One mom is raising awareness for parents to remove unnecessary items in and around their baby's bed after the tragic loss of her daughter who suffocated in her sleep.
Dexy Leigh Walsh, a mom from Scotland, recounted the night she lost her 18-month-old daughter Connie Rose. In a heartbreaking post on Facebook, she wrote, “On the 6th March 2018, 8:01 a.m., my life changed. I woke up to get my oldest ready for school to find my youngest baby had passed away.”
According to Dexy Leigh, the stuffed animals on her daughter's bed suffocated her.What other parents are reading
Connie’s bed, which was next to a wall, had guard railings on one side. Between the tot’s bed and the wall was a small gap, Dexy Leigh shared. To stop her daughter from falling down the gap, the mom stuffed it with small stuffed bears with a larger one placed on top of the others. That night, her daughter did fall down the gap, but the stuffed animals caused her to suffocate. She was found underneath the large stuffed animal.
“All I think about now is what if I just left it empty, she would still be here maybe with just a small bump on her head. It’s all what ifs now,” wrote Dexy Leigh. “I want every parent to see and be aware of this. Please move everything off your kids’ bed and away from the sides. They don’t need anything on their bed but a cover. A pillow isn’t even needed.”
“Think about what’s on your kid’s bed and around it. You really never know what can happen,” read another post on the Facebook page dedicated to Connie created by her mom to raise awareness. Addressing her little one, “[I] can’t believe I’ve not seen your wee face for so long,” said Dexy Leigh, six weeks from her daughter’s passing.ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOWWhat other parents are reading
A similar tragic story happened to another mom a year ago when her 7-month-old son was strangled by a blanket in his crib. Jordan DeRosier from the U.S. recalled, “I went in to get him from his crib at 9:48 a.m., opened the door, and noticed he was on his stomach with his beloved blankie around only his head. I yanked it off, touched his back and felt that he was ice cold…His face and chest were completely purple on one side. His lips blue. His eyes closed,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
She makes the same plea to other parents not to place seemingly harmless items on their babies’ bed. “I will relive this for the rest of my life knowing EXACTLY what I could have done differently. Please learn from my world-shattering mistake,” she said. “You never think it will happen to you. You never think it will be your baby.” Jordan continues to post about her journey of grief and healing on her blog and Instagram.CONTINUE READING BELOWwatch now
What other parents are reading
Pediatricians continue to stress the importance of following safe sleep practices in babies. Recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) say to practice safe sleep up to when the child is a year old. Parents can definitely continue to follow them beyond this age.
Suffocation and entrapment are real dangers that take the lives of thousands of babies year after year, according to an updated policy statement by the AAP. The guidelines state that infants should not be put to bed with soft objects and loose bedding such as pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, and bumper pads that can obstruct an infant's nose and mouth.
The guidelines have over 15 recommendations that parents need to know to practice safe sleep at home. It includes laying down a baby to sleep on her back, putting a baby to sleep on a firm surface (on a mattress in a crib, for example, and never on a couch), and room-sharing with the baby until she’s at least 6 months old.
Read the guidelines in full here and know more about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) here.ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
