[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Baby illness term

[Sigrid Pohl Perry]

Rose-Marie,

After reading the German article in Günther's link and skimming medical 
links intelligible to the average person, I've come to the following 
conclusions about this cause of death among newborns: a newborn baby's 
deficiency of calcium and vitamin D caused a combination of symptoms 
which included continuous crying, trembling, and convulsions which 
ultimately led to death. The deficiency can be caused by a lack of 
calcium and vitamin D in the mother's diet or by underlying maternal 
illnesses such as diabetes which contribute to the deficiency. The 
modern treatment consists of intravenous calcium & D supplements 
(obviously unavailable to our ancestors). A regular diet of dairy 
products for calcium and time spent in the sunshine for vitamin D can 
prevent this if the mother is otherwise in good health. However, her 
body needs to absorb enough calcium to have it ready to pass on to her 
developing baby, and that supply cannot be available if the mother is 
pregnant annually. At least a two-year interval between pregnancies is 
crucial for her optimal health. Quite amazingly, many of the families of 
our ancestors saw the annual birth of a child. I've been indexing 
records from the Lublin area and can state quite truly that the infant 
mortality rate is significant and that many mothers bore a child nearly 
every year, certainly every two years, almost without fail. I even 
noticed one family who lost four newborn infants in less than six years.

Sigrid Pohl Perry



Otto wrote:
> Diagnosing a word without physical symptoms is difficult at the least.
> I'm afraid my jury is still out on the vitamin D deficiency. It seems  
> that it would be a rare disorder among farm people with cows to milk  
> every day... No calcium deficiency there. But then again, I was not  
> there to witness the event... I could be wrong.
>
> Rose-Marie did indicate to me that the occurrence was around 1921 or  
> during post war years.
>
> There did exist a less common disorder named "Kraempfe" that could be  
> categorized a post-war malady due to food scarcity. The eating of  
> grain contaminated with ergot fungus results in ergot poisoning and  
> had reached epidemic stages in the middle ages. It was first described  
> in the 1800's. It was not understood.
>
> "Kraempfe" (cramps) is one of those catch-all phrases that say "I  
> don't know" what it is. Cramps is what I get out of bed with every  
> morning.   Perhaps more examples or recorded cases could be submitted  
> on the "kaempfe" disorder.
>
> I had a young cousin that died from "pernicious anemia" (fatal anemia)  
> and upon reading the report thought to myself, "Were the parents that  
> destitute that they could not feed her properly?" The disorder was not  
> understood at the time, hence a death sentence. She had a genetic  
> disorder not allowing her to assimilate certain nutrients in her food  
> that in turn she evacuated daily until she died. Today a simple  
> vitamin B12 injection would save her life. Not much is to be said for  
> our ignorance.
>
> On Apr 9, 2009, at 12:03 PM, Günther Böhm wrote:
>
>   
>> F&RM Haddad schrieb:
>>     
>>> My grandmother had three children who died in infancy in Volhynia.  
>>> I just
>>> heard from one of my aunts, that my grandmother had told her that  
>>> they had
>>> died of "Kraempfe" - and please excuse the spelling, if it is  
>>> incorrect. I'm
>>> not too fluent in German - and the thought that comes to mind is  
>>> "cramps?"
>>> Can anyone enlighten me as to what this might mean? Was it a non- 
>>> technical
>>> term for a medical condition? Or . . . ?
>>>
>>> Rose-Marie
>>>       
>> Hello Rose-Marie,
>> the cause of death "Krämpfe" was also called "Fraisen" which in most
>> cases ment tetany (see
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetany_(medical_sign) ) resulting from
>> frequent (annual) pregancies of the mother. A good explanation -
>> unfortunately in German - is under www.genealogie-kiening.de/todesurs.htm 
>>  .
>>
>> Günther
>>     
>
>
>
> . . .   Otto
>           " The Zen moment..." wk. of January 04, 2009-
>                ________________________________
>                  "The future. . . . always catches up."
>
>
>
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