If you are a person who likes to knit or crochet, get those needles and hooks ready. There is an organization collecting newborn hats that needs you. Local health officials are teaming up with the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome to help prevent serious brain injury that can result from forcefully shaking an infant or young child. Their campaign, called Click for Babies (which refers to the clicking sound that knitters make with their needles) is doing their part to bring awareness to this issue by collecting purple baby hats.
The center believes one of the biggest triggers that could lead to a person shaking a baby is frustration when a child has persistent crying or colic, which they refer to as the “purple” period of crying. The campaign’s aim is to create awareness for parents to help them understand they are not alone in feeling overwhelmed and identify triggers which they can recognize when they are feeling at their breaking point. Each letter of the word “purple” stands for situations parents may be experiencing with their infant. For example, the P stands for "peak crying," the L for "long lasting." New parents may not know babies can cry as much as five hours each day.
You can contact Seattle’s Children’s Hospital to drop off your purple baby hats. For a crafting guide and more information on how to get involved, visit clickforbabies.org.
