The Man Who Saved Babies

By Robin Itzler

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Saving premature babies Today, every hospital has incubators for premature babies, but that wasn’t always the case. In fact, in the early 1900s, many doctors and hospitals saw preemies as nature’s mistake and didn’t think they were worth saving because it was doubted, they would live very long. Yet, one man saw a way to save more than 7,000 premature babies — and some say he wasn’t even a doctor!

Who was he and how did he save all those preemies?

The non-doctor who saved 7,000 babies was Martin Couney, who was Jewish, was born in Germany in 1869. There were questions as to his claims of attending medical school in Europe. 

Having seen chickens kept alive in incubators during the Chicago World’s Fair, Couney thought the same could be done with premature babies that many in the early 1900s felt were not worth saving. Couney, believed preemies had the potential for long life. However, he lacked the financial resources to purchase incubators (then used for chickens) to maintain the preemies. He came up with the idea of people paying to see premature babies in incubators.

It all started on Coney Island, where people came for cheap entertainment, cheap food, cheap rides and the glorious beach. Couney charged admission to enter the Infantorium where curious people went inside to see the tiny babies thriving in incubators. He did NOT charge parents of premature babies that were in his care. Based on its success, there were Infantoriums in many fairgrounds throughout the United States.

In 1903, Couney married Annabelle Maye who worked in one of Infantoriums. Four years later, they had a daughter who was born six weeks premature, weighing just three pounds. Hildegarde grew up and became a nurse.

By the time Couney’s Infantorium show ended in 1943, EVERY hospital in America had incubators for premature babies. He died in 1950.