Click for Babies Campaign

Sometimes it seems young babies will cry inconsolably no matter what a parent tries to soothe them.  Parents try feeding, changing, holding, and checking for any signs of illness but nothing seems to help.  There is a term for this period of an infant’s life, the “Period of PURPLE Crying”.  PURPLE is an acronym for P- peak of crying, U – unexpected, R – resists soothing, P – pain-like face (a crying baby may look like they are in pain even if they are not), L-long-lasting, and E – evening.  Babies may cry more in the late afternoon or evening.  Infants can reach a peak with their crying, often at two months, and then crying begins to taper off as they increase in age.

Recognizing that this can be a confusing and stressful time for parents, the National Center for Shaken Baby Syndrome developed a “Click for Babies” program to help educate parents about the “Period of PURPLE Crying”.  Each state and province works with local organizations, including hospitals, to disseminate information to new parents along with little purple infant hats hand-knit by volunteers, either individually or as members of knitting clubs.

Broadreach Family & Community Services, along with many generous local knitters will be delivering the purple hats to parents of newborns at Waldo County General Hospital and Penobscot Bay Medical Center during the months of November and December.  Each one comes with a special tag with a message for the new baby, such as “From a Knitting Grammie” or the name of the knitting circle.

Patrick Walsh, Director of Prevention Services at Broadreach shares, “In the past we often attributed those infants who cried a great deal in their early months as colicky babies.  While every child and parent’s experience is unique, research shows us that this spike in crying in infancy is normal and it reduces over time.  We want to get the word out to parents that this is a temporary situation and to understand that this phase is a typical part of infancy and will pass.  While not all babies will experience this period, many will.  We so appreciate the caring knitters that help us convey this important message to parents of newborns.”

Maine, through the Maine Children’s Trust and the Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention Councils has been sponsoring the “CLICK (the sound of the knitting needles) for Babies” campaign since 2011.  In the first year the program collected five times their goal of purple knitted hats.  Maine is one of several states and Canadian provinces that participate in the program.
  
For more information about the “Click for Babies” Campaign, please contact Patrick Walsh at Broadreach Family & Community Services at 338-2200 extension 109 or a pwalsh@brmaine.org.