DEATH FROM A SHAWL

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2312, 3 December 1925, Page 6

DEATH FROM A SHAWL

BABY CHOKED BY FIBRES. MOTHER’S WAYS CRITICISED. FPftr Press Association.! CHRTSTCHUCH, December 1. Small fibres from a shawl clogged tho larynx of a Tinwald baby and re* suited In Its death. In giving evidence at the inquest, tho mother, Mrs W. Lambert, said the child was two months and ,19 days old. On Friday evening she gave tho baby a bath and a bottle and nursed her for a little while before putting her to bed at about nine o’clock. She did not see the child again until be. tween seven and eight o’clock the following morning. She then sent for a doctor. When ho arrived the child was dead. It Was wrapped in a woollen shawl and had a blanket round its shoulders. She had never seen the baby sucking the shawl. It occupied a separate room and always slept well.

The coroner expressed the opinion that the mother should have visited tho child more often and was sun ported by tho senior sergeant, who expressed the opinion that the case was a most unusual one.

Dr. Mullin remarked that the practice these days was to break children Into going without food all night until five or six o’clock in the morning. At the back of the baby’s throat he found o small collection of what looked like woollen fibres. This when laid out was about the size of a threepenny piece and was just over tho aperture of the larynx. He considered that the child was also suffering from purulent bronchitis. It was possible that the child was in the habit of sucking the end of its blanket .and shawl. The immediate, cause of death was probably asphyxia owing to the larynx having become blocked by the small woollen fibres. The eotoner returned a verdict. In accordance with the medical evidence.