at 19:27 on December 1, 2009, EDT.
By Raphael G. Satter, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON - A breast-feeding mother accidentally smothered her four-week old child aboard a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Kuwait, a British tabloid reported Tuesday.

The Sun newspaper said that the mother, who it said was a 29-year-old Egyptian-born woman, fell asleep as she breast-fed on the jet and awoke to find that the child had been smothered. The paper said the plane was diverted to London's Heathrow in an attempt to save the baby's life.

The paper cited an unnamed police source in its reporting. Scotland Yard confirmed that a United Airlines plane had been diverted to Heathrow in late November after reports that a four-week-old girl was in distress. The police said in a statement that the baby was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. It added that an autopsy had been performed, but the results were still pending.

"The death is being treated as unexplained and the Child Abuse Investigation Team is investigating the circumstances," the statement said.

Scotland Yard did not go into further detail, although Britain's Press Association news agency reported that such investigations were standard practice. A police spokesman declined comment when asked about the child's mother, although he noted that there had been no arrests. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with force policy.

United Airlines spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said that Flight 982, a Boeing 777 flying from Washington's Dulles Airport to Kuwait City, was diverted to London on Nov. 25 because of what she said was an ill passenger. A doctor aboard the flight helped while the plane was still in the air, Urbanski said.

Once the ground, local authorities took over, and Urbanski said she had no information about what happened to the passenger next, although the flight later proceeded to Kuwait.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that sharing a bed or sleeping with an infant can be hazardous under certain conditions.

-

AP Airlines Writer Joshua Freed in Minneapolis contributed to this report.


©The Canadian Press, 2009

Damn... That must have been some breast... poor baby

I just read this, horrible the way this is being reported by the media, as if the mother doesn't have enough to deal with at the moment, the nerve, to bring up "murder investigation"

ZombieKitten said:

The mother is going through enough hell as it is

sounds like a case of SIDS, twisted by the Sun.

Real shame,

I didn't think you were allowed to carry babies under 6 weeks old on flights anyway.

Sad thing to happen, the mum must be devastated.

who falls asleep while breastfeeding anyway? You know, knowing that if you do you might SMOTHER your baby and all.




Sad on all parts.

JerseyKRS said:

I used to all the time!

PunkMistress said:

I was about to say i can see how a mother can fall asleep breast feeding,
she's tired

Wow, truly tragic!

Geez, this is so sad.
I can't even imagine...

Yes, breast feeding (and bottle feeding) mom's are very tired. I remember reading that a chemical/hormone is released when a mom breastfeeds that can cause drowsiness.

What a sad, tragic story.
I cannot imagine how horrible that poor mom feels.

banks said:

you don't know tired until you are the mother of a baby under 6 months, those little bastards wait until you are just falling asleep and then they scream (repeat that every night every 2 hours). A few weeks of that and you are BEYOND tired. I used to have my guys in the bed with me first 6 weeks so they could help themselves while I dozed. I never used to get any deep sleep though, not until they moved into their own beds.

Jesus.

PunkMistress said:

Me too!

See Jersey lots of woman do!!! They are tired...

The babies would sleep right by my bed, and when they woke up hungry I would just lay them down next to me and nurse lying down til we both fell asleep.

oh wow so sad.

That's really sad but not uncommon.
[Edited 12/3/09 5:33am]

ZombieKitten said:

so sad she needs to grieve, not to be villified.

JerseyKRS said:

Um, I'm sure it happens all the time. Especially with newborns...mothers are tired dammit!

ZombieKitten said:

i agree, i didn't know it was possible to be so exhausted. i had both my kids in bed with me, but i 'slept' in such a way as to allow access to the boob.

this is such a tradegy. absolutly horrible.

angelcat said:

I can honestly say that in my 38 yrs of life, I have never been so exhausted.

JerseyKRS said:

Ohhhhh. That is so sad.

I always went in and out of sleep while nursing. Specially since with my son he thought my nipple was a pacifier.

Huhhhhh those were the sweetest days of my life.

Poor lady.

JerseyKRS said:

i often dozed off during night feeds

This story is so sad

TotalANXiousNESS said:

yeah I don't think you can go 6 weeks straight without sleep

MrsMdiver said:

TotalANXiousNESS said:

Mine too. Must be a boy thing.

MrsMdiver said:

No, it's a girl thing too, my girls were the same way.

I agree with Predominant, sounds like a case of SIDS
[Edited 12/4/09 8:08am]