Co-Sleeping Death in Milwaukee

In May, when Meekel T. McCleave, a 2-month-old baby boy, became the FIFTH co-sleeping death in Milwaukee since March, I said:

There's no reason at this point to believe that this is the last co-sleeping death we'll see. It's not a matter of if another baby will die this way. It's a matter of when.

That SIXTH baby, possibly a co-sleeping victim, died yesterday, August 25.

Video, CBS 58 News.

Ashleigh Barry reports:

Apparently, when paramedics arrived on the scene, that child could have been deceased for up to 5 hours.

A frantic 911 call about an unresponsive newborn came in shortly before 4:00 this afternoon from this home near 91st and Brown Deer, on Milwaukee's far northwest side.

Paramedics arrived minutes later to determine that rigor mortis had already set in, meaning the female baby was likely deceased for several hours.

Official sources tell CBS 58 that the child's father said he had been sleeping with her, and likely rolled over, suffocating her. And that when he woke up and noticed that she wasn't breathing, he then tried to perform CPR to no avail.

It's called co-sleeping, and it's strongly discouraged, mainly because guardians have no control of their actions, and the outcome is often fatal.

In fact, this will be the sixth time a child has died under these circumstances in the last five months, four of which the adults had consumed alcohol.

It is not clear whether the adult in this case had consumed alcohol.

Obviously, the father didn't intend to harm his child. It appears he was desperate to save her.

How does one attempt to perform CPR after rigor mortis has set in?

What makes this so terribly sad is that co-sleeping deaths are 100 percent avoidable.

Babies need a safe place to sleep. A tiny infant sleeping with an adult is not safe. It's so basic.

Parents and guardians need to heed the warnings. I think they should be held accountable for their negligence.


(h/t Jen)