ICON Week 2024: Sharing Ideas and Best Practices
ICON is a program embraced by health and social care organisations across the UK which aims to support parents/carers manage infant crying, helping to prevent serious injuries and fatalities caused by Abusive Head Trauma, often resulting from shaking a baby.
Every year, ICON Week raises awareness of how to cope with a crying baby and what support is available. This year, ICON Week focused on sharing ideas and best practices. If you work with parents/carers who have young babies, the ICON website has a wide range of resources, including posters, leaflets, and infographics. They have also designed a crying plan, which is a personal plan for parents to refer to when their baby won’t stop crying.
During ICON Week, BSCP raised awareness of ICON’s key messages and support services. We also shared our Never, Ever Shake a Baby campaign, which first launched in 2022 in partnership with NHS Birmingham and Solihull and Birmingham Community Healthcare. The core campaign materials are two videos, demonstrating how stress can build when looking after a crying baby and what to do in those situations.
Dr Jo Garstang, who assisted in developing the videos, commented:
“Never, ever shake a baby’ and ICON are there to help professionals talk to new parents about the challenges of babies crying and show them safe ways to help. The films can be used as conversation starters, and mothers encouraged to share films with fathers and other family members who may not be at health appointments.”