There was a recent published report from Australia as a matter of
fact, about babies dying at the breast, suffocated.  I think it was
published in the American Journal of Diseases in Childhood, but I am
not sure.  The article did not prove much, except that occasionally,
perhaps, babies do not struggle if they are buried in the breast.
Now, I think this is abnormal, not to struggle when you cannot
breathe, even if you are a baby.  However, it is conceivable that a
very premature baby might not struggle.  Perhaps a baby who is
abnormal if he is full term.  And there might be another reason for
the cause of death besides the baby nursing.  A five day old often is
at the breast, and the death at the breast may have been coincidental.

Unless the autopsy shows something, we will probably never know.  But
remember, this baby was admitted to the hospital for "feeding
problems" and maybe it was not a feeding problem but something else.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC