Sudden and Unexplained Infant Death in Nineteenth-century Zacatecas, Mexico (1835–1872): Accidental, Structural, Folklore and Interpretive Causes

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) was rarely explored. Zacatecas, during the nineteenth century, offers a unique context because it was part of the liberal movement against the centralist government of Mexico, which allowed improvements in health and sanitation policies. However, the mining-based economy caused the stability and wealth of the population to fluctuate. It was identified through parish archives that 24 (2.3%) infant deaths under 1 year old (n = 1006) could be related to SIDS or accidents with the causes stated as: ‘drowned by his mother’, ‘drowned', ‘suffocation', ‘overlapping', ‘died suddenly', ‘without air', ‘broken', ‘attack' and ‘sucked by witches'. Ten individuals were female, while 14 were male, mostly under 5 months of age. Studying SIDS in Zacatecas helps to contextualize the stigma and legal or religious responses to infant mortality and to understand how families and institutions coped with unexplained deaths.