Mother accidentally smothers baby while breastfeeding

[SomeGuy]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1232265/Breastfeeding-mum-smothers-baby-jet-falling-asleep.html

"A mother accidentally smothered her baby daughter to death on a flight after she fell asleep while breastfeeding.

The four-week-old girl was travelling with her Egyptian mother from Washington DC to Kuwait when the tragedy occurred on November 24.

A mother accidentally smothered her baby daughter to death on a flight after she fell asleep while breastfeeding.

The four-week-old girl was travelling with her Egyptian mother from Washington DC to Kuwait when the tragedy occurred on November 24.

Officers from Scotland Yard's Child Abuse Investigation Team are now dealing with the incident.

The Association of Breastfeeding Mothers said: 'Sitting up in bed while holding your baby is very dangerous, especially if you fall asleep.'

In 2004, Briton Lisa Briggs smothered her baby as they slept less than three years after losing another child to a similar tragedy.

Miss Briggs, 23, fell asleep while feeding five-week-old Keitha and woke in the morning to find her lifeless by her side.

Miss Briggs had lost her four-week-old
daughter Cerese in identical circumstances.
However the Royal College of Midwives said in 2006 there are some benefits for breastfeeding mothers to share a bed with their babies, and a blanket message advising them not to do it could be counter-productive.

Melanie Every, a regional manager for the Royal College, said: 'We know that there are many, many cultures and many, many women who will continue to share beds with their babies, even when they are advised not to do it.

'Now, knowing that, it's important to give them advice on the safest possible way of doing it, rather than just saying don't do it.'

Babies can die of suffocation when their airways are obstructed by lying against their mother - a phenomenon known as 'overlying'.
"

She was in business class.

it is a terrible tragedy

Trust the DM to jump on something which could be used against bfing women.

Of course it is bloody tragic, but so rare.

This is so tragic.

I fell asleep when feeding DD in bed when she was very tiny. Found her in the middle of the bed between DH and I, I was so upset.

I think this is all the more horrible knowing that she was surrounded by people, if only someone had have noticed.

Very, very sad.

I woudl say your are scare mongering, some guy...but the first time sIL fed her baby, she fell asleep...she'd had a very long hard labour, and was suffocating her baby. She was in hostpital,but it was a while before any one noticed. Luckily the baby wa OK, but lost the sucking reflex.....and eventually ended up in special care.

What a strange article. What does a mother falling asleep while feeding sitting up have to do with cosleeping? It's like saying 'mother falls asleep while driving car, kills baby' and tying that in to cosleeping.

so sad and scary

The article says you can't feed lying in bed, or sitting up in bed. Where are you supposed to then??

I've bought a bedside cot this time round because I spent the first 6 months of DDs life being scared of this.

I feed ds2 (5 weeks) lying in bed, then I transfer him to his crib. Is this ok??
Sometimes I nod off for a bit though first.

Oh it's all too scary

It clearly should never have happened- afterall, she was travelling in Business Class

The same story is in The Independent, albeit with less detail. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mother-accidentally-smothered-baby-on-plane-1832011.html

I guess she's less likely to have been disturbed/noticed by other passengers as she was in business class, not economy, and so would have had more space.

Surely it's possible to fall asleep in bed with your baby and smother them, whether breastfeeding or bottle feeding, or not even feeding, just cuddling.

Planned bedsharing is still a safe option.

Falling asleep on a chair/sofa whilst feeding is known to be far more risky. Add in the factor of being on a long haul flight, possibly jetlagged, and it becomes even more dangerous.

This is a terrible tragedy for the family, but is in no way to be seen as evidence that bedsharing with all precautions taken is a dangerous option.

That's horrifying.

The story of the other woman to whom it happened twice - just shocking.

Why is it relevant that she was in Business class?

So, so tragic!

Very rare though, surely. I did hear your body actually wants you to sleep as you feed and releases dopamine with the let-down.
I know with my first I would fall asleep the second my baby started sucking. It was totaly uncontrolable, as if a switch had been flipped. You have to be comfy to feed though, so what's a woman to do?

It's typical of the DM though that they mention the lady was in business class. If it had happened in her home they would have mentioned how much the place was worth.

They didn't mention it (the Sun did). In fact one of the comments on the DM page blames overcrowded airlines, and said if airlines weren't so elitist about only providing 72" of seat pitch to rich people, there'd be room for her and this wouldn't have happened

How can sitting up in bed holding your baby be dangerous? In what way? It sounds like something that most new mothers will do, probably quite often. I had c-sections, and for the first few weeks that was the only way I fed my babies - certainly in hospital there wasn't any other option really.

Very sad story though. The DM slant comes across as very anti breast feeding though.

It's very very sad. I've co-slept and bf for a number of years but I have never fallen asleep while feeding my baby. It's very relaxing, and I get tired, but something keeps me awake until I put the baby in the safe part of the bed.

I hope they will investigate all factors in this case - not just the health of the baby, but also how safe is flying for a small baby.

surely this must be one of those freak accidents that is extremely rare. I don't think for a second that people should be put off bf or feeding lying down.
If anyone wants to learn anything from this, then it should be that if you know someone with newborn baby, try to help out for an hour by watching the baby so they can get some sleep???
at DM for scaremongering

There are staories on here where woman who are bottle feeding have nodded off and I can rememerb some where they have dropped there baby as a result.

As usual the point is being missed, woman need supportive husbands not ones who stay in bed asleep.

Like princessmel I honestly don't understand how you are supposed to feed at nighr safely after reading this very sad story. It seems to say that both feeding sitting up and feeding lying down are dangerous... I always feed sitting up in bed and had not heard that this was a risk before. In fact, I thought that I was doing the "safe" thing in avoiding lying down in bed with my daughter and putting her back in her cot after feeds so she can't be rolled on by either me or my partner (who is a tall, broad man and has a couple of alcoholic beverages most nights). I have nodded off occasionally though, especially if we have a very unsettled night with lots of feeding. Would this be any less likely to happen/safer in a chair? Does anyone know what the current recommendations are?

I am not at all surprised there is an immediate nod towards scaremongering the second the DM are mentioned-it is the DM after all-do they print for any other purpose?! Reading it makes you want to put your head straight in your oven!

I admit this is one of their less judgemental articles, yet I still sense a huge hint of negativity towards this poor woman for doing the most natural thing in the world.
If you aren't sitting whilst BF how else do you blooming do it? I fail to see the significance of WHERE you are sat.

Whilst I was breastfeeding, mine slept in a Moses basket next to me.

When they woke in the night, I just reached over & fed them whilst in bed.

Don´t a lot of people do that?