Europe's first international conference on shaken baby syndrome (SBS), held in Edinburgh yesterday, heard that an average of 200 cases a year reached British courts, but the real level could be higher.

Doctors and police officers say there must be a campaign to raise public awareness.

But others say SBS is little understood by doctors, who often rush to judgment, leaving parents and carers wrongly accused.

Speaking elsewhere in Edinburgh, Rioch Edwards-Brown and her husband Ian called for an inquiry, and said that as many as 18% of cases could be wrongly diagnosed. The couple set up a support group for parents accused of SBS after they were wrongly, and later cleared, of shaking their son Riordan.

They say they know of 179 families who say they have been falsely accused of shaking their children.

Mrs Edwards-Brown said that often the injuries associated with the condition could be caused by other disorders or incidents. In their case, their son's injuries were shown to have been caused by birth trauma.

The family have called for a protocol that would require all babies with retinal bleeds to be seen by a specialist within 24 hours of admission to hospital, and a review held after 14 days, to prevent misdiagnosis.

"There is not a consensus out there," Mrs Edwards-Brown said.

"I don't think this syndrome is researched properly. There isn't any diagnosis that can differentiate between accidental and non-accidental injury. I think doctors are going over the top without any helmets.

"Many a time people have said to me, 'you are an apologist for child abuse', but I'm just trying to get to the truth."

Waney Squier, a paediatric neuropathologist from Oxford, said SBS was not an established diagnosis and up to 18% of cases did not fit.

"It's by no means water-tight. I'm very keen that we should rule out all the natural diseases and birth injuries which can cause the same syndrome, so we can be more clear."

Detective chief inspector Phil Wheeler said the condition was very real, and he had dealt with four cases of twins in the past six months.

"There needs to be a recognised risk-factor assessment code that can be applied and we need a proper prevention strategy," he said. "We've got to get the message across to parents and carers that you can't shake babies."