Additional Resources

In North Carolina

  • The Period of Purple Crying Program offers tips for parents and answers questions about infant crying. It also explains the statewide shaken baby prevention program and features a map of participating hospitals.
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a government agency with offices in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Their website includes a CDC program abstract of the North Carolina initiative.
  • "A Population-Based Study of Inflicted Traumatic Brain Injury in Young Children," published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (vol. 290, no. 5, August 6, 2003) reports on a study of traumatic brain injury in North Carolina children under 2 years of age. Its findings serve as a baseline for measuring the effectiveness of the Period of Purple Crying initiative.  

In the United States and Abroad

  • The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome developed the Period of PURPLE Crying program. This website details the "PURPLE" program's development, components, sites and evaluation, and provides resources for parents struggling with infant crying.
  • The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation partners with The Duke Endowment to fund the Period of PURPLE Crying program in North Carolina and is a national leader in child abuse prevention philanthropy.

Evaluation

The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome conducted two randomized controlled clinical trials of the Period of PURPLE Crying in Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, Canada, from 2005 to 2007. The trials yielded statistically significant improvements in parental knowledge about normal infant crying and the dangers of shaking an infant. An increase in maternal walk-away behavior also was recorded, as well as a willingness on the part of parents to share the information with other caregivers.

In April 2009, the Center for Child and Family Health began a three-year study in North Carolina of every serious abusive head injury to children under 2. The study will look for decreases in these types of injuries as an indication that the Period of PURPLE Crying project is having an impact.

Contact Us

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Vice President
704.969.2140
 
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Coping with Crying

The National Center for Shaken Baby Prevention helps parents learn how to deal with a crying infant.

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Safe Babies

The Period of PURPLE Crying program educates parents on understanding and coping with crying infants.

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Focus on Fathers

Carolinas Medical Center–Pineville in Charlotte encourages new mothers and fathers to learn about infant crying.

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Putting Tools to Work

Cindy Edwards uses what she learned in training to help children exposed to domestic violence.

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