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Subject:
From:
Katherine Dettwyler <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 25 Feb 2004 10:27:47 -0500
Content-Type:
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Well, I've been back on LactNet for only one day and already I can't help
commenting on this thread.

I was glad to see someone finally pointing out that perhaps, in fact, the
mother DID suffocate the baby at the breast, if she had really large
breasts, and/or if the baby was somehow compromised to begin with.

It is also possible that the mother suffocated the baby on purpose.  That
might contribute to why the parents didn't want an autopsy.  I know it isn't
politically correct to say that parents might harm their children, but it is
well-documented.  Read the chilling article that came out in the same issue
of Pediatrics in November or December of 1997 that included the new
breastfeeding guildelines.  It was about parents whose children had
experience near-death episodes, and both kids and parents were being
videotaped in the hospital without the parents' knowledge.  They caught most
of the parents actively trying to cause the child's death, or at minimum
another near-death episode.

If a baby dies under circumstances such as those outlined in the original
post, an investigation, including an autopsy, needs to be done to make a
differential diagnosis among:

1.  Mother killed baby on purpose.
2.  Mother killed baby accidentally during/via breastfeeding through poor
positioning.
3.  Baby had underlying heart defect or other reason for extended apnea.
4.  Baby had something else the matter with it, such as a major chromosomal
abnormality, tracheo-esophageal fistula, etc. that led breast milk to block
the airways.

In the absence of any investigation, I see no way to choose among these
possible causes.

I also haven't seen anyone comment on the one thing that stood out for me
the most from the original post, and that was the 15 minute delay between
when the mother asked for help from the nurse (to put the baby back in the
bassinet) and when the nurse/midwife arrived at the bedside to find the baby
not breathing.  Why did it take so long?  Was the mother having so much
trouble putting the baby in the bassinet because the baby was limp because
it was unconscious?

Kathy Dettwyler

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