Newborn Baby Chokes To Death After Milk Gets Stuck In Her Throat

A one-and-a-half-month-old girl, born to a 71-year-old woman, has choked to death after milk got stuck in her throat.

The child was rushed to a government hospital in Alappuzha, a city in the southern Indian state of Kerala, as she developed uneasiness after choking on milk. Doctors tried to save the baby but she was declared dead at the hospital Monday, local daily The Hindu reported.

The baby was born to Sudharma, a retired teacher, through in-vitro fertilization on March 18. After the child's premature birth, the mother had to spend 40 days in the hospital, before being discharged last week. She left the hospital on April 28.

Despite their old age, Sudharma and her husband, Surendran, decided to have the child after their 35-year-old son died in Saudi Arabia one-and-a-half years ago. Surendran is a retired police telecommunication officer, Kerala Kaumudi reported.

It remains unclear if the child was left unattended when she chocked to death. No other details about the case were available at the time.

In a similar incident that took place in Zambia last year, a newborn baby choked to death on breastmilk. Local media reports said the mother fell asleep while feeding the baby and woke up two hours later to find the newborn unresponsive. She found milk oozing out of the child's nostril.

"Fact of the matter is that Rose started breastfeeding her baby on Nov. 25 around 5 p.m. on her bed but fell asleep and woke up around 7 p.m. only to find her child dead with the breast still in the child's mouth and breast milk oozing through the nostril," Zambia Police Deputy Spokesperson Danny Mwale said at the time.

Police did not find any physical injuries on the baby, ruling that the child's death was not deliberate. It was not known if the mother faced any charges in connection with the incident.