Abuse and its consequences
"Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer feigns the symptoms of or deliberately causes ill health to a child they are looking after. This is commonly described as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.”
Department of Health, 1999, "Working Together to Safeguard Children".