SIDS

[Guest guest]

Tami, Thanks for the SIDS info. Some of the facts you listed are new

to me. I am happy to hear that there are studies that may help reduce

the number of SIDS cases. Thanks.

Marcy & (6 1/2 months old)

DOC Band baby in NJ

Brachycephaly

> > >

> > >

> > > I had a discussion with a friend today that made me think quite

> a

> > > lot. Has anybody looked into any risks of Sudden Infant Death

> > Syndrom

> > > linked to wearing a helmet? (Everybody knows that babies loose

> most

> > > of their heat from the head, that covering their head can cause

> > > overheating and that overheating is linked to SIDS.)

> > >

> > >

> > > (, 14 months, STARband 29/09/04)

[Guest guest]

,

I'm so glad that Tami and others had excellent information to put

your concerns to rest. Personally, and I am not a medical

professional, I did not link the use of the helmet to SIDS at all.

Sue

Colin F., 1

brachy,STARband

Buffalo, NY

>

>

> I had a discussion with a friend today that made me think quite a

> lot. Has anybody looked into any risks of Sudden Infant Death

Syndrom

> linked to wearing a helmet? (Everybody knows that babies loose most

> of their heat from the head, that covering their head can cause

> overheating and that overheating is linked to SIDS.)

>

>

> (, 14 months, STARband 29/09/04)

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I just want to second what said.

, mom to Makenna llumc helmet grad '03

>

>

> I had a discussion with a friend today that made me think quite a

> lot. Has anybody looked into any risks of Sudden Infant Death

Syndrom

> linked to wearing a helmet? (Everybody knows that babies loose most

> of their heat from the head, that covering their head can cause

> overheating and that overheating is linked to SIDS.)

>

>

> (, 14 months, STARband 29/09/04)

[Guest guest]

Don't you think that pediatric office in Chicago where the majority if not all

their patients are unvaccinated would be a great place to look at this. I think

it's called Home First. If they can do it with Autism, they can look at SIDS and

many other disorders/dis-eases that likely don't exist among this popluation of

children.

Anita

" Sheri B. " <tallchick1966@...> wrote:

I'm behind on posts, so forgive me if anyone asked this but: are there any

recorded cases of SIDS in an un-vaxed child?

Sheri B.

---------------------------------

How low will we go? Check out Messenger?s low PC-to-Phone call rates.

[Guest guest]

I'm a little behind too, and I was thinking the same thing.

Health & blessings,

We're about Health, Opportunity... and doing what's right!

http://www.shaklee.net/ExcitingHealth

1-866-312-8064

On 10/26/06, Sheri B. <tallchick1966@...> wrote:

>

> I'm behind on posts, so forgive me if anyone asked this but: are there

> any recorded cases of SIDS in an un-vaxed child?

> Sheri B.

>

[Guest guest]

At 03:59 PM 9/24/2007 -0000, you wrote:

>On another group there was an article posted about SIDS acually being

>vaccine death. Does anyone know how the medical community explains SIDS

>being rare before 2 months if it isn't vaccine related?

>

The medical community can't/don't explain it all

I have a webpage on the connection

http://www.wellwithin1.com/SIDS.htm

There was no SIDS described in old medical texts before vaccines were common.

Sheri

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

$$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

earthmysteriestours@... voicemail US 530-740-0561

(go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail

Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm or

http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm

Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccineclass.htm

Reality of the Diseases & Treatment -

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm

Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.wellwithin1.com/homeo.htm

NEXT CLASSES start by email October 17 & 18

[Guest guest]

I am absolutely convinced that SIDS is caused by the chemicals in a

baby's mattress. Of course, I'm sure some babies die from vaccines

and this is also called SIDS, but a different thing completely.

Please read this site I am posting, it explains everything

flawlessly. Of course, sleeping baby on back helps because they are

less likely to breath in the toxic gasses from mattress, but how do

you make your baby stay on his back. My baby these past few nights

rolls over on his stomach.

It's just convenient for everyone to blame vaccine deaths on

SIDS....but I don't believe that babies just die for no reason at

all.....there is always a reason, vaccines or any other kind of

toxins.

http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/news/cotdeath.php

> >On another group there was an article posted about SIDS acually

being

> >vaccine death. Does anyone know how the medical community explains

SIDS

> >being rare before 2 months if it isn't vaccine related?

> >

>

> The medical community can't/don't explain it all

>

> I have a webpage on the connection

> http://www.wellwithin1.com/SIDS.htm

>

> There was no SIDS described in old medical texts before vaccines

were common.

>

> Sheri

>

> --------------------------------------------------------

> Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

> Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

> $$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

> earthmysteriestours@... voicemail US 530-740-0561

> (go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail

> Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm or

> http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm

> Vaccine Dangers On-Line course -

http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccineclass.htm

> Reality of the Diseases & Treatment -

> http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm

> Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.wellwithin1.com/homeo.htm

> NEXT CLASSES start by email October 17 & 18

>

[Guest guest]

At 12:02 AM 9/25/2007 -0000, you wrote:

>I am absolutely convinced that SIDS is caused by the chemicals in a

>baby's mattress. Of course, I'm sure some babies die from vaccines

>and this is also called SIDS, but a different thing completely.

>Please read this site I am posting, it explains everything

>flawlessly. Of course, sleeping baby on back helps because they are

>less likely to breath in the toxic gasses from mattress, but how do

>you make your baby stay on his back. My baby these past few nights

>rolls over on his stomach.

>It's just convenient for everyone to blame vaccine deaths on

>SIDS....but I don't believe that babies just die for no reason at

>all.....there is always a reason, vaccines or any other kind of

>toxins.

>

>http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/news/cotdeath.php

>

>

I know that that is very possible as a cause, but I would suggest that the

vaccines also may be a factor, contributing to being susceptible to the

mattress.

Lots of evidence for the vaccine issue and NO SIDS ever mentioned before

vaccines were begun in the 40s

Certainly good to not have a toxic mattress either

Sheri

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

$$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

earthmysteriestours@... voicemail US 530-740-0561

(go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail

Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm or

http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm

Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccineclass.htm

Reality of the Diseases & Treatment -

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm

Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.wellwithin1.com/homeo.htm

NEXT CLASSES start by email October 17 & 18

[Guest guest]

I think the mercury in the vaccines throws a wrench in the works upsetting detox

systems most probably and then antimony cannot be denatured and excreted

properly. Mercury binds to sulphur and upsets the sulphation system which plays

an important role in detox.

Re: Re: SIDS

At 12:02 AM 9/25/2007 -0000, you wrote:

>I am absolutely convinced that SIDS is caused by the chemicals in a

>baby's mattress. Of course, I'm sure some babies die from vaccines

>and this is also called SIDS, but a different thing completely.

>Please read this site I am posting, it explains everything

>flawlessly. Of course, sleeping baby on back helps because they are

>less likely to breath in the toxic gasses from mattress, but how do

>you make your baby stay on his back. My baby these past few nights

>rolls over on his stomach.

>It's just convenient for everyone to blame vaccine deaths on

>SIDS....but I don't believe that babies just die for no reason at

>all.....there is always a reason, vaccines or any other kind of

>toxins.

>

>http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/news/cotdeath.php

>

>

I know that that is very possible as a cause, but I would suggest that the

vaccines also may be a factor, contributing to being susceptible to the

mattress.

Lots of evidence for the vaccine issue and NO SIDS ever mentioned before

vaccines were begun in the 40s

Certainly good to not have a toxic mattress either

Sheri

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

$$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

earthmysteriestours@... voicemail US 530-740-0561

(go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail

Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm or

http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm

Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccineclass.htm

Reality of the Diseases & Treatment -

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm

Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.wellwithin1.com/homeo.htm

NEXT CLASSES start by email October 17 & 18

[Guest guest]

I don't think it's just the mercury, maybe not even the mercury at all, I think

it's a combination of all the toxins, our weakened systems and the fake food,

and lack of breastfeeding that is killing us all.

Re: Re: SIDS

At 12:02 AM 9/25/2007 -0000, you wrote:

>I am absolutely convinced that SIDS is caused by the chemicals in a

>baby's mattress. Of course, I'm sure some babies die from vaccines

>and this is also called SIDS, but a different thing completely.

>Please read this site I am posting, it explains everything

>flawlessly. Of course, sleeping baby on back helps because they are

>less likely to breath in the toxic gasses from mattress, but how do

>you make your baby stay on his back. My baby these past few nights

>rolls over on his stomach.

>It's just convenient for everyone to blame vaccine deaths on

>SIDS....but I don't believe that babies just die for no reason at

>all.....there is always a reason, vaccines or any other kind of

>toxins.

>

>http://www.childbir thsolutions. com/articles/ news/cotdeath. php

>

>

I know that that is very possible as a cause, but I would suggest that the

vaccines also may be a factor, contributing to being susceptible to the

mattress.

Lots of evidence for the vaccine issue and NO SIDS ever mentioned before

vaccines were begun in the 40s

Certainly good to not have a toxic mattress either

Sheri

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

$$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

earthmysteriestours @tesco.net voicemail US 530-740-0561

(go to http://www.paypal. com) or by mail

Vaccines - http://www.nccn. net/~wwithin/ vaccine.htm or

http://www.wellwith in1.com/vaccine. htm

Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - http://www.wellwith in1.com/vaccinec lass.htm

Reality of the Diseases & Treatment -

http://www.nccn. net/~wwithin/ vaccineclass. htm

Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.wellwith in1.com/homeo. htm

NEXT CLASSES start by email October 17 & 18

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/25/2007 6:29:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

vidamarino@... writes:

I am absolutely convinced that SIDS is caused by the chemicals in a

baby's mattress.

I was fortunate enough to find out about this as well. has a matress

cover in her crib. She doesn't wish to co-sleep, so she's not in w/us.

Holly

************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

[Guest guest]

Mt babies have organic mattresses, even in the cosleeper. My question was more

about how doctors can explain SIDS being rare in the first couple months whan it

would seem an infant would be more fragile. I'm sure there's a comeback in the

" Doctor's BS answers for vaccine questioning parents " handbook. I've just never

heard it. When my son had a close call the day after his 2 month shots (his

sensor monitor went off during his nap) the doctor blamed my monitor and said

shots actually prevent SIDS. Injecting toxins prevents death? What a concept.

Marie Quisenberry

leesamarie2828@...

Re: Re: SIDS

At 12:02 AM 9/25/2007 -0000, you wrote:

>I am absolutely convinced that SIDS is caused by the chemicals in a

>baby's mattress. Of course, I'm sure some babies die from vaccines

>and this is also called SIDS, but a different thing completely.

>Please read this site I am posting, it explains everything

>flawlessly. Of course, sleeping baby on back helps because they are

>less likely to breath in the toxic gasses from mattress, but how do

>you make your baby stay on his back. My baby these past few nights

>rolls over on his stomach.

>It's just convenient for everyone to blame vaccine deaths on

>SIDS....but I don't believe that babies just die for no reason at

>all.....there is always a reason, vaccines or any other kind of

>toxins.

>

>http://www.childbir thsolutions. com/articles/ news/cotdeath. php

>

>

I know that that is very possible as a cause, but I would suggest that the

vaccines also may be a factor, contributing to being susceptible to the

mattress.

Lots of evidence for the vaccine issue and NO SIDS ever mentioned before

vaccines were begun in the 40s

Certainly good to not have a toxic mattress either

Sheri

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

$$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

earthmysteriestours @tesco.net voicemail US 530-740-0561

(go to http://www.paypal. com) or by mail

Vaccines - http://www.nccn. net/~wwithin/ vaccine.htm or

http://www.wellwith in1.com/vaccine. htm

Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - http://www.wellwith in1.com/vaccinec lass.htm

Reality of the Diseases & Treatment -

http://www.nccn. net/~wwithin/ vaccineclass. htm

Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.wellwith in1.com/homeo. htm

NEXT CLASSES start by email October 17 & 18

[Guest guest]

At 07:15 AM 9/25/2007 -0700, you wrote:

>Mt babies have organic mattresses, even in the cosleeper. My question was

more about how doctors can explain SIDS being rare in the first couple

months whan it would seem an infant would be more fragile. I'm sure there's

a comeback in the " Doctor's BS answers for vaccine questioning parents "

handbook. I've just never heard it. When my son had a close call the day

after his 2 month shots (his sensor monitor went off during his nap) the

doctor blamed my monitor and said shots actually prevent SIDS. Injecting

toxins prevents death? What a concept.

>

> Marie Quisenberry

>leesamarie2828@...

I understand. Good point -but I'm sure they have some explanation.

yes, what a concept

Sheri

>>

--------------------------------------------------------

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Nevada City CA & Wales UK

$$ Donations to help in the work - accepted by Paypal account

earthmysteriestours@... voicemail US 530-740-0561

(go to http://www.paypal.com) or by mail

Vaccines - http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm or

http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccine.htm

Vaccine Dangers On-Line course - http://www.wellwithin1.com/vaccineclass.htm

Reality of the Diseases & Treatment -

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccineclass.htm

Homeopathy On-Line course - http://www.wellwithin1.com/homeo.htm

NEXT CLASSES start by email October 17 & 18

[Guest guest]

While I'm sure the chemicals in mattresses are HORRID and contribute greatly to

SIDS, didn't " cribdeath " as it was called in the 1800's exist? That was

pre-vaccine and pre-chemical-laden mattresses?

Sheri B.

www.shaklee.net/simplevitality

Products in harmony with Nature

Find out why we've been around for 50 years

---------------------------------

Don't let your dream ride pass you by. Make it a reality with Autos.

[Guest guest]

If you are convinced it is because of the mattress get a non toxic one.

Here is the best one I found.

I wouldn't trust a mattress cover with my childs life and health.

http://www.healthychild.com/natural-organic-mattress-bedding.html

>

>

> In a message dated 9/25/2007 6:29:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

> vidamarino@... writes:

>

> I am absolutely convinced that SIDS is caused by the chemicals in a

> baby's mattress.

>

>

> I was fortunate enough to find out about this as well. has a

matress

> cover in her crib. She doesn't wish to co-sleep, so she's not in w/us.

>

> Holly

>

>

>

> ************************************** See what's new at

http://www.aol.com

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

However, arsenic and phosphorus are also found in wool.......but

definitely better than ordinary mattress. The mattress cover is of

guaranteed thickness and was made by the scientist that discovered

the chemicals in the mattress, I feel quite secure with this, but

still do sleep my baby on his back too (although he turns on his

tummy at times.)

Like I said before, my husband has never even heard of SIDS before

now so is not really convinced that it even exists, so getting a new

mattress now is out of the question...it was hard enough to convince

him that vaccines are worthless and dangerous. His brother tried so

hard to convince him that I was crazy and that vaccines have saved

the world and that they are not dangerous. It took a lot of arguing

and crying on my part to get him to listen to me, it even got to the

point where I was making it clear I would not stay with him if he

would not side with me (of course I wouldn't have left him, but I

felt desperate.) Luckily, his mom agrees with me. Also, my son got

only 4 vaccines on month two (big mistake, which I regret to this

day) and none month 4 and my husband sees how happy and healthy and

active he is and now realizes we are making the right choice not to

vaccinate. Also, the more time he spends in the U.S. the more he

hears the words autism, ADHD, asthma, and so on.

> >

> >

> > In a message dated 9/25/2007 6:29:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

> > vidamarino@ writes:

> >

> > I am absolutely convinced that SIDS is caused by the chemicals

in a

> > baby's mattress.

> >

> >

> > I was fortunate enough to find out about this as well. has

a

> matress

> > cover in her crib. She doesn't wish to co-sleep, so she's not

in w/us.

> >

> > Holly

> >

> >

> >

> > ************************************** See what's new at

> http://www.aol.com

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/26/2007 12:01:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

heather@... writes:

If you are convinced it is because of the mattress get a non toxic one.

Here is the best one I found.

I wouldn't trust a mattress cover with my childs life and health.

If that is the case, then I don't see why we should trust the mattress

itself. Many of the organic ones are treated w/fire resistance chemicals.

Maybe

the best way to go is buy organic mattress AND get a mattress cover. I will

be doing both for my next child, whenever that may happen.

Holly

************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

[Guest guest]

I have organic mattresses, mattress covers, organic sheets, etc. I figure they

spend so much time in the crib I want it as safe as possible.

Marie Quisenberry

leesamarie2828@...

Re: Re: SIDS

In a message dated 9/26/2007 12:01:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

heathersnobuni (DOT) com writes:

If you are convinced it is because of the mattress get a non toxic one.

Here is the best one I found.

I wouldn't trust a mattress cover with my childs life and health.

If that is the case, then I don't see why we should trust the mattress

itself. Many of the organic ones are treated w/fire resistance chemicals. Maybe

the best way to go is buy organic mattress AND get a mattress cover. I will

be doing both for my next child, whenever that may happen.

Holly

************ ********* ********* ******** See what's new at http://www.aol. com

[Guest guest]

I'll just jump in here for my .02. I think it did exist back then,

but, as with things like autism, there's " natural " occurrences of it

and then there's occurrences of it in modern times due to polluting

influences (environment, vaccines, etc.). -Angie

On Sep 26, 2007, at 10:12 AM, Sheri B. wrote:

> While I'm sure the chemicals in mattresses are HORRID and

> contribute greatly to SIDS, didn't " cribdeath " as it was called in

> the 1800's exist? That was pre-vaccine and pre-chemical-laden

> mattresses?

>

> Sheri B.

>

>

> www.shaklee.net/simplevitality

> Products in harmony with Nature

> Find out why we've been around for 50 years

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Don't let your dream ride pass you by. Make it a reality with

> Autos.

>

>

[Guest guest]

In my research it is never mentioned before vaccine era

Sheri

>

> > While I'm sure the chemicals in mattresses are HORRID and

> > contribute greatly to SIDS, didn't " cribdeath " as it was called

in

> > the 1800's exist? That was pre-vaccine and pre-chemical-laden

> > mattresses?

> >

> > Sheri B.

> >

> >

> > www.shaklee.net/simplevitality

> > Products in harmony with Nature

> > Find out why we've been around for 50 years

> >

> >

> > ---------------------------------

> > Don't let your dream ride pass you by. Make it a reality with

> > Autos.

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

This article might of interest on this subject:

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/medhum/newsletter/v6n1cribdeath.cfm

Sheri B.

Volume 6: Number 1 Spring 2003

In this Issue:

The Social and Medical History of Crib Death

Todd L. Savitt Ph.D. History is more than a compilation of dates and facts

on a particular subject. This article will look at a condition which has existed

since ancient times and has had a varied history owing to changes in societal

attitudes and medical knowledge over the centuries—Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

(SIDS), commonly known as crib death.

While the precise cause of SIDS is not clear, we can describe its usual

manifestations and epidemiological patterns. The Second International Conference

on Causes of Sudden Death in Infants (1969) defined SIDS as: “The sudden death

of any infant or young child which is unexpected by history, and in which a

thorough post-mortem examination fails to demonstrate an adequate cause for

death.” This is still the most accepted definition. SIDS is an important cause

of post-neonatal (28 days to one year) deaths in the United States (and

world-wide), accounting for 0.77 deaths for every 1,000 live births. A few SIDS

deaths occur during the first few weeks of life, gradually peaking between two

and four months of age, and then declining over the next several months, until

the age of 12 to 15 months. More deaths occur in the colder months of the year,

and almost all deaths occur during sleep. SIDS strikes African Americans and

Native Americans more frequently than Caucasians and

people of Asian/Pacific Island and Hispanic origin, and occurs more often among

families of low socio-economic status. In the last several years, SIDS deaths

have declined dramatically, as parents have learned to put their young infants

to sleep on their backs rather than on their bellies. The sequence of events in

a typical case description of a crib death is:

An apparently thriving two-month-old boy is found dead face down in his crib.

Except for a brief mild rhinorrhea during the previous week, the child has been

in excellent health from birth. At a routine well-baby check by the family

doctor a few days prior to the event, he appeared robust and free of problems.

On the night of death, he took his formula eagerly and was put down in his crib

about 10 p.m. His mother looked in before retiring; he was sleeping peacefully

on his abdomen with his face to the side. When found at 6:30 a.m., he had

obviously been dead for several hours.

In other cases, parents sleeping with an infant awaken to find the child dead

and assume that, as one distraught mother wrote to a physician, “I had smothered

her sometime during the night.” The response from community members has often

been negative and accusatory: they assume the parents have been negligent and

careless in managing the child, or worse, that they actually abused the infant.

Medical researchers did not recognize SIDS as a distinct entity until the

mid-1940s; physicians and the public did not generally accept its existence

until the 1970s. Because of this lack of recognition of SIDS until recently,

parents or nurses of children dead of this disorder have been held responsible

and punished or not depending on religious and societal attitudes of the period.

Is it possible for a historian to identify SIDS in earlier times? Using both

descriptive and quantitative evidence, it can be shown that most infant deaths

attributed to either accidental overlaying of the child by a parent or nurse

while sleeping, or to accidental smothering of the child in its own bedclothes,

pillows, or covers, were actually instances of SIDS. Descriptions of these

phenomena from all periods bear a striking resemblance to modern case histories.

For example, an overseer and a planter on a Virginia plantation wrote the

following about the death of a slave infant:

I [iel , overseer] am sorry to inform you [Edmund Hubard, slave

owner] that Matilda has lost her youngest child she over laid it, it was well

and hearty when she went to bed and found it dead sometime in the night.

Last week [wrote Hubard to his brother, Edmund] Tilla overlaid/when

asleep/and killed her youngest child – a boy 6 or 7 months old. This was no

doubt caused by her own want of care and attention. A 16th-century Florentine

couple claimed to church authorities that they had smothered their child

“accidentally while sleeping, and without any consciousness on their part of

killing.” A 17th-century English diarist wrote: “It pleas’d God to take away my

son , being now a moneth old, yet without any sickness of danger

perceivably, being to all appearance a most likely child; we suspected much

(that) the nurse had overlayne him….” An official board of inquest in

17th-century Plymouth Colony decided of a 6-month-old child found dead in bed

lying between its nurse and sister that “either it was stiffled by lying on its

face or accidentally over layed in the bed.”

The quantitative data are also convincing. Dr. Arnold Paltauf of Vienna

presented tables, in an 1889 article on sudden unexplained infant deaths,

showing that 59% of these children died between the ages of two and four months.

A Surgeon of Police in Dundee, Scotland, reported in 1892 that of 258 instances

of “overlaying” investigated between 1882 and 1891, 60% (154) were children two

to four months old, and 62% (159) occurred between October and March, the cold

months of the year. Two years later, the editors of the British Medical Journal

complained about the high number of overlaying deaths during the winter.

Of interest historically is the attitude people had toward the overlaying and

smothering of infants. Sudden unexpected and unexplained infant deaths were not

matters in which police and the courts showed much interest until the 17th or

18th century. Before this, overlaying and smothering were matters dealt with by

parents and church (rather than civil) officials. Until the early 19th century,

these infant deaths were considered a social rather than a medical problem, and

as such, were not the subject of anatomical or physiological scrutiny.

During medieval times overlaying was, according to historian R. H. Helmholz,

“the principal means of infanticide and the major problem for the Church

courts.” In ecclesiastical legislation, overlaying was associated with

infanticide despite the usually recognized accidental nature of the incident.

The law assumed that negligence or carelessness had to be involved in

overlaying, and that despite parents’ lack of intent to kill, a church crime had

been committed which required punishment. The degree of punishment could be

lessened for such unintentional infanticide, but absolution was out of the

question. Throughout the medieval period and on into the Renaissance,

ecclesiastical rather than secular courts handled cases of infanticide,

including accidental suffocation. The punishment meted out for both intentional

and accidental infanticide was always far lighter than for murder of an adult.

As early as about 700 A.D., the precedent for a lighter penance in cases of

overlaying than of accidental adult murder had been established. The former

required a penance of three years, one of them on bread and water, whereas the

latter required similar punishment for five years, three of them on bread and

water.

This apparently lax attitude toward infant life, as demonstrated both by the

total absence of secular, criminal prosecutions in cases of infanticide, and

lighter punishments for accidental deaths of infants compared to adults, is also

expressed in a set of 14th century instructions for English parish priests. In

these instructions, casually inserted along with failure to be a good Samaritan

and quarreling with one’s wife, is the venial (pardonable) sin of overlaying

one’s child. Still, overlaying – recognized as accidental– was regarded as a sin

to which parish priests were alerted. That the Church was also interested in

preserving the life of the child is indicated by the many injunctions in

medieval Church legislation against parents taking infants into their beds upon

pain of punishment should overlaying occur.

During the Renaissance, penance was still required, but harsher punishments

were meted out in 16th century Florence to unwed mothers whose infants were

suffocated and to old women accused of being witches who killed children and

replaced them in parents’ beds. To protect infants from accidental smothering in

bedclothes, Florentine craftsmen developed a device called an arcuccio (little

arch), which fitted over the crib and prevented the blankets from lying directly

on the child. It also contained cutouts on either side so that the mother or

nurse could breast feed during the night without fear of rolling over and

smothering the child. This device apparently gained some acceptance in England

during the 18th century and was still in use in parts of Italy in the 1890s.

Slowly, a transition from prosecution for infanticide in ecclesiastical courts

to secular courts occurred, paralleling the gradual movement away from Church

authority during the Enlightenment, and the increasing ability of medical

personnel to perform autopsies on infants and to determine the causes of death.

By the early 19th century, civil and coroner’s courts were investigating cases

of overlaying and smothering to determine cause of death.

As clinical-pathological correlations, popularized by publication in 1763 of

Giovanni Morgagni’s On the Seats and Causes of Disease, and pathological

anatomy, as taught at the French medical schools beginning in the 1790s, began

to influence medical thought, a new concept of the cause of these infant deaths

arose. Several physicians noted that the thymus glands of infants allegedly

overlaid or smothered were quite large. They postulated that the gland (a)

impinged on the trachea, cutting off the airway or the blood supply to the head,

( somehow caused adverse stimulation of nerves controlling respiration,

resulting in suffocation, or © grew so large as to reduce the size of the

thoracic cavity, thereby affecting function of both heart and lungs. The

condition became known as “thymic asthma” and gained some acceptance both in

Europe and America.

Though further medical investigations by German physician Friedleben

revealed in 1858 that the thymus could not cause the sudden death of an infant,

the theory persisted. In 1889 a Viennese physician, Arnold Paltauf, elaborated

on the thymic theory, claiming that a complex of bodily changes based on

nutritional and constitutional deficiencies was the cause of sudden deaths of

infants alone in cribs or in beds with parents. He called this diathesis status

thymico-lymphaticus. Not until 1931 did a committee of pathologists study this

condition and conclude that it had no “existence as a pathological entity.”

The thymic theory did, however, create a more humanitarian attitude toward

nurses and mothers accused of negligence, as this German case from the 1880s

illustrates:

A servant girl was entrusted with the care of an infant who was sleeping in

its cradle near her. In the morning the previously healthy baby was found dead

in the cradle. The girl was imprisoned, and the authorities ordered an autopsy,

which was performed by Liman & Grawitz. Liman was unable to disprove Grawitz’

contention that death was attributable to a colossally enlarged thymus pressing

on trachea, bronchi, and vessels. The magistrate released the woman….

Discussions of the cause of sudden unexplained infant deaths was quite

confused toward the end of the 19th century. Contrast the above statement from

Germany in the 1880s with this one by the Surgeon of Police of Dundee, Scotland,

in 1892:

The principal causes producing this great mortality from overlaying are –

1. Ignorance and carelessness of mothers;

2. drunkenness; 3. overcrowding; and

4. according to some observers, illegitimacy

and the (life) insurance of infants.

He advocated passage of a law prohibiting parents from sleeping with their

infants, and strenuous prosecution of parents whose children died under these

conditions. Compare this attitude with that of two French writers in 1895 who

claimed that nurses should not be blamed for smothering or overlaying infants.

Their research showed that specific respiratory ailments were the true cause of

death. Finally, to add to the uncertainty, the British Medical Journal published

a letter in 1905 on sudden death and the thymus gland which closed with the

following statement: In (Sir ) Osler’s (textbook of) Medicine, under

“Diseases of the Thymus Gland,” it is stated that enlargement of the gland is a

recognized cause of sudden infant death in infants, owing either to its direct

pressure on the trachea or to its pressure on the pneumogastric (vagus nerve)

causing spasm of the glottis. So confusion was rife as the new century began.In

(Sir ) Osler’s (textbook of) Medicine,

under “Diseases of the Thymus Gland,” it is stated that enlargement of the

gland is a recognized cause of sudden infant death in infants, owing either to

its direct pressure on the trachea or to its pressure on the pneumogastric

(vagus nerve) causing spasm of the glottis. So confusion was rife as the new

century began.

Research continued during the early 20th century as more physicians recognized

that there were other possible explanations for these infant deaths. Parents and

nurses were still often blamed for negligence in the care of their children who

died of what people assumed was overlaying or suffocation in bedclothes, sheets,

pillows, etc. For example, a New York physician, working under the auspices of

the Special Committee on Infant Mortality, condemned, in a 1944 issue of the

Journal of Pediatrics, the practice “of placing for feeding the unattended

infant in its mother’s bed where death from overlaying may be caused by the

mother who falls asleep.” He also noted that inattention to the style, weight,

and fit of infant clothing, and the misuse of pillows, rubber sheets, easily

untucked sheets and blankets, and unnecessary decorative articles for cribs and

carriages were potential causes of infant suffocation.

During the early 1940s, researchers studied and challenged the concept of

mechanical suffocation of infants. Doctors Werne and Irene Garrow of the

Queens County, N.Y., Medical Examiner’s Office published a series of articles

between 1942 and 1953 demonstrating that fulminating infection was the likely

cause of alleged mechanical suffocations in infants. Their work drew widespread

attention to the issue of sudden unexplained infant deaths. Dr. V. Woolley,

Jr., of Portland, Oregon, writing in 1945, noted that children invariably find

an airway regardless of the position in which they are sleeping or the

impediments (blankets, sheets, breast, bottle, mother’s body) put in their way,

and so complemented the ideas of Werne and Garrow. His conclusion marked the

start of a new era in thinking about sudden unexplained infant deaths by calling

for a complete autopsy examination with full recourse to modern bacteriologic

techniques: in every unexplained death of an

infant. When this is done and still nothing is found, nor has incontrovertible

evidence of suffocation been elicited, perhaps we should . . . admit that we are

ignorant of the cause of death, thereby saving the family the stigma of having

allowed their baby to smother in the bedclothes. Since then a growing knowledge

of SIDS has helped reduce the guilt of parents and created an entirely different

atmosphere in which to conduct research.

(This article is based on Savitt, T. “The Social and Medical History of Crib

Death,” Journal of the Florida Medical Association 1979; 66, 8: 853-59. Complete

references can be found therein.)

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[Guest guest]

That's really interesting, Sheri, thanks! Probably a lot of SIDS

deaths were attributed to cosleeping, which may be one reason it is

given such a bad reputation in modern (western) times. -Angie

On Sep 30, 2007, at 10:03 AM, Sheri B. wrote:

> This article might of interest on this subject:

> http://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/medhum/newsletter/v6n1cribdeath.cfm

> Sheri B.

>

> Volume 6: Number 1 Spring 2003

> In this Issue:

[Guest guest]

crib deaths and fungus

http://www.healbuildings.com/crib_deaths.html

[Guest guest]

>

> crib deaths and fungus

> http://www.healbuildings.com/crib_deaths.html

>