BATH, Maine — The death of a 6-week-old infant who perished early Wednesday morning at her home in Bath was not the result of foul play, Maine State Police have determined.
“It is likely that the child co-sleeping with her parents is a contributing factor,” Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said Thursday.
Bath rescue workers responded at 4:50 a.m. Wednesday to a home in Bath’s South End after the infant’s father reported that she was unresponsive, Bath Police Chief Mike Field said Wednesday.
“Bath rescue attempted lifesaving measures,” Field said, and the child was transported to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick. “But we learned at 5:50 a.m. that she had passed away.”
Maine State Police detectives interviewed witnesses at the hospital before moving to the home in Bath on Wednesday.
A final report from the state medical examiner on the cause of death is likely weeks away, McCausland said.
“Unfortunately we lose two to three infants a year because the parents just think they’re doing the right thing, but children that young should be in their own crib or bassinet,” McCausland said.
To see more from the Times Record visit timesrecord.com
http://www.parenting.com/article/ask-dr-sears-co-sleeping-a-sids-danger
This article discusses co-sleeping and SIDS. Also discusses co-sleeping “wisely and safely”. Not every co-sleeping situation is safe if the precautions Dr Sears discusses haven’t been made. Example…. an exhausted new mother falling asleep with the baby in the bed after nursing. And it does happen.
I’m sure many people manage to co-sleep safely with infants. But I recall my own experience, many years ago–though normally a light sleeper, after a few days home with the baby I was so extremely exhausted that I would not have awakened if a fire alarm sounded. My husband has always been the same way. I knew I could have rolled over onto a pile of brambles or sharp rocks and wouldn’t have awakened, if I fell asleep. So our babies slept in their own rooms, and I kept getting up every 2 hours when they cried, and somehow we survived.
You contradict yourself, ” I knewI could have rolled over onto a pile of brambles or sharp rocks and wouldn’t have awakened” Then you go on to say, ” I kept getting up every 2 hours when they cried, and somehow we survived.” How the heck did you manage to get up every two hours?
I see what you mean. All I can say is that I knew no purely physical sensation (such as my body rolling over on top of my baby’s body) would have awakened me. But the sound of my baby crying sent shock waves through me, though I doubt any other shrill sound would have had that effect.
Co-sleeping was not for me, but I understand some parents wouldn’t have it any other way. There are pros and cons for both; and it’s not for me to judge what other parents do. My heart breaks for these parents. I can’t imagine their pain and the “what if’s” they must be having. My condolences.
It’s also easier than walking across the room, the house, up and/or downstairs with or without a bottle in hand at all hours of the night since most infants wake up every few hours to eat.
and Dr. McCausland is now an expert on appropriate sleeping methods for a 6 week old? Keep your opinions to yourself.
Nothing he said was an opinion. This was simply a tragic accident. Hopefully going forward new parents will avoid co-sleeping. It’s too easy to suffocate a child. If you’ve co-slept with your child in the past, you’re not a bad parent anymore than a parent who didn’t use a carseat in the 60’s and 70’s. We all just do the best with what we know at the time. Hopefully what we’re learning now, in regards to the dangers of this seemingly caring and benign practice, will prevent future untimly and tragic deaths.
Well said, Jay. You read my mind! “We all just do the best with what we know at the time”.
Mr. McCausland is not a doctor but as the public safety spokesman for the state he’s certainly a credible source for the fact that two or three infants die as a result of this practice every year in Maine, as he stated in the article.
I disagree….he is simply reporting statistics which are available to anyone interested in the number of infant deaths each year. He is not a credible source when it comes to expertise on this subject. He is simply the messenger.
Co-sleeping is overall safer for babies. It’s how we were designed. We didn’t evolve with bassinets and cribs, we invented those.
No, co-sleeping is NOT safer. There are studies to back this up. We didn’t evolve to sleep with mattresses and pillows and blankets. Those are the issues that contribut to infant death.
unfortunetly this will add to the whole anti-cosleeping movement. infants die in cribs as well. there are many precautions to take and times you would not co-sleep (someone who is very obese, on a medication that they can’t wake up, drinking, none of which I am saying is true with this family at all). It could be just an unfortunate sad, horrible situation-my understanding though is that they are more likely to die in a crib than co sleeping
There is a study that backs up any point. The fact is in the crib OR in the bed with parents there is always a CHANCE something bad COULD happen. Amazing people get more vocal about this then parents who outright kill there children.
We lose a lot of infants to crib deaths as well. How many cribs have been recalled now due to infant death? If a crib is more than 2 years old, it probably has a recall on it. All I can say is that I slept differently when my babies were in bed with me…or when I slept in the recliner with them. We weren’t regular co-sleepers though. Everything about humans physiologically leads me to believe that babies are meant to sleep with mom – babies need food all night, which requires access to mom’s breasts; babies need temperature regulation, which is provided naturally by mom’s body heat; breastfeeding releases chemicals which make mom sleepy…HOWEVER the fact is that society has engineered so many changes, such as soft fluffy bedding, sleep aids, alcohol, prescription medications, and all these things completely change the rules of the game. My son suffers from some sort of sleeping disorder, and he gets apnea where he stops breathing at night. As a newborn, we were told this was normal, and as he got older we were told he would grow out of it. He still does it at nearly 3 years old, though not as often. He also has always (and still does but to a lesser extent) get very cold when he sleeps. Once we took him in to be seen because his temperature had dropped to 95 degrees (which is hypothermic) during sleep. While his older sister never slept with us, I truly believe that if he hadn’t, between his breathing irregularities and his inability to regulate his temperature, that he may have ended up a SIDS baby. Even though he slept with us, I was constantly waking up if he stopped breathing or to check if he was warm enough. We didn’t have him sleep with us so we could sleep more or better, we did it so we could more closely monitor him. While I can’t explain why, I definitely noticed that I slept differently around him…not as sound somehow.
If anyone were to take sleep aids, have an alcoholic beverage or be on prescription drugs, this would definitely make co-sleeping more risky. It is entirely possible that breastfeeding has an impact on sleep cycles of the mother, so perhaps it is only best for breastfeeding mothers to co-sleep. It could be that the body adapts to the frequent wakings of a newborn differently. There is a lot that we don’t know for sure. I don’t think any one camp in the co-sleep vs. crib debate is necessarily right or wrong. Every parent should follow their instincts and also apply common sense and make the decision that is best for their family. We don’t know for sure that co-sleeping deaths aren’t just SIDS deaths that happen to co-sleeping families.
I also have heard that room sharing is great alternative for those who don’t want to co-sleep, and I have heard that there are bassinets that attach to the bed so mom and dad are nearby but can’t accidentally roll onto the child. Things are rarely black and white. What is for sure is that the death of a child is tragic. My heart goes out to this family.
Yeah, sometimes mom wakes up before the baby hoping the baby will wake up and eat, or wakes up the baby to eat to relieve the pressure.
I’m sure there are pro’s and con’s on both sides of the argument. My biggest question is did this have to be printed in the paper. These young parents just lost their baby. I can not imagine the pain they are going through and yet the paper see’s fit to publish the fact that they contributed to the tragedy by having the baby in bed with them. That seems awfully insensitive to me. My thought’s and prayers are with the parents and family.
Perhaps another child can be saved if its parents think twice about this trendy but dangerous practice. There are many other ways to develop a strong bond with one’s infant.
Trendy? Ha. Children have slept with their parents for thousands and thousands of years, all over the globe.
That may well be the case, and I don’t have a problem with them writing about this topic. I’m simply saying that to bring it up in this article at this time seems to be in bad taste. They could have simply stated that the death was ruled an accident and wrote this article at a later date.
You have got to be kidding, TRENDY”, humans have been sleeping with their young since the beginning of time.
It would be printed in the paper if the baby had died in a crib, I don’t think it’s wrong to print this. I don’t see where you found the parents’ ages. I am very sorry they lost their daughter. It really could happen to anyone, children are so fragile especially infants.
I also have to agree with Mr. McCausland, that “children that young really should be in their own crib”
May she rest in peace. And I do hope her family is able to recover from their loss.
I think it is necessary to print in the paper so this kind of ignorance is not propagated.
I love how the police officer is suddenly an expert on pediatrics and co-sleeping. Lots of people have done it and continue to do it, wisely without incident.
This is a debate with two sides. Sadly, police officers are the first responders when a co-sleeping fatality(or other infant tragedy) occurs. Many of these officers are parents too. It is heart-breaking for first responders who are parents of children in the same age range. I don’t want to get into the whole co-sleeping debate, but personally it is not for me. I just became a grandmother for the first time two weeks ago and my daughter is terrified she might fall asleep while feeding her infant. I stay up at night and bring the baby to my daughter for feeding, and at her request, remain with them until one of us puts the baby back in her crib. Do we worry about SIDS in the crib? Sure, but they are equipped with a motion sensing monitor along with sound monitoring. Should the monitor detect a lack of motion (for greater than 20sec), including breathing, it will emit a smoke detector-like, ear piercing shrieking noise that will wake up the neighborhood. It does start with a gentle chirp in case one forgets to turn it off when removing the infant from the crib. There are a variety of cameras, including web cams that can be used to monitor an infant too. For those who want to co-sleep, there are several products to help make it safer for parents and infants. Co-sleepers who fear they may sleep too soundly for whatever reasons, should have a discussion with a pediatrician who does believe in co-sleeping for the best advice for YOUR infant.
Whether this fatality was caused by co-sleeping or not, my deepest condolences to the parents of this little girl. As other posters have pointed out, SIDS does occur in co-sleeping babies too. Know that you are in my prayers too, as you have to endure this horrible tragedy. Your little girl is with the angels watching over you.
I understand that there are 2 sides, and there is evidence for both arguments. I wasn’t trying to get into the co-sleeping debate, I just think the officers comments were a little…out of place and somewhat insensitive. This poor family must feel horrible, and I think it’s too bad that the officer’s comments, and the slant of the article seem to suggest that it was the parents’ fault.
I get what you are saying, and why. It was not my intention to beat on you. Having spent twenty five years in the Emergency Room environment, I know there is a tendency for those who do not believe in co-sleeping to make negative comments. I do believe that McCausland was trying to warn parents, especially those who may practice unsafe co-sleeping of the worst possible outcome.
I am not judging the parents who lost their precious baby girl. I am very sure these parents never imagined, much less intended, this result, making what happened a horrible, tragic accident. I am sure they are beyond devastated. I truly cannot imagine what they are going through. My prayers for them are that they can find away to help each other through this tragedy. I would imagine they would want others to be aware of what can happen, so no other parent goes through the same suffering.
Co-sleeping does have its place. It would not be for me, as I am aware of my own sleeping habits, but that does not the practice a bad one. Those who do want their infant to co-sleep with them DO need to discuss it with a pediatrician who does believe in co-sleeping and can advise a parent on the best safety practices for their child. I would like to point out that I do not know the parents involved in this particular situation and that it is possible, even likely, that did just that. Tragedy knows no bounds, and can strike anywhere at anytime. SIDS can happen even the very best, safest, environments and parents cannot be blamed for a natural occurrence.
I agree. I think that it is a quick harsh biased judgement made by a police officer.
To the parents, family and friends of the infant, I’m terribly sorry for your loss.
Infants pass in their own cribs and in their parents arms. This is a tragedy all the way around. Let’s not vilify these parents for doing what they felt was best. Hospitals should give sleep sacks not formula. People should pray for healing for this family and others that loose their children and then are tortured with autopsy results with no clear reason for the death. It happens. It’s awful. Let’s not judge.
Immediate answers to a terrible tragedy. My heart and prayers go out to the young family. I only wish the two that were lost in Bangor recently had answers that quickly as well…course this is Bangor, we gotta take it S-L-O-W, so as to not say the wrong thing.
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SIDS can occur to any baby and has something to do with respiratory issues, it is often not related to blankets, pillows, or co-sleeping. Those are other variables that add risk to a baby suffocating. Since there is no information in this story except that the baby was co-sleeping with parents it is very unfair to assume that is the cause. Many babies die in their cribs older then this infant. My heart goes out to these parents and the loss of their baby.
Too many young babies are dying :( prayers go out to the family.
I was afraid of this 23 years ago after baby #1. Couldn’t do it….totally afraid, did the bedside crib. Feel so bad for the parents…..god bless.
RIP BABY GIRL . My thoughts and prayers go out to this family, she was an angel on earth just as she is in Heaven but she now has wings. may the thought that she is wrapped in Gods arms sleeping in the warmth of Heaven bring you some peace.
http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com/search/label/SIDS%20prevention
Kelly and James on this blog lost their baby girl to SIDS, she was in her crib at the babysitters. SIDS can happen whether in a crib or when co-sleeping. It is TRAGIC regardless of how it happens. Kelly provides some great tips here in creating a healthy sleep environment.
In the past 2-3 years in Maine, I can think of 3 cases when a baby passed of SIDS and 2 were co-sleeping and one case when the parents tied a net to the top of a pack n play to prevent a child from climbing out and the child passed.
None of these babies were in cribs, which should be the safest place in your home for a child.
My heart literally aches for this family, we as parents try to do everything “right” and sometimes the unthinkable happens for no rhyme or reason.
Lewis it called news. The reason I love the BDN is that report it and the who/what/where/when /why of it. They do not leave out FACTS. Most of news is not pleasant and I am sure this tragedy is breaking everyones heart. It is still newsworthy and hopefully parents will know how fragile these infants are
It is so cruel to think that the baby died because it slept with its parents. Maybe the child would have die anyway – even if it was sleeping in the crib. It does happen. Babies die while sleeping in the crib. The reality is some babies sleep very well in cribs while others do not. My deepest sympathies to the family.