The little newborn left in front of a Milanese hospital on Easter day is in good health. “As per practice, the process that in a few weeks should lead to the custody of the child by the Juvenile Court to a suitable family has started”. When a baby is found in the “cradle for life”, the modern version of what was once the “wheel of exhibits”, Neonatology takes care of him – they explain from the hospital – and the Juvenile Court is contacted in real time which temporarily entrusts the parental authority of the child to the department, which can thus answer for the care reserved for the baby. As soon as the newborn is discharged, the court is sighted and the custody of the family identified in the meantime is triggered. Subsequently, the possible adoptability of the child can be evaluated. This provides for the procedure, but from the Polyclinic they do not lose hope that the mother will be able to retrace her steps: “If you want to reconsider, we are ready to welcome you at any time”.
The discovery of little Aeneas
The child was abandoned in the “cradle for life of the Milan Polyclinic” at approximately 11.40. Enea, this is the name of the newborn, weighs about 2.6 kg and is of Caucasian ethnicity. The baby is now being cared for by Neonatology specialists at the Mangiagalli Clinic of the Policlinico, where he is following routine checks. Together with Aeneas, a letter signed by his mother was also found in the cradle, where she says that the baby “is super healthy, all the tests done in the hospital are ok”, together with words of great affection.
“It is something that few know – comments Ezio Belleri, general manager of the Milan Polyclinic – but in the hospital you can give birth anonymously, for the safety of mother and child. Furthermore, there are ‘cradles for life’: ours is found at the entrance to the Mangiagalli Clinic and makes it possible to welcome in total safety a child whose parents unfortunately cannot keep them with them.It is a dramatic decision, but the cradle allows the child to be entrusted to a facility where immediate care is guaranteed and which preserves absolute anonymity for the parents”.
The cradle for life at the Milan Polyclinic has been active for 16 years and Enea’s is the third recorded case. The first two took place in 2012 and 2016: two boys who were named Mario and Giovanni respectively. The cradle is a protected and heated environment and is structured in such a way as to immediately notify the healthcare personnel: once the baby is welcomed inside, a discreet alarm notifies the Neonatology doctors and nurses who can take care of the baby within a few minutes.
“Similar occasions underline how the ‘cradle for life’ system is fundamental – concludes Fabio Mosca, director of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care at the Milan Polyclinic – because it allows us to welcome the baby and help the mother in her dramatic choice , in complete safety. However, I also experience this event as a defeat on a social level, because somehow we weren’t able to intercept a mother in great difficulty. A mother who, if she thinks about it, we are ready to welcome and assist”.
The words of love in the mother’s letter
“Hello, my name is Enea”, writes the child’s mother in the letter. “I was born in the hospital because my mother wanted to be sure that everything was ok and be together as much as possible”: she uses these sweet words, according to what we learn, the letter found next to the baby left in her cradle. A mother who uses words of great affection, they explain from the hospital. According to what she learns, she talks about pampering, she says she loves him very much, but she can’t take care of him. She says that the baby “is super healthy, all the tests done in the hospital are ok”.
“Now he’s become our child, our son”
“When the alarm went off, the neonatal intensive care team from the Mangiagalli clinic in Milan rushed on duty on Sunday: we went downstairs with two female doctors and nurses, took the baby, examined him and he was fine. We taken up to the ward. It was wrapped in a green blanket. Now he has become our child, our son. My hope, however, is still that his mother will think again. I would like this message from me to reach her”. to talk toberaking latest news Salute is Fabio Mosca, director of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care at the Milan Polyclinic. Enea, dark hair, well groomed, Caucasian, was born about a week ago. His name is what his mother wrote in the letter left next to him. A few sentences, written in Italian. In Mangiagalli he is now pampered by the staff.
“As much as possible we try to substitute maternal attention,” Mosca says. The fact that it was left on Easter Sunday “makes it even more touching”. Moscow has not lost hope of a second thought: “I would like this mother to listen to me, she can still recover her child, I want her to know that we can help her grow it and that nothing is lost. I want to speak to this mother and say that we are ready to stand by her, to get in touch with me and with the hospital”, is the appeal.
Mosca thinks back to the three babies left in the crib for 16 years for Mangiagalli’s life. “All boys. But the thing they have in common is also another: in these stories there is the desperation of a mother, who is attentive to her child and tries to preserve it. These babies have all been left in excellent condition. conditions. For little Aeneas, the mother wrote sweet words in the short letter and this should make us reflect, question. Because if we fail to intercept the discomfort of a mother who is in a position to abandon a child, certainly by choice, but it must make us think. Perhaps we are not yet so good at picking up the alarm signals. The cradle for life has worked and we are satisfied with this from a technical point of view. But this must be an opportunity to think. And live the it also happened a bit like a defeat on one side”.
The director of Neonatology is keen to recall the options available to mothers in difficulty: “It is useful to know that the mother can give birth in hospital anonymously and leave, without having to put her baby in the crib for life, or worse, think of more tragic abandonments.The numbers of these cases are not high, that is, of women who use the current legislation that allows them to abandon the newborn in the hospital after a delivery that took place in a safe way, in hospitals assisted and not in precarious situations. In Mangiagalli this happens for a few children every year.Among other things, here there is also the Life Help Center which is able to help mothers in difficulty who want to keep their child before, during and after childbirth.It is important that a mother in difficulty knows that she is not alone, we try to give footholds and help”.