Sunday 5 June 2011

SIDS: South Africa: 'It was cot death' - CT house mother

Giovanna Gerbi |
The house mother of a Cape Town children’s home on Wednesday said she suspects the two babies who passed away while in her care died from sudden infant death syndrome.
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths at the Building Blocks home in Pinelands.
An autopsy has revealed that one baby girl died of natural causes. The second post-mortem is expected to be released on Thursday.
House mother Jenny Berger’s tear-stained face demonstrated her anguish on Wednesday. Berger said the infants were washed and fed as usual and 45 minutes later they were found dead.
“They just stopped breathing. It’s a cot death - who can explain that?” she said.
Berger said the girls shared a cot as they were both about two months old.
“It’s big enough where they lay on either side. They always had their own blankets...”
Police expect the second post-mortem to be released on Thursday.
(Edited by Lindiwe Mlandu)
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/Story.aspx?Id=66998

1 comment:

  1. Reminds me of the Valley of Death where carbon dioxide et al lies as a heavy gas and the tale of the man walking his dog into the valley when it suddenly died from lack of oxygen.

    It is quick, sudden and without warning.

    Was the cot effectively air tight except at the top.

    When bringing up my daughter we ensured the cots were of an open lattice and as the pram was lethal - plastic and completely sealed in we made sure the blankets filled up the pram to the top and put our daughter on top of this lot.

    Not a good idea as she managed to fall out once. Without harm!

    This was 1971 and it was and is criminal to design such dangerous and deadly prams.

    We are in a mad world where such design is permitted.

    The chance of two deaths occurring are infinitesimal and although I can think of many other innocent explanations I give this one as a thought to those who are charged but fail to keep a million babies safe from SIDS when previously healthy.

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