Co-Sleeping - ANOTHER Dead Baby

Of course.

There was no doubt this would happen.

From WTMJ:

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner says a 3 month-old baby girl has died from co-sleeping with family. The girl's 18 year-old mother says she put the child to bed on one side of her Saturday night and she put her 2 year-old son on her other side before falling asleep.

Eighteen years old and this person already has given birth to two kids. One is now 2 years old and one was 3 months old.

Does the mother have a job? Is she married? How can an 18-year-old provide for two kids? Does she get support, financial and emotional, from her parents?

Not all 18-year-old mothers are irresponsible. This one is.

YOU DON'T SLEEP IN THE SAME BED WITH A 3-MONTH-OLD BABY.

The Investigation Report says the mother told investigators she stays up late on the weekends to be with her kids. She says she went to bed with them about 5:00am Sunday morning and woke up between 9:00am and 10:00am Sunday. The teen says she fixed the baby some formula and tried to feed the child. The mother claims the baby would not wake up to take the bottle but the infant was making bubbling noises with her mouth.

What?

If you can't wake a 3-month-old after at least four hours of sleep, that's not normal. That should have been alarming.

She keeps her children up until 5:00 AM? She wants to spend time with her 2-year-old son so she doesn't put him to bed on weekends until it's almost morning. That's not staying up late. That's staying up all night. I don't know how the little boy manages to stay awake.

The mother's version of events sounds like she made up the story.

The mother says she went back to bed with both of her children and that it was normal for her to sleep with them. She told detectives she did not cover the infant with blankets. The mother says at some point her phone went off and she got up. She says the child's father came into the doorway of the bedroom and yelled that the baby had blood on her nose. The mom says they tried to do CPR but it didn't help.

Obviously, the City of Milwaukee Health Department's campaign to educate mothers on the risks of co-sleeping, "Safe Sleep for Your Baby" didn't help this mother.

She's 18 years old and she has a dead daughter, because she was irresponsible.

If the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner is correct in saying that the 3 month-old baby girl died from co-sleeping, then the mother caused her daughter's death. It was entirely preventable, 100 percent avoidable.

The father told investigators he only went into the room after hearing the mom scream something was wrong with the child. He claims he saw the mother pick the baby up after realizing something was wrong.

The mom denies rolling over on the baby.

So we have conflicting accounts of what happened.

That's not surprising.

Sadly, it won't be surprising when there's a report of yet another co-sleeping death. It will happen because parents and caregivers of babies are ignoring the warnings.

Maybe this negligence to provide a safe sleeping environment for one's child, resulting in the child's death, will end when the adults are held accountable for their role in the deaths of these precious, innocent children, the co-sleeping victims.

Inexcusable.
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More details, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A 3-month-old girl died Sunday after sharing an adult bed with her mother and another child inside the family's south side home, according to a Milwaukee County medical examiner's report.

The infant, Keilysha M. Ruiz, was pronounced dead about 12:30 p.m. inside the home in the 1800 block of W. Rogers St.

According to the report:

The child's mother, Keila M. Torres, told investigators the infant seemed healthy before going to sleep. The infant, Torres and Torres' 2-year-old son slept in the same bed Sunday morning.

Torres tried to feed the infant at one point early Sunday, but the baby would not drink from her bottle so they went back to bed. The baby was found unresponsive on the bed later Sunday morning.

Torres told investigators she had gotten out of bed to get her cell phone when the infant's father, Josue E. Ruiz-Caballero, came into the room and saw blood near the girl's nose. Ruiz-Caballero, however, said he was awakened by Torres screaming that something was wrong with the infant.

The cause of death has not yet been determined, according to the medical examiner's office.

If the medical examiner has not determined the cause of death for baby Keilysha M. Ruiz, it's irresponsible and sloppy reporting on the part of WTMJ to announce that she died from co-sleeping as opposed to while co-sleeping.