I had no idea this even existed.
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When I found out my friend’s son had a new little boy of his own, I was excited to meet him, but swooning over a new baby had to be delayed due to complications at birth. Oliver had to spend several days in the NICU.
Two months later, when I finally got to see him, I was happy to note he looked quite healthy and asked his parents about the issues he had when he was born. I wondered why he had to be on oxygen and was struggling to breathe.
The doctors described the condition Oliver had as Wimpy White Boy Syndrome, a term often given to premature white males, as they tend to have underdeveloped lungs at birth and often aspirate fluid into their lungs.
I felt the hairs rise on the back of my neck. I felt offended that descriptor that sounded like a racial slur would be used to describe a medical condition. And although it is not intended to be a racial insult, according to this article at Families.com, race does matter, as black girls tend to be the strongest at birth.
Wimpy White Boy Syndrome is not, however, considered a diagnosis and most babies recover within a few days.
I still don’t like the name.
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Photo: GettyImages
Black females are the strongest. White males are the weakest. It disturbed your superiority complex huh?! You all were confident you were better. Yet time and time again nature shows you who’s the strongest race. Get overrrrrrr it. I’m a black female born premature and I’m taller & bigger than 99% of white men I know. My brother was also premature &he’s 6’2” !
That pop you’ve just heard was my head exploding. Why don’t we just through them back into bed and tell them to, suck it up, be a man…and hey, none of that wimpy, crying stuff when we cut the tip of your penis off either. Right? This is why, Barbara, you have my unyielding respect. Right and wrong have no gender with you, and you truly do love and respect men, not just pay lip service to it when it suits your needs. Mental acuity is 20/20, and your assessment of this is absolute. We need to think here. We… Read more »
Thanks DJ for your thoughts on this. Let me know when you are ready to drop out of the balcony. I also appreciate you checking in on my grief. Today, of course, was challenging as Father’s Day will be as well. The days that hurt the most are holidays and my birthday. But I was lucky to have my wonderful son here this year.
As a former NICU/SCN staff member I can assure you that it is an endearing term used by us because of the facts behind it. Caucasian males are the weakest at birth when no other genetic or malformation conditions are present. They tend to be shallow breathers and have extremely high blood sugar levels causing an overnight stay in the observation nursery. We used to call that nursery “The Locker Room” because it was almost always boys, and predominantly white at that, only. See, what the general public doesn’t understand is, in the medical setting, we don’t have time to… Read more »
Thank you for sharing Kristina.
I had never heard of the term, either, but like you, I find it derogatory. I just looked up WWBS and found this from a reliable source: http://www.nicmag.ca/pdf/NIC-27-2-MA14-R4B-web.pdf – The Neonatal Intensive Care, The Journal of Perinatology – Neonatology. The related article begins on page 8.