

By Claire Lerner, Zero to Three

Q. Our 4-month-old loves to be tossed up and down, but my mother says this isn't good for her. Is she right?

A. Being tossed into the air no more than a foot isn't likely to generate enough force to cause harm to your baby. Your mother's concern most likely stems from the highly publicized and serious form of child abuse called shaken baby syndrome. It involves violently shaking an infant -- usually in response to a baby's crying. Forceful shaking can cause tearing of the small blood vessels on the surface of the brain, which can interrupt blood flow, leading to brain damage.

Even though tossing your baby up can't hurt her (and she enjoys it so much), there is always the chance that the person tossing her will accidentally drop her. While this risk is admittedly very small, it's probably better to choose other, safer ways to please your baby, such as dancing, swinging, swaying, and bouncing.


Originally published in American Baby magazine, September 2004.


American Baby

Comments (1)

December 2, 2018