ANOTHER Milwaukee Baby "Co-sleeping" Death

UPDATE, March 10, 2010: Mother pleads guilty in death of infant

Rose Prescott, whose 6-day-old daughter suffocated on her living room couch, pleaded guilty Wednesday to child neglect resulting in death.

Prescott, 31, faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced May 10.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Torbenson told Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Conen that, under a plea agreement, the state would recommend that Prescott be sentenced to eight years in prison and five years of extended supervision and that her sentence be stayed in lieu of probation.

Prescott has been free on a $10,000 signature bond. When it appeared during the hearing that Conen was going to place Prescott in custody, four of her supporters in the visitors' gallery cried out in anger. They were arrested as they attempted to storm out of court.

Though Conen agreed to release Prescott on her signature bond, the four supporters were cited for disorderly conduct. They face fines of up to $435.

Ceianna Buchanan was found on Prescott's couch March 8, 2009. Prescott told police she was too drunk to remember placing the child on the couch and said that it was possible that she had slept with the infant.

Less than a year before Ceianna's death, Prescott's 2-month-old daughter, Brianna Buchanan-Prescott, died while sleeping with Prescott on an adult bed.

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A third infant has died while sleeping with an adult, apparently smothered.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A 2-month-old died Sunday after a caretaker who was sleeping with the infant rolled over on the child.

The death was reported Sunday afternoon in the 5000 block of N. Hopkins St., according to Milwaukee police.

Preliminary indications are that the death was accidental and caused by co-sleep - when an adult sleeps with a baby and rolls over on the child, suffocating the baby, police said Monday.

If the preliminary results hold true, it would be the third co-sleeping death of a Milwaukee infant since early March.

Three infants dead!

These precious lives did not have to be lost.

Bevan K. Baker, commissioner of the Milwaukee Health Department, says that co-sleeping deaths are 100 percent avoidable.

Co-sleeping deaths are "100 percent avoidable if we put infants in a safe sleep environment," said Bevan K. Baker, commissioner of the Milwaukee Health Department.

"We cannot in any way promote or advise parents to co-sleep with infants," Baker said Sunday night. "We believe to reduce the risk of these deaths happening, it is best for parents to put babies on their backs and not sleep with them.

"This is another indication that our community needs to be continually educated regarding the need for safe sleep practices when it comes to infants," he said. "We hope that it will not take another death to reiterate this point."

Baker said this after the death of Kymarius Hunt. His was the second death in less than a month due to co-sleeping.

Ceianna Buchanan, just 6-days-old, died in March, after being smothered by her mother, Rose Prescott.

[Prescott] told police she might have fallen asleep on the couch with Ceianna. Prescott gave investigators conflicting stories, but eventually said she had been drunk.

Police concluded that Ceianna's death was an accident.

Another of Prescott's children - 2-month-old Brianna Buchanan-Prescott - died in April 2008 while sleeping with Prescott.

When will these deaths be considered to be matters of negligence rather than accidental occurrences?

Haunting words: "We hope that it will not take another death to reiterate this point."

Tragically, infant caretakers aren't getting the message.

I hope it doesn't take yet another baby's death to reiterate the point that infants should sleep in a safe environment, meaning not on a couch with a drunk adult.

There's no excuse for this, unless you accept stupidity as an excuse.