Baby force-feeding death: Mother Gloria Dwomoh jailed for 3 years | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

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Monday 14 November 2011

Baby force-feeding death: Mother Gloria Dwomoh jailed for 3 years

Ghanaian Gloria Dwomoh
A mother who force-fed her baby girl who later died has been jailed. Gloria Dwomoh, a 31-year-old nurse from Walthamstow, London, was sent to prison for three years after being convicted of allowing or causing the death.

The 10-month-old, named in court as Diamond, was forced to take solid foods from the age of six months. She died in March 2010.

The Old Bailey heard Diamond died from pneumonia caused by food in her lungs that had blocked her airways. Dwomoh, who was convicted last month, had denied the charge.


The trial heard the defendant, who worked at St Thomas's Hospital near Waterloo, was obsessed with Diamond's weight and as she was weaning her on to solid food, used a jug to feed her liquidised food, including meat and cereals.
 
During the trial, Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, said the food went down the "wrong way" for months and the spout of the jug was placed into the girl's mouth to "prevent her closing it".
"If you have a child who is distressed and choking, you do not carry on," he said.
During her trial, Dwomoh told the court she and her siblings had been fed the same way by her mother in Ghana.
"I didn't do anything to her," she told the jury. "I didn't do anything at all to hurt her."
However, the Common Serjeant of London, Judge Brian Barker, said forcing her daughter was against "her natural instincts" causing her "daily distress".
"At best it was a misguided obsession - but a determined obsession - which must have caused daily prolonged distress to your daughter," he said.
"It cannot be described as an act of kindness.
"It took away her life and that is something you must live with."

Trevor Burke QC, for Dwomoh, told the court she had been "punished enough".
"She has endured the loss of her child for over a year," he said.
He presented the court with a 1,000-signature petition from family and friends pleading for mercy, and asked the judge to impose a suspended sentence.
Her supporters had demonstrated outside the the Old Bailey.
A serious case review found "weaknesses and shortcomings" in the actions of some agencies involved with the family, said Laura Eades, chair of Waltham Forest Safeguarding Children's Board.
"Had best practice had been followed, the risk to Diamond of force-feeding would have been better recognised and the family would have been offered further support and intervention," she said.
"This should have reduced the probability of Diamond being subject to behaviour that proved, in this case, to be fatal."
However, the report concluded Diamond's death "was not predictable".

Source: BBC News

35 comments:

devour said...

most of us who fill dat our babies ar unda weight force feed all d time.even der ar babies who dnt eat except dey ar forced.i own a daycaren av bin told by some parents to force feed der babies too.so if u av not bin der dnt throw stones,jst a sad thingt the mom ddnt realized d baby was in distress.rip baby diamond

Shadaybrity said...

Hope I'm first!

Anonymous said...

na by force to chop?

Anonymous said...

This is absolute rubbish ! I have a 6 month old baby and she refuses any thing other than breast milk cos of the exclusive breast feeding she's used to so I force feed her cereals.
I know many babies that were force fed & they're still alive.
Force feeding doesn't kill jare. The baby died from some other causes. Fini !

Temsma said...

What a tragedy, i don't think there is anything worse than for a mother to know that she killed her own child. I hope someone passes this on to all proponents of infant force-feeding. Believe me this is still predominantly done in Nigeria.

Anonymous said...

Definitely a harsh judgement considering the baby's death wasnt intentionally caused by the mother...but it'll definitely serve as a deterrent to other mothers who practise the same method of forcefeeding their babies.I can testify its a gory sight to watch and yes...i was forcefed as a baby (too as im sure most of us were) and no...i will not force feed my babies!!! too distressing!

Anonymous said...

Hia!!...so how will we handle these babies who refuse to eat?

temsma said...

What a tragedy! I don't think there is anything worse than for a mother to know that she killed her own child. I hope all the proponents of infant force feeding see this. Its sad too know that it is predominantly practiced here in Nigeria

Innoxx said...

This is so sad*too bad*.Our African mothers are really fond of doing this*force-feeding*.See now this woman don carry this bad orientation go yankee thinking it's gonna continue that way.This*jail term* will teach other mothers a lesson.

Daniel Wilbert said...

I dont think this was deliberate.....I know this kind of things can happen when kids refuse to eat or worse still take bitter-tasting drugs & you have to compel the kids. I do have sympathy for the mum. If U intended to kill ur child, i doubt if choking him/her is the best way; it just must have been a mistake

Obiageli said...

Linda this is OLD NEWS!! Haba! Ure slacking oh

Anonymous said...

As a mother, you dont continue to feed a child in distress....my 18months old son with all his teeth doesnt eat solids - he will spit out rice/dodo/spagetti but loves to eat pureed noodles/amala/mashed potato...so i have to blend his over cooked food and add blended veggies and protein....he weighs over 13kg so im sure he gets enough from cereal and the pureed foods, not everything our mothers did in their time was right, we had higher level of child mortality it just wasnt documented hence we try the same methods.....

My heart goes out to her though cos she wont ever forgive herself for the loss of her child.

May Diamond's soul find peace

'Osa

Anonymous said...

You don't feed a child in distress/choking. Who the hell does that? And she forced the jug into the girl's mouth and didn't allow her to close her mouth because she was a skeleton or what? Mean mother! As a nurse she would have known about Aspiration Pnuemonia! Starting solids at 6 months is recommended but if she knew better she should have known you take it one day at a time..at the child's pace. She wanted the child to be as fat as she was I suppose. Poor child!

bloglord said...

BOOBOO C, i dsagree with u. honestly its wrong to force-feed a baby no matter how u look at it..thats why u have multivitamins n continue with that whch d baby likes..breastmilk watever n introduce d solids gently..even if its 3spoons d child accepts per meal...the other day i was caught up in traffic while driving n saw a woman forcefully feeding her baby with pap..pinned d boy btwn her legs n forcing d whole pap into the screaing baby's nose,mouth n entire face all in d name of feeding (was disgusting really) even when passers-by kept telling her madam leave am ohhh! no be by force, no go kill ds pikin say u de feed am; she refused; shouting back at them "make una leave me...e no de gree chop na like ds i don de feed am since, make una mind una business" should anything happen to that child now.....

devour said...

yes some pips take it to an extreme but most still force.i force mi boy to take der drugs cos dey ar too young for injection.des babies ar smart o,dey pick up new ways to spit out food n drugs n wen pips hear dem scream u will think am putin pepper in der arses.my husband tot i was harsh wit them untill i left mi 2 boyz wit him alone 4 few hours n c drama,dey were acting chokin,throwin up evrythng dey av eva eaten n mi hubby rushed them to d hospital n b4 dey got der,dey were askin for sweets,ice cream n fightin each oda wit d same gusto ! i got a louboutin 4 dat,since den mi hubby dosent use his favorite statemnt" i work all day n i come home you still want me to help wit d kids, wat do u do all day sef ?

grace said...

LOL@BLOGLORD! FUNNY DESCRIPTION

temsma said...

If only we could enter into the babies' minds, maybe we would experience the agony (that is plainly seen on their little faces)and understand what they through when force-fed.this isn't the first time I've heard of a force feeding related infant death. One happened at a daycare in Lagos last year

Anonymous said...

Never thought it was wrong to force feed till i worked in a hospital with kids. Lots of kids born to african immigrants in the U.S are force fed because this tradition has gone on for generations and the kids survived. This doesn't change the fact that it is dangerous. The risk of aspiration is low but if it does happen, can be very fatal. Parents should understand that children go through growth spurts. They eat a lot during the growth spurt and don't eat much when they aren't having one.They should be fed smaller portions at more frequent intervals when they refuse to eat.

Anonymous said...

@ Bloglord...LMAO!

Anonymous said...

i agree with bloglord..100%

Anonymous said...

my son is a year old,anytime he refuse his food i always give him yougurt and later i will give him his food ( but not with force)

Anonymous said...

typical looking naija london chic...you can't miss the TM Lewin shirt can you?

Anonymous said...

This woman is wicked. How much is milk? Milk is free for babies born in the UK. You get milk coupons sent to you by post. You also get coupons for free vegetables.

You can then use it to pay for milk and vegetables in supermarkets. You also get child benefit or free money monthly. They should do the DNA to see if the baby was hers or just used as a 'cash cow'. Ole!

Anonymous said...

if you don't force feed, then their is not risk. If you force feed, there is a chance of aspiration.
which would you rather do. Kids can be difficult truly but a person needs to draw the line somewhere.
booboo c those parents telling you to force feed their babies are the same ones that will turn on you if something goes wrong.

Anonymous said...

Lwnkmdfho...@ Anon November 14, 2011 7:03 PM. afi aspiration naa. olodo oshi

Anonymous said...

anon 7:28pm you are the olodo.
"The Old Bailey heard Diamond died from pneumonia caused by food in her lungs that had blocked her airways."

Aspiration is defined as the inhalation of either oropharyngeal or gastric contents into the lower airways; that is, the act of taking foreign material into the lungs.

read up on Aspiration Pneumonia. Google is your friend.

Anonymous said...

@Anon 7:28
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Anonymous said...

I could not stop laughing while reading some of the comments here.The story is a sad one though.I just learned some lessons from this.i am one of those mums who force-feed.My son cries at the sight of food,he never wants to eat but play all the time.

Anonymous said...

Meeehnnn booboo c your english has given me a headache...

omo jeje said...

I have seen women at Oyingbo, Idumota and Mushin markets force-feeding their babies but i am truly shocked that in the year of our Lord 2011, the practice is alive and apparently thriving among literate folk. What is even more shocking is that some people are defending and excusing this just after reading that a child died because of it.

I fear una o. EDUCATE YOURSELVES PEOPLE! PLEASE........ for the sake of your darling kids.

Aspiration pneumonia is real and can be fatal. I don't know why it should be difficult for anyone who has ever swallowed food to understand that when it goes down the wrong way (i.e. into your trachea and then lungs) it is not a good thing.

Thank God for precious mothers (like my mother and I) who have never and will never force feed their children.

omo jeje said...

As for this Gloria Dwomoh, I feel a little sorry for her cos she seems not to have done this deed out of malice. But at the same time, it's almost inexcusable cos she's a nurse. I guess she only passed through nursing school (as we say in Naija), she didn't let the nursing school pass through her.

Anonymous said...

its a pity she had to go to jail, if you havnt had kids please dont judge her babies refuse food especially if they had 6mths exclusive breast feeding. what do you do when ur babies weigth fall below the required weight for his/her age.i am not supporting force feeding babies but i dont blame pple who do so
its unfortunate but its the only way they know.

Anonymous said...

if your baby's weight falls below the normal, go see a pediatrician. and if you are a market woman, it doesn't excuse ignorance.
knowing when to stop doesn't require education

Anonymous said...

What is wrong with you people? You don't force feed anything. IDIOTS!

Anonymous said...

What is wrong with you people? You don't force feed anything!! IDIOTS!

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