Daily AncestorLaryngismus stridulus
Laryngismus stridulus, called child-crowing, was a spasm of a baby's voice box that closed the airway with a crowing breath, sometimes fatally.
Webster's 1913 defines laryngismus as a spasm of the glottis that closes the opening. Wiktionary marks child-crowing as an archaic name for a nervous spasm of the muscles closing the glottis.
The 1911 Census Bureau manual lists laryngismus stridulus under diseases of the larynx, with false croup and spasmodic croup; only a diphtheritic case went to its title for diphtheria and croup.
As seen in a recordCause of death column, 1850 to 1880 federal mortality schedule
Infant of Chas. Pfaltz, 9/12, M, W, Feb., Laryngismus stridulus
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Laryngismus stridulus." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/laryngismus-stridulus. Last checked 2026-10-12.