A tragic case happened in a family from Revaca commune of Chisinau municipality, where their child aged only two months was found dead. After breastfeeding him, the mother put the boy near her in the bed and had a nap. When she wanted to move the baby to his bed, she saw that he wasn’t breathing. Contacted by IPN, press officer of the Chisinau Police Division Adrian Jovmir said that according to the preliminary investigations, the child choked on milk. The medical-legal examination to show the exact cause of death will be ready in several weeks.
Managing doctor of the Chisinau Emergency Service Anatol Proca has told IPN that he knows many cases when babies choked on breast milk. He explained that after breastfeeding the child, the mother must keep him in a vertical position and then put him on one side when laying him down, not on the back as he may choke. If the mother sees that the child is choking, she must lay him with the face down on the forearm and beat him several times gently on the back, between the shoulder blades.
Anatol Proca also said that the mothers must breastfeed the children sitting on a chair because when lying on the bed they can fall asleep, being tired, and can thus endanger the life of the child, who can be asphyxiated even with the mother’s breast. The parents make a big mistake when they lay down the children in the bed together with them as they can asphyxiate the babies by their body or hand while they sleep.
The sudden death syndrome is another cause of death in babies, mainly younger than one. The baby usually dies while sleeping.
According to a study of the REPEMOL (Regionalization of the Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Services in Moldova) Project, only 66% of the parents realize the risk of their children being injured in the home. During six years, REPEMOL, in cooperation with the authorities, has carried out the campaign “A danger-free home for your child” to inform the parents about the measures that must be taken to prevent home accidents involving children younger than five. Information about how the child can be protected is also available at www.parinti.md.
