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Baby chokes on pacifier and dies
February 09, 2007
THE baby, just 14 months old, had loved playing with his pacifier.
But it led to his death yesterday after he accidentally swallowed it and the pacifier got stuck in his throat.
Doctors interviewed in the report warned parents to be careful when giving an infant a pacifier. -- GUANG MING DAILY
The infant died on the way to a hospital in Johor.
Guang Ming Daily reported that the baby, whose name was not revealed, lived in Johor on weekdays while his parents worked in Singapore.
WITH NANNY
The baby had been alone with his sole caregiver, a nanny, when the incident took place.
He had been playing with his pacifier on the bed when it got stuck in his throat.
The nanny, who had been in the living room, rushed into the bedroom when she heard him crying.
After trying unsuccesfully to get it out, she rushed him to a nearby clinic. However, the doctor was also unable to remove the pacifier.
The nanny then called for an ambulance.
Paramedics checked on the baby when he stopped crying while on the way to the hospital and found that he had died of suffocation.
According to Guang Ming Daily, the nanny had cared for him on weekdays. He returned to his parents on weekends.
Reporters who spoke to the nanny observed that her index finger looked swollen from trying to get the pacifier out.
She said she had looked after children for 10 years and was also looking after the boy's sister, 4.
She said the baby had a big mouth and had been fond of playing with his pacifier.
She said: 'He had been in good health. Who would expect the pacifier to kill him?'
The baby's mother wept as she hugged his body and she became hysterical when she saw the nanny at the hospital, although her husband remained calm, said reports.
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Girl, 11, chokes on onde-onde and dies
IN Shah Alam, an 11-year-old girl choked and died while eating the food she loved most - onde-onde (tapioca balls filled with gula melaka).
Harian Metro reported that Anis Shuhaida Amar had fainted after eating the kueh during recess in school.
Her mother, Madam Salasiah Ismail, 31, said she got a call from the school and rushed to the medical centre that her daughter had been taken to.
She said: 'At first, I thought she fainted because she was too tired. Before this, she had not suffered from any serious sickness.
'My heart was racing during the journey to the hospital. I felt like screaming and my whole body was weak when the doctor told me she was dead.'
Anis had wanted to be a doctor, she said.
The school's deputy principal Siti Rubiah Abdul Halim said that there had been a teacher in charge at the canteen when the incident happened, which was the first of its kind in the school.
Madam Salasiah said: 'I take her death as God's will.'
The school declined to say if any action will be taken against the teacher or the canteen operator.
