Mid Coast Hospital, in association with Families CAN! a program of Midcoast Maine Community Action, is launching its 2013 Click for Babies, Period of Purple Crying Caps campaign.

This campaign is part of a national initiative to educate parents and caregivers about the Period of Purple Crying, a normal, but frustrating period of increased crying all infants experience in the first few weeks and months after birth.

It is striving to inform and remind parents of the dangers of reacting in frustration by shaking or abusing an infant.

In this grassroots campaign, all knitters and crocheters throughout the Midcoast region are invited to make purple colored baby caps, which will be delivered to families of newborns at Mid Coast Hospital’s Maternity Unit. Caps can be made using any pattern and in any shade of soft baby friendly purple yarn.

“All parents of babies born at Mid Coast Hospital receive information on the Period of Purple Crying.

These purple caps are meant to serve as a reminder to the parents and caregivers to review the information on normal infant crying and to heed the dangers of shaking a newborn,” noted Eileen Delaney, Director of Maternity at Mid Coast Hospital. “Caring for a crying infant can be really frustrating. We want to be sure parents know that it is OK to put an infant down in a safe place and walk away when frustrated.”

Caps are being collected at the Mid Coast Hospital Information Desk, at the MCH Walk-In Clinic at Brunswick Station, and at the Midcoast Maine Community Action offices at 34 Wing Farm Parkway in Bath.

Throughout November and December, the caps will be distributed to parents of newborns at Mid Coast Hospital.

Caps can be made using any shade of soft baby friendly purple yarn. Halcyon Yarn in Bath is offering a 10 percent discount on yarn for the Click for Babies campaign. Knitters should include their name and address with the donation of the caps they have made. The address is used solely by the hospital to thank the knitter for their donation. When the caps are distributed to new parents, they include a tag noting the knitter’s name.

Individuals and organizations interested in participating in this local initiative should contact Melissa Kettell at 207-442-7963 or email melissa.kettell@mmcacorp.org.

For information about the national CLICK for Babies campaign, including patterns for caps, guidelines and details about the campaign, visit www.CLICKforbabies.org.

The Period of Purple Crying, developed by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization that works nationally to prevent the shaking and abuse of infants, is an evidence based infant abuse prevention program that has been implemented in over 1,000 hospitals and public health offices across North America to create awareness about normal infant crying and the dangers of shaking. To learn more about the Period of Purple Crying, visit www.purplecrying.info.