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Chinese Newborn Suffocated By Mother’s Breast, Eyes Donated

by on Friday, April 15, 2011 49 comments comments

Xiangzi, a newborn Chinese baby who was accidentally suffocated by his mother while breastfeeding.

From NetEase:

Changsha 6-day-old infant suffocated to death while feeding, parent donates child’s eyes

April 13th, Changsha, Hunan province children’s hospital, Xiangzi during preparation for the surgery to extract the corneas, the children nearby crying constantly. April 8th at night at 8:10, Xiangzi’s arrival brought happiness to the entire family. But this happiness only lasted 4 days. On the morning of the fourth day after his birth, while Xiangzi was feeding, his nostrils were covered by his 23-year-old mother’s breast. It took nearly an hour of emergency resuscitation before the child finally recovered a heartbeat, but the child remained in a comatose state. After consultations, the child’s chance for recovery is very small and even if he recovers, the after-effects will be very large.

A Chinese baby lies prepared for his corneas to be extracted.

Number “438″ Xiangzi’s two hands lie limply on the table, the ECG beside him showing that the child’s heartbeat is “0″. Mr. Ye knows understands that if the child continuing on like this would only be suffering, and through intense mental anguish, he decided to give up trying to cure the child and also donated the child’s corneas.

A doctor surgically removes the corneas of Xiangzi.

Inside the Changsha, Hunan province children’s hospital’s Number 4 neonatal intensive care unit, workers for the eye bank extract Xiangzi’s corneas.

At the neonatal intensive care unit at a children's hospital in Changhsa of Hunan province, doctors extract the corneas from a newborn infant who had passed away.Xiangzi, a Chinese infant in Changsha of Hunan province who had passed away after accidentally being smothered by her mother during breastfeeding.

When Xiangzi’s father Mr. Ye accepted an interview, he could not hold back sobs. Mr. Ye said, “I couldn’t bear to go see my child for the last time, I have truly failed my child, and I really hope that in heaven, he will not blame his daddy and mommy. My wife and I are both post-80s generation, we simply didn’t know about how to raise children. The village clinic where we gave birth didn’t really teach us either, and now all we have are regrets.

Comments from NetEase:

网易广东省深圳市福田区网友:

Cupware, mothers, you must use your hand to hold them.

网易四川省网友:

Truly heart-breaking. So sad. May the child live happily in heaven!

网易江苏省连云港市网友:

Careless father, ignorant mother, poor child. May you be reborn in Bill Gates’ family in the next life.

网易辽宁省沈阳市网友:

Who knows how much money the hospital sold the corneas for. On the surface, the hospital does not sell for money, [but] the amount of money the director or head nurse will get can be hundreds of thousands. Stupid daddy. Stupid mommy. Stupid child.

网易湖北省襄阳市网友:

My heart aches too, very much. The child is like an angel.

网易陕西省西安市网友:

Maybe it is escape. In the next life, don’t come to the Heavenly Kingdom.

网易浙江省嘉兴市网友:

In the future, this method can be used to commit murder.

网易湖南省衡阳市网友:

May your mom please use this method to come kill me. My taste is quite heavy.

网易北京市网友:

No matter who you donate, you shouldn’t donate to a Chinese hospital! Those cold-blooded insane people! I say this with profound experience…

网易上海市闵行区网友:

The mother carries a child for 10 months, going through such hardship, only for the child to live 6 days, truly heart-breaking. Seeing how small the child is, lying on the little bed, it is truly saddening. I hope this kind of tragedy will not happen again.

网易江苏省南京市网友:

Fuck, are they born simply to have their corneas extracted? Can you extract them just because an infant is unable to express its wishes? Unless the person agrees themselves, this kind of action is a crime. Letting a person depart [this world] whole is an individual’s final dignity.

网易新西兰网友:

Faint. This is the most upsetting news I have seen recently. Maybe the baby actually discovered that the world is no fun.

网易天津市网友:

Doing this to one’s own child, these two people are nothing good, what are they doing continuing to live, hurry and go die. Extracting the child’s eyes while it still breathes. Abominable.

网易重庆市网友:

How annoying, in the future, don’t post this kind of news! Seeing it just makes people upset!

网易江苏省徐州市网友:

I too have just become a mother for a little over a year. Seeing this news, I cried. It really is heart-breaking. Darling, rest in peace, I hope the baby’s daddy and mommy can stay strong and recover from this!

网易上海市网友:

Fuck~~~!!! How hard is it to find someone to guide you in how to feed a baby?! Would it have cost a lot of money??!
If you aren’t prepared, why have a child?! [I] despise [you]!

  • Curren$y

    It is a tragedy because it was a son that died.
    If it were a girl, no single Chinese person would give a flying fuck.

    • vince

      Don’t be so cynical.

    • Irvin

      Fuck you! I’m chinese and would cherish a daughter.

      • Curren$y

        Sorry, I guess I made a rhetorical statement. If one’s Chinese then how can one be a person.

        TAP SUM BONG!

        • Irvin

          By not being an asshole like you.

    • Boris

      The first of many outrageous comments. Please try to think in future before you write something so hurtful. This is a tragedy for everyone involved. I can’t begin to imagine the pain the parents are going through.

  • 0311

    That baby looks older than 6 days….

  • 0311

    That baby looks older than 6 days….

  • Bo Wang

    “My wife and I are both post-80s generation, we simply didn’t know about how to raise children.”

    What the fuck? Blaming their child’s death on being part of the post-80s generation? SHA BI.

    • vince

      such a lame excuse!

    • Anonanon

      I think she thinks blaming it on post-80s era will help her shoulder off some blame.

      But thinking realistically, having a baby at 23 speaks volumes. They’re still practically kids. I’m 23 right now, still studying, still do normal “kid” stuff like sports, going out, etc. Sure, people my age not studying may be working but they’re not trying to impregnate themselves at any chance they get (most of them, anyway). Or at least they’ll wear a rubber. It’s just too early for a kid.

    • FYIADragoon

      post-90s are only the (deserving) scapegoat of most of the retarded acts that occur in China. Really about post-mid 80s are just as stupid. It all just seems to have gone to hell after around ’85.

    • udl..

      well, u gotta giv them some credit for killing the baby accidently” by freakin dilly milking though. i mean like wtf man, how can u be so dum that u dont realise ur boob is sufficating the baby.. she got boobs so big that she cant even see the baby’s face while feeding?! nonsense. they can even sell the baby’s hair for making Chinese paint brushes!

  • Just John

    Poor baby.
    I wonder, most of those I know have assistance raising their child by the grandparents.
    Why did the mother not get the advice from her mother?

    • Sunshine

      I don’t know… maybe it didn’t occur to the grandmother that she needed to inform her daughter about the potential hazards of blocking a baby’s nose with your breast.
      To be honest how can this happen, even, unless the woman fell asleep? How careless do you have to be to not notice that your baby is not suckling any more, and haven’t been for a while? I think she would be able to feel the baby breathing out of his nose too, with her breast. If she took no notice that she MUST have fell asleep.

  • Foreign Devil

    The mother needs psychoanalysis. This is a very unlikely story. Some mothers do crazy things if they get postpartem depression.

  • Jones

    Suffocated in some titties. I mean, a lot of guys joke about this, but this kid actually went and did it. Balls to the wall, this one.

    • carny

      where is the compassion in any of the comments?
      surely this site has more than just cynicism and bitterness.
      i wonder how you people sleep at night.
      wankers, the lot of you.
      Just John, yes, poor child, very sad.

      • Jones

        Like a baby, usually. No pun intended.

  • Nathan

    How is this really relevant to anything ‘ChinaSMACK???’

    Just another infant death in hospital, happens in Europe, happens in China – not through negligence, but simply through that young life is very fragile. There is probably more to the child’s death than suffocation. But where is the unique and wacky storyline here? Is that not what this website is about? This is a common story that holds no significance.

    • timer

      stupid nathan, the baby died from the negligence, and the main point lies on how those post-80s raise their newborn babies, as well the controversy upon the baby’s eyes are donated by parents in the case of s/he could still be alive.

      blind nathan

    • Sunshine

      Does ANYONE bother to read the “About ChinaSMACK” section??
      And why even the NEED to whine about the kind of articles that get posted? If it is of no interest to you, simply don’t read it.

    • Ray

      It’s posted here cause its a popular post in china…. right???? right?????

  • Susuini

    Having an 11 month old daughter right now, I can see how tragic it is, but also how easily it can happen. Mother is extremely exhausted in the days following birth, feedings every 2 hours. It is very easy to imagine a scenario where mommy starts suckling the baby and either drifts off to sleep or is kinda nodding off. It really doesn’t take much to cover the baby’s nose and suffocate the baby. The baby’s nose is so tiny that it can’t keep an area around it to get fresh air. The mother loving the baby and cuddling the baby doesn’t realize she is suffocating him, especially if the mother drifts off to sleep.

    Blaming it on being Post-80′s is asinine, it’s a simple mistake that could happen to anyone, and I’m sure has happened countless times throughout history.

    • Rick in China

      Are you implying that a newborn’s body isn’t aware that it is not getting oxygen, and can’t adjust slightly to get oxygen? I honestly don’t know as I’ve not really tested, but I would think that a natural reaction to having ALL of your air passages blocked would be to shift your head slightly – even with limited motor function. If a baby is able to shift its head *slightly* and able to notice when it is not getting any oxygen at all, then I would have to deduce that the baby’s head was being forcefully smothered into the woman’s tit. In addition, Chinese women aren’t known for having massive tits – even after giving birth – it would surprise me if this were *really* an accident.

      • Suicidal tendency

        Hey body, have you ever seen a new born baby?

        For your information, their head is much too massive for them to move it. It’s the one thing you need to care about when you take them in your arm: be careful with their head!

        A few days old child is soooo far away from being able to struggle enough to get noticed.
        The only thing they can do to grab attention is crying. Unfortunately, when you suffocate, you can’t cry anymore…

        Finally, 6days do is young. A few days old baby could be used already to fall asleep on his mother’s breast just because sucking out the milk is an exhausting task for him/her. So no, the mother is not supposed to panic when the baby stops sucking.

        She could notice it stopped breathing if she doesn’t fall asleep herself.

        Now considering giving birth is also exhausting and the mother can’t expect to sleep more than a few hours per day during the 2 first weeks, it is very very possible that this is just a real tragic accident due to lack of knowledge, maybe lack of caring from the parents. But basically, they’ve been unlucky!

  • http://www.englishtrackers.com/ English Editing

    Poor child, I hope he will be happy in the soul society….

  • mbm1ame

    poor kid. how on earth do you manage to suffocate a baby while breast feeding. are her boobs that big.

  • roger dodger

    well I guess he better start rewriting his c.v he is going to need it.

    • roger dodger

      woops wrong page

  • John Wayne

    Wow,,, who is this lady? I would love to be sucking her nipples ; )

  • hei_bai

    I am extremely doubtful that the child was suffocated by his mother’s breasts while breastfeeding. If the boy’s breathing was obstructed he would have instinctively moved his head outwards, away from the breast and began flailing. The only way for suffocation to occur is if the child was somehow pinned under the breast and the mother was asleep, or the breast was intentionally used by the mother to suffocate the child.

  • FYIADragoon

    A mom failed at breastfeeding? Damn, looking like we need to create a new category of Darwin Awards.

    • kay

      you know this happens more than you would think. I don’t believe it shows stupidity of any kind. After you’ve given birth and have a newborn baby and try to breastfeed while exhausted, it’s understandable a new mother would fall asleep. It’s very sad and a lot of new mother are unaware things that can go wrong while breastfeeding or sleeping for that matter. A lot of accidental deaths also occur if mother and baby sleep in the same bed and the mother squashes her baby in her sleep.

      http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8211545/mum-sues-after-newborn-smothered

    • ralphrepo

      Comment is obviously from a non parent and seems to speak from total ignorance.

      Why? Is a woman supposed to be naturally trained at breastfeeding simply because she’s a woman? Breastfeed asphyxiation accidents are not new. As a matter of fact, breastfeeding training for new mothers in the US before hospital discharge highlights the danger of breastfeeding, especially if the mother is also laying in bed and falling asleep herself. Unless the new mother receives proper training, even getting the newborn to suckle properly, to rest and to burp (or else he may vomit and choke), is all a hit or miss venture.

      Lactation consultation is something that is considered a credentialed service in the US, and in many cases is insurance reimbursable if medically indicated.

      http://www.breastfeedingtaskforla.org/get-help/DirDataFAQ.htm

      • Anon

        A large gap bamboo ‘cage/cover’ (with Chinese characteristics?) of sufficient thickness to prevent smothering or crushing accidents like these should be a consideration for the ‘larger’ (heavier) among mothers. Not very expensive, easy to manufacture and readily available once the trend catches on.

        • ralphrepo

          The problem here was that the baby’s mouth was plugged with the mother’s nipple, and then the fleshy part of mom’s breast simultaneously covered the baby’s nose; in effect smothering the baby. Hence, breastfeeding must be an endeavor that is undertaken while one is consciously alert and watchful; it really isn’t as simplistic as mechanically attaching the child to the teat and then waiting until it’s done.

          For this same reason, baby cribs should be devoid of overly soft, cuddly toys, pillows, and blankets, as they are all asphyxiation death traps. Baby cribs should have hard mattresses and plain sheets, and the single blanket should be hard and dense (not thick and fluffy). In other words, The babies clothes can be thick and warm, but the bedding should not present a smothering hazard.

          Most people assume that parents should automatically know this but it’s something that has to be learned. As for rigging a cage to prevent rollover accidents, some child card advocates prefer that a baby should have their own crib to prevent injury.

          • Anon

            A baby sized nose protector on top of the cage idea for the sleepy among mothers? A ‘Teat Extender’ as well so mom doesn’t feel so comfy as to fall asleep? We’re probably opening up an entire new breast feeding product industry with this series of convos.

          • ralphrepo

            To Anon, regarding a new cottage industry? Probably not. There is such a thing already known as a Logan Bow (used for post cleft lip/palate repairs) that would fit that bill nicely. The thing that would prevent accidents effectively in the first place is better parental vigilance.

  • Regina.

    “and through intense mental anguish, he decided to give up trying to cure the child and also donated the child’s corneas.”

    I can’t help but think that this is strange.

    • Rick in China

      I think it’s perfectly normal.

      Here’s the logic,

      “My wife hates me for fucking her best friend while she was unable to bathe or move at home during pregnancy and tried to get back at me by suffocating our baby on her tit. She tried, but pulled back at the last minute leaving him in a vegetative state. Now I’ll get revenge by finishing the job and donating said baby’s eyes to the hospital so it can never find us in the afterlife for the horror we’ve both then committed.”

  • SuperJun

    how she not know when her nipple stopped hurting?

    • ralphrepo

      That’s not really a clue as babies normally suckle for a few seconds, then stop, fall asleep, wake and suckle for a few seconds more, rest, suckle again. The process is repeated throughout the entire feeding cycle. Nipple pain is usually not a problem unless the baby also starts to gnaw on the nipple.

      In this case I suspect that the mother had just assumed the baby has stopped sucking simply because it was tired and was resting before continuing to feed.

  • http://no@none.com mason

    Oh, how astonishing………

    • KfU

      out of interest. . .

      I was reading that Chinese mothers are supposed to breastfeed whilst lying down on their side, as opposed to the “common practice” – certainly from what I’ve seen (not that I make a habit of studying western women breastfeeding) – in the west of feeding whilst sat-upright. . .

      This is just one of the, some mind-boggling, rituals that are undertaken by the post-natal mother in accordance with Chines tradition…

      Now, I’m not saying that there’s nothing in it – maybe there are some benefits… but in my mind the potential to suffocate (or even just not concentrate fully) is increased if one is lying down in such a way during the process of feeding….

      Anyway – just a thought – as I don’t have breasts, or a womb for that matter, not really my area of expertise…

      … also interesting that you get paid to donate organs. Not very socialist… back in Blighty i regularly gave blood (reward = cup of tea and a digestive) and carried around my donor card (which entitles some lucky person to everything but my lungs – as I didn’t see the point – reward = nothing)

      poor little baby though – still hopefully it will get a proper burial, and isn’t just chucked in to a river along with the rest of the “medical waste”….

  • Nipo

    Are Chinese mothers really pregnant 10 months (in comments)? Those babies must come out well done.

  • Mansu Musa

    Damn that milf must have some killer tits…(too soon?)

  • Sara Salas

    He is in Jesus’ arms now, he won’t be coming back to this life again. A much better place!

  • Meh

    Wait wait wait…..so he extracted the corneas while the child was still living?? FTW!!

    Okay he wasn’t breathing but he wasn’t dead, but to remove them while you still have a living being on the table and not a corpse.

    Just WOW

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