A Deadly Mistake, A Family's Lesson
A Special HealthCheck Report
 Anita Brikman
September 20, 2007 - Co-sleeping is the practice of having a newborn baby sleep with parents in an adult bed. Some people believe it helps mom and baby bond and promotes breast-feeding; others do it because that's what their mothers did. But there is no question a baby can suffocate. Just ask Christina Valentin.
"She was two and a half months old," Christina remembers.
There are pictures of baby Carmen everywhere in this West Kensington rowhome.
Born in December of 2006, she was Christina Valentin's third child.
The newborn often slept in her parents bed, just as the older two children had.
Christina says, "I slept with both of my kids... Never had a crib."
Then, one evening last March.... While Christina was at a relative's home .... Carmen's father fell asleep after work with the baby next to him... On a pillow.
Exactly what happened next is unclear.... But somehow, the baby rolled and so did dad... He ended up on top of her and the 11 week old couldn't breathe.
CPR could not revive her, and she was pronounced dead at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children.
She says, painfully, "The guilt is hard for my husband and for myself and for everyone in this house."
Carmen's death was ruled an accident.
While her father is not yet ready to talk publicly about the loss... Christina is telling the tragic story to warn other parents... Who may not realize the danger.
"This is the correct position for the baby to sleep in, " says Keila Canete, a Maternity Care Coalition family advocate, as she shows a young mother how to put baby down to sleep.
The Coalition promotes safe sleeping practices... And has given away 7-thousand, two-hundred portable cribs to new parents who need them.
This day, Canete visits a mom of triplets in Northeast Philadelphia.
Canete says if you want your baby close by during the night... Choose a bassinette that attaches at the bedside.
Put the baby to sleep on his or her back... With a fitted sheet, and no pillows or toys that could interfere with breathing.
"If you position the baby where you want them to sleep when they are infants, they will stay that way."
And, says Canete...returning baby to the bassinette or crib after feedings, and diaper changes helps establish the pattern that that's the place for sleep.
The Maternity Care Coalition's message is shared again and again at workshops like this one.
Christina Valentin says she desperately wishes she had heard, and heeded such advice.
She gives other parents a warning, "Co-sleeping with a child is not safe. I don't want anybody else to learn it the hard way like we had to...."
Carmen would be nine months old today... And her mother is overcome with emotion imagining what her little girl would be like now.
Wistfully, she says, "What she'd be doing, crawling... All that stuff. I know she is in heaven. I know she is with God... But the fact that she is not here is what hurts most."
If you need a crib for your infant, contact the Maternity Care Coalition at 215-989-3589. The MCC also works in Delaware and Montgomery Counties. In New Jersey, it is partnered with the Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative to serve new mothers in South Jersey. The Cooperative can be reached at the same nunber.
In Chester County, the Cribs for Kids program works out of the Health Department. You can reach the cooardinator, Ilene Greising, at 610-344-5553.
The Cribs for Kids campaign also accepts donations. Every $50 purchases a crib - a safe place to sleep - for an infant. You can send you donation to:
Chester County Health Department
Attention: Cribs for Kids
601 Westtown Road
Suite 290, P.O. Box 2747
West Chester, PA 19380-0990
Click here to view the video on 6ABC web site. |
