way to help parents, caregivers, and teachers explain the importance of medicine safety to children. The display is styled like a medicine cabinet with a door that opens and closes and features 28 models of sweets and lookalike medicines that could poison a child if ingested unintentionally. The display comes with a model key that labels each of the lookalike candies and medicines. Using the display in parenting classes can help parents and caregivers understand the important point that a child may not understand the distinction between sweets and potentially dangerous medicines.

Establishing healthy eating habits in early childhood is essential for children to grow healthy and active. To help children establish healthy dietary patterns for life, they should be encouraged to recognize when they are hungry and satisfied so that they don’t consume too many calories, which can cause childhood overweight and obesity.

Our Stomach Size Wise Display features two stomach models: a larger stomach model with a 1,500 mL capacity of an adult stomach and a smaller stomach model with a 500-mL capacity to represent the stomach of a 2- to 6-year-old child. The distinction between the models can help parents understand that children need smaller portions than adults at mealtimes as well as nutritious snacks between meals to keep them healthy and growing. An informative tent card comes with the display to provide tips to help children get proper nutrition and maintain a healthy body weight.

Childbirth Graphics is dedicated to providing powerful, effective, and easy-to-understand teaching materials to help new parents raise healthy and happy babies and young children. Learn more about these featured models and our other great parenting teaching materials in our parenting education section.

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