Two-Faced Baby In India Doing Well

[housewolf]

A BABY born with two faces is doing well one month on from her birth.

Tot Lali was born in a northern Indian village with two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes - but only two ears.

Hundreds of pilgrims have visited Lali, worshipped as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, and her impoverished parents to touch her feet out of respect and receive blessings.

The baby has caused a sensation in the dusty village of Saini, 25 miles from New Delhi.






More pics, links to more articles & a video here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/08/two-faced-baby-in-india-d_n_95623.html

[tekisui]

1. Amazing.

I wonder if she has two sets of vocal cords?

[whistle]

2. Was this community anywhere near Bhopal, India were the Union Carbide

...chemical spill took place some 20 years ago killing 3000 residents and causing serous illnesses and birth defects ever since?

[aikoaiko]

5. at least 200 miles seperates the two.

I don't know how the chemical dispersed, though.

[hlthe2b]

3. In this case, I think religious superstition will be a "blessing...."

(pun intended)

Given that there does not appear to be anything surgically to be done, this child will grow up to be protected and respected--simply because of the religious-based superstition. In this case, that is a very good thing... Happy life, dear child.



(the bigger picture, is, of course, the failure to protect the father from toxic chemicals in the workplace that undoubtedly caused the defect...now that is a real tragedy)

[whistle]

6. The father works where?

[hlthe2b]

8. a previous article touched on his likely exposure in the workplace

and when I say "touched on," no details were given. Having worked for a time in India (as well as many other similar areas of the world), it would not surprise me. There is virtually no protection of workers against any harms that might come, whether toxic, injury, or otherwise--at least in rural areas.

[Horse with no Name]

12. and that is IT in a nutshell

it could have gone two ways and frankly, this way is the most preferable.

[kestrel91316]

4. Ok, here's a question for the whiz kids out there:

This baby has two faces - two sets of eyes, two noses, two mouths. Does it have TWO MINDS???? More importantly, does it even have ONE??

And do the parents feed one face or two? Does it matter to the other face if only one face gets to nurse?

[spinbaby]

7. In an article I read earlier

They quoted the parents saying that they fed whichever mouth was free and that she could take a bottle and suck her thumb at the same time. As for two minds, only time will tell, I suppose.

[housewolf]

9. The articles don't say anything about 2 brains, only 2 faces

Amazing!

[librechik]

10. are you sure the father isn't Leonardo da Vinci?

never mind. sweet child. or children.

[housewolf]

11. She's one child, not conjoint twins

They don't seem to know how this happened, it's so rare.

[TeeYiYi]

14. The explanation . . .

. . . that I was given (see post #13) for this anomaly was incomplete mitosis resulting in mutation. I was told that the baby I saw in 1975 was in fact identical twins that hadn't completed the process of separation. So, I believe that the baby in India is more than likely two conjoined twins from the neck up. The dual sets of eyes, nose and mouth point to the strong possibility of two brains. Of course, this is only speculation...

TYY

[housewolf]

16. They called it "craniofacial duplication"

Here's a little more from one of the linked articles:

"The director of Saifi Hospital Sabir Ali said: “She drinks milk from her two mouths and opens and shuts all the four eyes at one time."

The child apparently has an extremely rare condition known as craniofacial duplication, where a single head has two faces.

Lali’s condition is often linked to serious health complications, but the doctor said she was doing well.

“She is leading a normal life with no breathing difficulties,” said Ali, adding that he saw no need for surgery. "

[TeeYiYi]

13. Not the first time that this has happened . . .

I hope that it's true that this baby will be revered as a blessing and as a goddess. I saw a child like this one permanently hospitalized in an institution for severe retardation in American Fork, Utah in 1975. She had been there for over 25 years at that time. What I witnessed scarred my psyche for many years and continues to do so to this day as I remember back. I won't go into great detail but it was a very sad, very frightening thing to witness. The faces were closer together and although there were two sets of eyes, two noses and two full sets of teeth, there was only one mouth opening and one long tongue which hung out indefinitely, approximately 5 inches, that had turned black from exposure. This baby, (now adult woman with a very large flat triangular head(s) and a tiny body smaller than a newborn) never left the crib that she lay in and the only sound that she made was an incessant growling. Seeing this new baby in India makes me wonder if the baby/woman I saw in 1975 had a healthy mind(s) trapped in a body so severely disfigured that she couldn't express herself. I hope not. The place that she was housed was worse than any 'Nightmare Theatre' movie you can imagine, and the people running it were exactly what you might expect to see in any Hitchcock film. I wondered at the time why she had been allowed to lay there for so long like that. I wondered if it wouldn't have been more humane to end her tortured life on this earth and free her spirit to move on. Since it was a hospital, I believe that they viewed her as just another scientific experiment... I know that sounds terrible but this was the 'hospital' arm of the institution I'm referring to, filled with dozens of cribs containing the most horrific examples of DNA gone awry that you can imagine. The rest of the institution was a training school for children and young adults with varying degrees of mental retardation. I wish nothing but the very best for this new little soul(s) in India.

TYY :(

[housewolf]

18. It sounds like that experience

moved and opened your heart to others in circumstances we can only describe as "horrific."

Thanks for sharing a little bit of it with us here.


O8)

[OhioChick]

15. How sad for this poor child.

:(

[dysfunctional press]

17. the republican messiah has arrived!

:woohoo:

[greenbriar]

19. will this baby have a shorter life expectancy?

poor child