21-day-old baby died from asphyxiation on breast milk

The 21-day-old Cunupia unnamed baby whose finger was bitten off  by rats on her death bed died as a result of asphyxiation on her mother’s breast milk. According to autopsy results her mother Indra Mongroo failed to ‘burp’ the child after breast feeding and this led to the over-fed child ‘choking’on the milk.

Mongroo had reported that around 12.30 pm on Wednesday she put her new born daughter to sleep at their Endeavour Road, Cunupia home although the child was frothing. She returned five hours later and found her daughter motionless. The frightened woman left the corpse on the bed and ran to the nearby Cunupia police station where she made a report. On her return the shocked woman found one of the child fingers had been bitten off by rats.

Police sources from the autopsy results have concluded that death was as a result of the child choking on the breast milk that had settled on its chest when the mother did not ‘burp’ it, and not Leptospirosis as originally thought. Investigations have revealed the area has a high-rat infestation and while there have been no living human attacks before, with the escalating population and the number of small children, residents fear it is just a matter of time. Sources have also confirmed that the Health sector of the Chaguanas Borough Council have taken note of the situation and a team will be visiting the area this weekend to spray and do other health work.