Cause of death - Marasmus

[JulesT]

My great grandmother had a child in 1907, the baby only lived for 1 day.  The cause of death is given as "Marasmus from birth."

Never having heard of this before I googled it and it seems to be a form of malnutrition.  Do you think that "Marasmus from birth" means that the baby was born underweight/premature?

One of the stories my grandmother told me through the years was of her mother having twins.  I know at least one of the twins survived a short time but I'm unsure about the other.  I'm wondering if this male child could have been the surviving twin. 

Whilst searching for a stillbirth son of my grandmother I see that they often weren't recorded until the mid 1930's so this could account for the lack of documentation.

The grave where my great grandmother is buried has no listing for a baby/babies - would it be likely to have been buried in a paupers grave as I know they were relatively poor?

Sorry for all the questions - I am just beginning my research of Scottish relatives and I am finding it very different to the research I did for hubby's American family line.

[Billyblue]

Marasmus is a gradual wasting of body tissues, especially in young children, from insufficient and inadequate / imperfect food supply, or from poor absorption of good food supply.
'Marasmus from birth' in only 24 hours sounds a little misdiagnosed, but probably means that the mother was so poorly nourished during pregnancy that the baby could not absorb all it needed from her body and so was born in a very weakened state.
Could have been premmie, but not necessarily so.
Re stillbirths - these were not recorded until fairly recently.
Stillborn babes were often buried with whoever was being buried that day, not necessarily a relative, that is they didn't put them in a coffin and bury them in their own grave. Exception to this might have been in very well to do families.

Dawn M

[Mavals]

Hi Jules , welcome to Rootschat. Scottish research is a bit different but their certificates can also provide lots of helpful info we do not get for English certificates.

Have you got a copy of the birth of the child?  English certificates show the time of birth when it is a multiple birth, but I have seen times on all my Scottish birth certificates......

Marasmus also mean failure to thrive, perhaps the child was premature and could not suckle

Do you have some names and locations so we can make some searches for you?

If the family was poor, they may not have been able to afford a burial plot and could indeed be in a pauper's grave. Of course your great grandmother's grave stone might record the babies.  

[JulesT]

Thanks for the quick replies!  I was on a quest this morning to get death certificates for all the people in the lair belonging to my great grandmother.

I knew where they were buried but couldn't find a stone, I contacted the local council several weeks ago and they gave me the details of who was in the grave.  There is no headstone   It took some detective work on dates to find the death certificates but I got them.

Now...why didn't I think of looking for a birth certificate??  I'm not thinking straight - I was so excited at finding who I was looking for straight away.  It was only when I was viewing the death certificate for my great grandfather that I realised there was a baby on the same page, same name etc.  I think I'm still a little shocked.

I still have credits left for Scotland's People and will search for a birth certificate - thanks for the offer of help. 

I've been lurking here for a few weeks and thoroughly enjoy watching stories unfold.

Jules

[bishopoldenglish]

Hi there

I have discovered that my Aunt (Alice Ida Baxter) died in 1921 from TB and Marasmus from birth, aged 17 months. Her brother, my uncle Walter, also died within days of his sister aged 2 months, again from Marasmus from birth. They were buried together in one coffin! Walter was a twin and his brother Joseph lived until 1986. They lived in Liverpool, UK. My father was born in 1922 but died at the relatively early age of 60 of heart disease.

Does anyone have more information on the Marasmus condition especially relating to an at birth diagnosis? My grandmother had been brought up by her mother as her father had died when she was a young child.
Thank you if you can offer any insight.

[Forfarian]

Marasmus is wasting away of the body, linked to severe malnutrition, and I have only ever seen it on the death certificate of an infant. It may be that it is one of these useful diagnoses that were used when the doctor has no means of knowing exactly what underlying problem caused the malnutrition and hence the death.

[bishopoldenglish]

Thank you so much for your reply.
Much appreciated.
Steve