Swaddling case: Sisters charged with wrapping infants 'like a boa constrictor'
Swaddling case: Two sisters in California pleaded not guilty to charges they endangered infants by swaddling them too tightly in blankets. The sisters, law enforcement said, swaddled seven infants between 7 and 11 months so tightly that they were unable to breathe.
Swaddling case: Two sisters in California pleaded not guilty to charges they endangered infants by swaddling them too tightly in blankets. The sisters, law enforcement said, swaddled seven infants between 7 and 11 months so tightly that they were unable to breathe.
Two sisters in Northern California facing charges that they endangered infants' lives by binding them too tightly in聽swaddling聽blankets have pleaded not guilty.
The Oakland Tribune reports that Nazila and Lida Sharaf entered their pleas Monday in Alameda County Superior Court.
The sisters have been released from custody after posting $340,000 bail each. They are each charged with three counts of felony child abuse and neglect and four counts of misdemeanor child abuse and neglect.
Authorities say the women wrapped seven babies up like boa constrictors at their Livermore preschool, impairing the children's ability to move and breathe.
According to the Oakland Tribune:聽
""They basically restrained these children, almost like a boa constrictor," Goard told the Tribune. "All of these children could have died in the process of binding these extremities."
Swaddling, a common technique where the caregiver wraps a newborn in a blanket, is only recommended for use into the second month of a baby's life, pediatric experts told the Tribune.聽
Their attorney says the women did not intend to hurt the babies.
Both sisters are pregnant and expecting their second child.