Infant

A 20-year-old Baltimore father was charged Friday in the choking death of his 6-month-old daughter, city police said. Officers were called to the home of Timothy Darnell Lewis in the 3800 block of Glengyle Avenue in Northwest Baltimore for reports of a non-breathing child at about 11 p.m. Wednesday, said Kevin Brown, a police spokesman. The father escorted the child in an ambulance to a local hospital where he was questioned by police, Brown said. At first, Lewis told officers he was unsure what happened to the girl, but Brown said the father later confessed to choking the child when she would not stop crying.

Homicide detectives are investigating what police have classified as the suspicious death of a 2-month-old girl in the Parkside neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. Officers were called to the 4300 block of Plainfield Ave. shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday on a report of an unresponsive infant. No obvious signs of trauma were evident, police said.

Although the infant mortality rate in Maryland showed a promising decline in 2009, there is little cause for celebration in Baltimore City. In contrast to much of the rest of the state, its infant mortality rate (deaths in children less than 1 year old per 1,000 live births) increased from 12.2 in 2008 to 13.5 in 2009. While the mortality rate among white infants in Baltimore dropped slightly, the mortality rate in black children rose to a shocking rate of 15.8 per 1,000 live births, a rate higher than that of many third world countries.

A 21-year-old woman was charged Monday with attempted first-degree murder after Baltimore County police reported that she threw her newborn baby out of a second-story window. Rebecca Diane Himes, who later told a doctor that she had not known she was pregnant before she delivered the child, was also charged with child abuse and reckless endangerment in connection with the July 22 incident at her home on Virginia Avenue in Reisterstown. The full-term baby girl, who appeared to have been born only seconds before she was discovered crying in a bush outside the house, was unhurt.

As the state continues to struggle with a high infant mortality rate that undercuts its relative wealth, Maryland's overall rank in child well-being remained in the middle of the pack nationally, according to an annual report released by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation. The 2010 Kids Count Databook released Tuesday placed Maryland 25th in overall child well-being, the same ranking as a year ago. Although Maryland has the second-lowest percentage of children living in poverty (10 percent)

A 21-year-old Reisterstown woman threw her newborn baby out of a window last week, a Baltimore County police spokesman said. Rebecca Himes of the 100 block of Virginia Ave. gave birth to a baby in the bathroom of her home Thursday, placed the baby into a plastic bag and threw the bag out the window into some bushes, said Lt. Robert McCullough. A family member heard a noise and found the baby outside, McCullough said. The girl's mother and the other family member then called the police, he said.

The state's reported progress in reducing infant mortality is to be cheered, but the fact that infant mortality increased slightly for African-Americans in 2009, and that a smaller percentage of black women received prenatal care that year, should be deeply troubling to public health officials. Persistent racial and class disparities in access to health care are the principal reasons Maryland's infant mortality rate — the number of infant deaths per thousand live births — has remained disturbingly high over the years.

Maryland's infant mortality rate dropped to its lowest point in 2009, according to preliminary statistics, but state public health officials say there is still need for improvement. The overall rate decreased to 7.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in Maryland last year, down from 8 in 2008 — a 10 percent decrease. The teen birth rate also decreased, from 2.8 births to women under 18 to 2.6, with declines recorded for black and white women. "We are so pleased this is showing positive progress," said Frances Phillips, Maryland's deputy secretary for public health.

Baltimore officials have joined with a nonprofit group and a health care provider to launch a $3 million program aimed at reducing the city's high number of infant deaths. The city's infant death numbers are among the highest in the nation. In 2009, the city saw the deaths of more than 120 babies younger than 1 year old, and officials believe a good number of those deaths were preventable. Many of the infants were underweight and born prematurely, two major factors in mortality.

Anne Arundel County police have identified the infant found dead Saturday in a Laurel apartment building as Joel Otude, and have opened an investigation into the case. Lt. Francis Tewey said police were called by a neighbor at 9:17 Saturday morning to the 8100 block of Edge Rock Way after a woman knocked on the neighbor's door and cried for help. When police arrived, they found the infant unresponsive but with no signs of trauma. However, Tewey said the apartment was in significant disarray.