On February 3, 2017, an investigator reported that 18-month-old Jordan Blue Elmore from Lincolnshire, Illinois, USA, died suddenly in his sleep after becoming entangled in a blanket. Initially, his mother was accused of neglect leading to his death, but after an investigation, she was found not guilty.
Around 10:30 a.m. on February 3 of last year, after discovering her son’s condition, Tanya urgently called an ambulance. Unfortunately, the baby passed away an hour later.
A source said Tanya put her son to bed at 11:30 p.m. the night before. In her statement to the police, the mother said: “Around 11:00 to 11:30 p.m., I put my son to bed. Then, I carried him upstairs. He looked very peaceful. I laid him on his back and covered him with a Thomas the Tank Engine blanket across his chest, leaving his arms outside.”
The investigation also concluded that the baby was no longer breathing when his mother found him the next morning.
“I stayed with him for about 20 minutes more. He woke up and even looked at me. Then I left him like that and went downstairs. I fell asleep around midnight. I woke up around 9:30 a.m., gave the dog its medicine and opened the door to let it out, but then the dog ran back into the living room and gave me a strange look. I went to the bathroom and tried to do everything quietly so as not to wake him up,” Tanya added.
When Tanya went into the bedroom, she saw the baby under the blanket and was shocked to realize he wasn’t breathing. The baby was taken to Scunthorpe General Hospital. At 11:48 a.m., he was pronounced dead; all efforts to revive him were in vain.
The hospital did not give a conclusion about the cause of the poor baby’s death. However, most suspicions and the investigating authority believe the blanket caused the sudden death. There have been many cases of infants dying suddenly in their sleep due to suffocation from blankets.
>> See more: Warning: 3 sleeping positions that can cause sudden death in children
How to ensure children’s safety while sleeping
Not only the heartbreaking case and the unjust death of baby Jordan above, but there have been many cases of children dying suddenly while sleeping with their parents. This will certainly make mothers startled and worried. As Vietnam’s weather is entering winter, it’s very cold, and covering the baby with a blanket is necessary, but mothers need to pay attention to how to do it. Keeping a child warm and safe while sleeping is very difficult. Here are a few notes parents need to pay attention to:
– For newborns and children under 2 years old, it is best not to let them sleep with a pillow. You can use a thin towel or a folded thin blanket as a pillow. Pillows for newborns are often soft and concave in the middle. If the baby’s face or body sinks into the pillow, it can cause suffocation and sudden death.
– Do not cover your baby with a blanket that is too thick or too large. As the baby’s body is very small, it can be completely covered by the blanket, causing suffocation.
– Especially when sleeping with parents, you need to pay attention to the baby. There have been many cases of parents rolling onto their child, causing injury and suffocation. It is best if parents can let the baby sleep separately or lie separately and cover with a separate blanket.
– When going to bed, parents should not overheat the baby, as this can cause the baby to become hot, sweat a lot, get cold again, and easily get pneumonia. To some extent, over-bundling can even cause sudden infant death. Keeping the baby warm properly means keeping the baby warm enough, especially in areas prone to cold, such as the soles of the feet, hands, fontanelle, and chest.
– Mothers also need to choose safe, comfortable sleepwear that helps maintain the baby’s body temperature best. Mothers should avoid pajamas with ribbons, ties, beaded details, or other decorations as they can wrap around the baby’s neck. Mothers should also avoid buying pajamas with too much glitter because the light from the glitter in the dark can attract insects.
Mothers can refer to some of the following sleepwear models for their children:
– Do not wear a warm hat to sleep because, for newborns, the head generates about 40% of body heat but also releases up to 85% of body temperature. So, for a healthy baby who is a few months old, wearing a hat while sleeping is unnecessary. On the contrary, it will increase the baby’s brain temperature, affecting the activity of the nerve area that controls breathing.
– Pay attention to the room temperature, ensuring the baby’s bedroom is sufficiently airtight and not drafty. Place the baby to sleep away from the air conditioner’s direct flow and avoid places where the wind blows directly from the window. If using a warm air conditioner, the mother should adjust the temperature in the baby’s room to 20-25ºC. If using a heater or fireplace, the mother needs to calculate the distance between the baby and the heat source to decide on reasonable warmth for the baby. Note that heating devices will dry the air in the room, so a humidifier or a bowl of water placed in the room will make the air more comfortable.
– Use a sleeping bag for newborns. For children, wearing a sleeping bag is a better choice than a blanket. With a reasonable design, a sleeping bag helps the baby stay warm all night and avoids the situation of being uncovered or having their face covered, which makes it difficult for the baby to breathe, like with blankets. When choosing a sleeping bag, mothers need to pay attention to the thickness and fit. The bag should not be too wide or too narrow. Too narrow makes the baby uncomfortable and stuffy, while too wide makes it easy for the baby to slip deep inside the bag, which is unsafe. Choose a bag without small lint to avoid the baby inhaling them, causing coughing and affecting their health.
source:afamily
