The Period of PURPLE Crying®
What is The Period of PURPLE Crying®?

 The Period of PURPLE Crying® is an evidenced-based prevention program offered by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome. The program approaches Abusive Head Trauma, also known as Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), prevention by helping parents and caregivers understand the frustrating features of crying in normal infants that can lead to shaking or abuse. It is unique among SBS prevention efforts in several important ways:
•  It approaches prevention through educating parents and the community about normal infant development, specifically, crying in normal infants, rather than being limited to warnings of the negative consequences of shaking.
•  It uses highly attractive, positive messages for caregivers rather than negative warnings about bad consequences.
•  It aims to bring about a cultural change in our understanding of infant crying in caregivers and the community generally.
• It is designed to increase “penetration rates” to caregivers and be widely acceptable to health care professionals and groups disseminating the intervention.
The primary messages of The Period of PURPLE Crying® are:
•  Crying is a part of normal child development.  At about two weeks of age, babies may start to cry more each week until about two months when they begin to cry less each week. Crying up to five hours a day is not unusual.
•  Ways to comfort a crying child include carrying, comforting, walking, and talking to the baby.
•  If it’s too frustrating it is OK to walk away for a short period of time.
•  Never shake or hurt a baby.  It can cause blindness, seizures, disabilities and death.
•  Be careful who you have care for your baby.  If the person has problems handling frustration or has a quick temper, it may be dangerous to leave your child with them.
•  Share the The Period of PURPLE Crying® with your child’s other caregivers.

 Child abuse often happens at critical child development milestones. The Period of PURPLE Crying® addresses one of those: infant crying. The program also meets the five protective factors
•  Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development (crying is a normal part of infant development).
•  Nurturing and Attachment (soothing techniques such as comforting, carrying, walking, and talking).
•  Parent Resilience (parents recognize signs and triggers of stress; it’s OK to walk away; parents find ways to cope with their frustrations).
•  Social Connections (parents identify their support networks).
•  Concrete Support in Times of Need (resource list on the inside cover of DVD is personalized to Kansas).

 What are the Program’s Components?
The program employs a triple dose strategy to introduce, reinforce, and promote the messages of the program.
Dose One: The PURPLE Program is given to parents, both mothers and fathers, in the hospital after the birth of their baby.  Maternity nurses will be trained and provided with a script and the materials. Each family will receive a DVD and 11 page booklet about PURPLE Crying. When possible, the parents will watch the film in the hospital and be able to ask the nurse questions. The booklet and DVD are available in 10 languages.
Dose Two: Home visitors or pediatricians can reinforce the message by talking to parents about the concepts taught in the program. If needed the pediatrician (or office personnel) will provide materials to parents who were missed at the hospital after having their baby and did not get the materials. It is important not to duplicate the materials in the distribution process and ideally most parents should have received the materials at the hospital.
Dose Three: A public education campaign will provide this information to all those who did not receive it through the above methods.  This is an important part of bringing about a cultural change as it is necessary to educate  grandmothers, boyfriends, neighbors and relatives about the PURPLE program so the mother and father will receive support and reinforcement from them.  Reinforcement and Enhancements: Other groups who serve parents will be specifically targeted so that there is complete community coverage about the program. Child care providers, foster care workers, midwives, advice and hot line personnel, family practice physicians, emergency room personnel, and other groups serving parents should be contacted and receive the training. This will insure that the parents get the same information wherever they go for help and advice.

How is The Period of PURPLE Crying® being implemented in Kansas?

The Kansas Children’s Service League is coordinating an effort to bring The Period of PURPLE Crying® Program to parents and communities across the state. Kansas is the fourth state in the nation to implement this program statewide. PURPLE partnerships are being formed with hospitals all across the state. Currently, approximately 41,000 of the 42,000 (98%) live births have been funded. More than 55 birthing facilities across the state are implementing Dose One of the program. Dose Two training has been provided to more than 2,500 early childhood professionals and community partners throughout Kansas.  Public and private partners are coming together quickly to make this project a priority during an economic downturn because it is an evidenced-based, strengths-based approach to support families as family stressors are increasing.  Funding for The Period of PURPLE Crying® is being provided by the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitations Services through a Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) grant; and the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund through Community Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) funds and the Early Childhood Block Grant.  Additional support has been secured from the Kansas Health Foundation, the Junior League of Wichita, the Topeka Community Foundation, Early Head Start ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), and numerous hospital foundations.