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43
At this time it is known that the child's nervous system is
as yet imperfectly developed and ready to respond explosively to
slight sources of irritation.
This is a very unsatisfactory cause of death to be entered
on a death certificate. It means that the actual cause cannot
or has not been determined.
Convulsions are not a disease; they constitute a sign or
symptom like pain, tenderness, or blushing. Convulsions in a
child correspond in an adult to what is popularly known as
a shivering fit.
It would, therefore, be just as appropriate to say that an
adult had died from “shivering” as it is to say that a child
has died of “convulsions.”
Convulsions in a child may often occur at the beginning of
measles or of any other infectious disease, at the onset of pneumonia
or during an attack of diarrhoea. They may be due to
an injury to the head at birth causing hæmorrhage, they may be
caused by tuberculous meningitis, and many other diseases.
They may be and often are associated with rickets and teething,
but are not as a rule due to these conditions alone.
It is more than probable that some of the deaths ascribed to
convulsions actually are due to suffocation in bed with the
parents.
Suffocation in bed with Parents.—Eighteen deaths were
due to this source. The figures for previous years were 21, 29,
and 20 deaths.
There is no doubt whatever that these deaths are preventable
and should be prevented. The remedy is obvious—every infant
should have its own cot, and should not sleep in the same
bed with its parents or other persons. A cot can easily be
fashioned from an orange box or fruit crate. It is usual to
find that the baby died while the mother was asleep, with the
child on her arm, in the position of suckling, with the
lips pressed closely against the breast. Occasionally, no doubt,