MDA reports rash of cases where infants stopped breathing

Three cases in past five days in which babies in the Haifa area suddenly stopped breathing; two have been saved.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
infant cpr 88 (photo credit: )
infant cpr 88
(photo credit: )
Magen David Adom paramedics have handled three cases in the past five days in which babies in the Haifa area suddenly stopped breathing - saving two of them. MDA training director Natan Kudinsky said Wednesday that in his 40 years of working for the voluntary organization, he has not come across so many incidences in such a short time. He offered no explanation for the phenomenon. Kudinsky points out that the rate of success of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in babies is very high. Usually, it is possible to save a baby from death by a simple method: Try and attract the baby's attention by making a noise (shaking a bunch of keys or by clapping). If the baby does not react, pinch the inside its thigh and call MDA at 101. Take care to give clear details: telephone number, address and name. Place the baby on a table, look in its mouth and check for foreign objects lodged inside. If you see one you can't reach, grasp the baby under its shoulders to open its airway. The recent spate of incidents of CPR in babies began last Shabbat, when the MDA station on the Carmel in Haifa was alerted about a four-month-old unconscious baby in an apartment in Kiryat Ata. The mobile intensive care unit (MICU) team that was rushed to the scene carried out lengthy CPR procedures on the baby, but in the end was forced to proclaim him dead, apparently of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (cot death). Three days later, the same station received a call about a 25-year-old woman about to give birth to her second child in her home in Kiryat Ata. The MICU team found a woman in the early stages of a breech birth. After the newborn was delivered, the team carried out intensive CPR activities, after which the baby's heart began to beat, and he regained consciousness. Carrying out a breech delivery requires a very high degree of expertise and is considered a high-risk birth, but both the mother and baby were taken to Rambam Medical Center in good condition. Late Tuesday, an MDA team from the Carmel region saved the life of an 18-month-old who lost consciousness and was beginning to turn blue in an apartment in Tirat Carmel. The baby had been found half naked in a cold room and suffering from hypothermia by an MDA first responder who lives near the baby's home. He was sent to the scene simultaneously with an MICU team, and he began resuscitation procedures on the baby until his colleagues arrived. They managed to restore the baby's heartbeat and took him to Rambam in critical condition. Kudinsky says that if a baby seems to have stopped breathing, place your ear above his nose and your cheek over its mouth and observe its chest with your hand on its stomach. If it isn't breathing - make sure to keep the airway open. Blow air twice into its mouth, making sure to cover the baby's mouth and nose at the same time. If there are no signs of life, start chest compressions combined with respirations (if you are unable to respirate, then just do chest compressions without the respiration). First, place two fingers on the center of the baby's chest and compress its chest 30 times for every two respirations. Kudinsky recommends that every parent take a children's and baby's CPR course. For details and registration, call 1-700-500-430 or enter the MDA web site at www.mdais.org.