----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 1999 6:43 AM Subject: RE: [GenConnecticut-L] Epidemics > Karen wrote: > > "I wonder. I can believe it if the children died within a very short time of > one another. But when a baby is born and then dies a short time later, and > this happens again and again in the same family, I wonder if it has to do > with Rh incompatibility or the babies were killed in some manner. SID might > have had something to do with it, but it has been proved that it is very > rare, if at all, that SID happens more than once in a family." > > There is a genetic disorder in my family that, left untreated, would result > in the death of the infant within 6-8 weeks of birth. In this condition, > called pyloric stenosis, the pylorus muscle leading from the base of the > stomach into the large intestine thickens until it completely closes off at > 4-6 weeks of age. Nothing can pass. The infant has projectile vomiting > after feedings, and ultimately dies of dehydration. I've heard of surgery > being done for this condition as far back as the early 1900s, but many > infants still died from this condition well into the 20th century. My mother > was the first one in my family to have this condition surgically corrected in > 1939. Since then, one niece and three grandnephews (including my oldest son) > have had it. It is most common in first-born males. > > If you see a pattern within a family of infants dying around 6 wks old, > uncorrected pyloric stenosis is one possibility. It may also be the culprit > where cause of death was "failure to thrive" or "wasting." > > Sharon > >