What will it take for the parents and caregivers of infants to realize that co-sleeping can be deadly?
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
For the second time in a week and the fourth time since early March, Milwaukee police on Saturday were investigating the death of a baby co-sleeping with an adult.
The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office said the 1-month-old boy was found unresponsive while sleeping in a bed with both parents and a year-old brother.
"Mom woke up and found him," said Rodney Brown, an investigator for the medical examiner.
Police were withholding the baby's name, and relatives in the family's apartment in the 600 block of N. 30th St. declined to comment.
Police spokeswoman Anne Schwartz said investigators were trying to determine if the baby's death was caused by the co-sleeping arrangement.
...Schwartz said the latest baby death occurred about 7:30 a.m. Saturday, but that the parents were not cooperating fully with investigators.
Why aren't the parents cooperating fully with investigators?
That doesn't reflect well on them.
It is tragic when an infant dies of SIDS or some other cause.
It is inexcusable for an infant to die because of negligence.
None of the victims in this rash of co-sleeping deaths in Milwaukee had to die. The deaths of these babies were entirely preventable.
In my opinion, the adults responsible for smothering the babies to death should be held responsible.
Not even a disorderly conduct citation?
3 comments:
I think most parents would have enough of a burden carrying around the guilt that they had caused their child's death. A fine or jail time won't bring back their baby and they most likely have other children to care for. I don't want to get into a for or against co-sleeping debate, because I used to be for it now I am against it. There are very good arguements for it and when I coslept with my 3 children I felt I was making the best choices for them.
Mommy to an angel
lost due to a cosleeping accident
PS my Lord & Savior has forgiven & healed me and he is the only judge I need to worry about.
There are so many posers on the Internet that I hesitate to trust "anonymous" comments. (I had a commenter pose as a 9/11 widow. Some people have no conscience.)
Assuming that you are being honest:
I am sincerely sorry for your loss.
I realize that accidents do happen.
However, in some of the Milwaukee cases, there are elements of negligence.
Being drunk while caring for an infant and subsequently smothering that infant to death is not just a tragic accident.
In those cases, I think there should be some accountability. A society cannot permit that sort of abuse to occur with impunity.
none of these parents were following any of the safe co-sleeping guidelines. Of the 5 cases 4 were intoxicated and that is the biggest no no of all for co-sleeping. Sleeping on a couch is also a big no no. The list goes on. This is not the fault of co-sleeping which in principal and carried out by lucid and competent parents not only is safe but can be beneficial to children, this is the fault of parents and grandparent who think it's somehow OK to get drunk and fall asleep with your kid.
Here are just some of the safe cosleeping rules
# Do not sleep with your baby if:
1. You are under the influence of any drug (such as alcohol or tranquilizing medications) that diminishes your sensitivity to your baby's presence. If you are drunk or drugged, these chemicals lessen your arousability from sleep.
2. You are extremely obese. Obesity itself may cause sleep apnea in the mother, in addition to the smothering danger of pendulous breasts and large fat rolls.
3. You are exhausted from sleep deprivation. This lessens your awareness of your baby and your arousability from sleep.
4. You are breastfeeding a baby on a cushiony surface, such as a waterbed or couch. An exhausted mother could fall asleep breastfeeding and roll over on the baby.
5. You are the child's baby-sitter. A baby-sitter's awareness and arousability is unlikely to be as acute as a mother's.
# Don't allow older siblings to sleep with a baby under nine months. Sleeping children do not have the same awareness of tiny babies as do parents, and too small or too crowded a bed space is an unsafe sleeping arrangement for a tiny baby.
# Don't fall asleep with baby on a couch. Baby may get wedged between the back of the couch and the larger person's body, or baby's head may become buried in cushion crevices or soft cushions.
# Do not sleep with baby on a free-floating, wavy waterbed or similar "sinky" surface in which baby could suffocate.
# Don't overheat or overbundle baby. Be particularly aware of overbundling if baby is sleeping with a parent. Other warm bodies are an added heat source.
# Don't wear lingerie with string ties longer than eight inches. Ditto for dangling jewelry. Baby may get caught in these entrapments.
# Avoid pungent hair sprays, deodorants, and perfumes. Not only will these camouflage the natural maternal smells that baby is used to and attracted to, but foreign odors may irritate and clog baby's tiny nasal passages. Reserve these enticements for sleeping alone with your spouse.
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