So sad, newborn dies when sleeping father rolls onto him

[palmtreegirl]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...10606,0,5002623.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

Newborn dies when sleeping dad rolls onto him

By Kristen Reed | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 6, 2006, 11:50 AM EST

DELAND -- A 3-week-old baby who was sleeping in his parents' bed died after his father apparently rolled onto him, sheriff's officials said today.

"This appears to be a very tragic, accidental death," sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. But an autopsy has been planned to confirm the cause of death.


Sheriff's dispatchers received a 911 call about 5:20 a.m. reporting that a baby wasn't breathing. When emergency officials arrived at the Sleepy Oak Lane home, Melvin Finke was holding his son, Cole Finke, and attempting to perform CPR.

Paramedics continued CPR efforts, but the baby was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital.

The parents, Melvin, 39, and Kelly Finke, 36, said they went to sleep about 12:30 a.m. in the master bedroom with the baby. When Kelly Finke awoke about 5 a.m. to feed the baby, she noticed he wasn't breathing.

How tragic.

 

[mommaU4]

How do they know it was the dad? When she woke to feed the baby was he on top of him?

Well, either way that is just horrible. With our first we had him in our bed with us but he wasn't in the middle. Only on my side between me and the wall. The bed was pushed up tight against the wall and he slept in a sleep EZ which is used to keep newborns on their backs. I didn't get much sleep though because I was always checking on him. He was always fine of course, but when I hear things like this it is truly scary and so sad for this couple.

 

[DisneyLovingMama]

I never let the kids sleep in my bed becuase I was always afraid of this. The few times they did, I was up all night! So sad, I can't imagine how either parent is feeling.

 

[slo]

This is exactly why my babies never slept in the same bed with us. I pray for the dad that rolled onto his baby because I can't imagine how horrible he must feel - a total accident - how very sad!!!

 

[Beth76]

Yeah, how do they know it was the dad? It didn't mention anything about the mom finding him on top of the baby. So sad. We let our son sleep with us occasionally and my husband didn't want him in the middle. He slept on the outside, but a good 18 inches from the bed and we had the basinet right next to the bed. How awful.

 

[palmtreegirl]

How do they know it was the dad? When she woke to feed the baby was he on top of him?

Not sure, I found another article but it doesn't many more details then the first did.

http://www.local6.com/news/5894285/detail.html

Central Fla. Father Rolls Over, Kills Sleeping Baby

POSTED: 6:46 pm EST January 6, 2006
DELAND, Fla. -- A three-week-old baby died in his parents' bed after his father allegedly rolled onto him, sheriff's officials said.
The death appeared to be an accident, said Gary Davidson, Volusia County Sheriff's Office spokesman. He added that an autopsy was planned to confirm the cause of death.
The parents, Melvin, 39, and Kelly Finke, 36, said they went to sleep with baby in their bed around 12:30 a.m. Kelly noticed the baby wasn't breathing around 5 a.m. when she awoke to feed it, Davidson said.
When emergency officials arrived at the home, Melvin Finke was performing CPR on his son.
Paramedics continued CPR efforts, but the baby was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital, Davidson said.

 

[MomofKatie]

Co-sleeping with a newborn is not a good idea.

 

[debm]

There is a lot more to co-sleeping than some people think. Newborns actually listen to their parents breathe and it helps them to remember to breathe when they are in deep sleep. So....I am actually nervous putting a newborn to sleep in another room in a crib because I may go in and they are not breathing.... I would much rather be close to them so I can check on them. This accident is just that---a fluke thing. All over the world people sleep next to their infants. Please don't condemn the parents yet. Many of us, after having done MUCH research, feel it is actually safer to sleep near your infant, unless of course either parent is under any type of influence of medication, illegal drugs, or alcohol. Maybe we don't know the full story of this recent incident.

 

[Nik's Mom]

How heart-breaking! I thought the American Pediatrics Association actually discourages Parents from sleeping with their children. When my little ones were babies, I kept the basinet pushed up right against our bed. I would be able to just reach my hand in and check on them throughout the night. I never was able to sleep soundly through the night until my kids were out of that SIDS age. I have a nephew that died of SIDS and did not want to go through that again.
My heart goes out to those parents. I'm sure they were loving Parents that only wanted to be close to their baby.

 

[olena]

In my family, the babies don't sleep in the bed. When they are newborns and for a while after that, they sleep in a small crib next to the parents' bed.

 

[Monte Cristo]

Dwife and I saw this too. She has our first due the end of march and we have already said there will be no kids sleeping in the bed with us. We will have the bassinet in the bedroom with us for awhile, but not in the bed. I feel horrible for these people, I can't imagine, and don't want to experience what they are going through.

 

[momof2inPA]

I co-slept with my kids, my sisters did the same with their kids, and they are all alive and well to tell about it. In the article, it doesn't say whether the parents were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, as is usually the case in these types of deaths. I'll just assume it was a tragic accident, but it wouldn't discourage me from co-sleeping with a baby. I don't know whether or not the AAP based their recommendations on the overall statistics or those from cases not involving intoxicants. Without knowing, I would look at their advice, skeptically. JMO.

 

[Planogirl]

We had a small bassinet right by the bed too.

DH always rolled and flailed around too much to have a baby close by.

 

[2sweetangels]

My 4 mpnth old DD only sleeps in bed with me when DH is not in the bed. I have slept with both my DD's when they were new born's and I never rolled on them, but Im afraid DH will roll on them because DH does not have the motherly instinct. I can sense my kids next to me even when I sleep.

 

[tiggersmom2]

Both of my son's co-slept and they are fine...my next one will too.

 

[kbkids]

DD slept with me quite frequently until she was about a year old. There was a cradle in our bedroom that we used at first, but she just slept better (honestly, longer ) if she was up next to me. Not to mention those 2 a.m. feedings were much easier than getting up in the middle of the night.

Figured I would do the same with DS when he came along. Oh my!!! Feel so sorry for his wife! Even now at age 4, I don't see how he gets a bit of rest. Kicks, rolls, flips - constantly moving all night long!! Has slept like that from day one. Tried to put him in one of those wedges as an infant to keep him on his back - he'd wriggle out of it. Drove me nuts!! When we go on vacation, we always have to either take a sleeping bag for him or get a room with a pullout sofa bed because no one wants to sleep with him.

 

[cstraub]

The young of all land mammals sleep in close proximity to their mothers. During the millions of years of prehistoric times, human infants probably slept with their mothers. In traditional tribal cultures today, the practice of sleeping with infants is still quite common. However, in the technologically advanced cultures of North America and Europe, this practice has been largely abandoned in favor of cradles and cribs. In most homes, the infant does not even sleep in the same room as the parents.

When and why did the natural practice of sleeping with infants become lost in Western cultures? During the 13th century in Europe, the Catholic priests first began recommending that mothers stop sleeping with their infants.(1) Although the primary reason for this advice was probably the rise of patriarchy and the fear of too much feminine influence on infants (especially male infants), the reason given for this advice was the fear of smothering the infants, commonly known as “overlaying.” It is now believed that most of the cases of infant deaths during the Middle Ages were caused by illness or infanticide. When accidental smothering occurred, it was probably caused by parents who were under the influence of alcohol.

By the 14th and 15th centuries, the advice not to sleep with infants began to take effect, and cradles were commonplace items of furniture in most European homes with children.(2) The age at which infants were put to sleep in cradles for the night, rather than in their mothers’ arms, became gradually younger. After the industrial revolution in the 18th century, the notion of “spoiling” became widespread in industrialized countries, and mothers were warned not to hold their infants too much for fear of creating demanding monsters.

During the twentieth century, infants in technological societies became more separated from their mothers than ever before in the history of our species. More and more births took place in hospitals, and the hospital central nursery was invented to protect the infants from infections. From day one, babies were expected to sleep alone, away from their mothers. The decline in breastfeeding, promoted by companies producing breast milk substitutes, further contributed to this separation of mothers from infants. During breastfeeding, mothers normally produce hormones (such as oxytocin and prolactin), which help create a strong desire to be physically close to their babies. Bottle-feeding deprives mothers of the hormones and eliminates the need for the biological mother’s physical presence. The result of all these influences is that, by 1950, very few babies in Western, industrialized nations slept with their mothers.

It is little wonder that parents began seeking advice for a whole new array of problems. Experts in the field of child rearing found themselves searching for remedies for the babies who would not go to sleep at night, for those who banged their heads, for toddlers who climbed out of their cribs and kept coming into their parents’ bed, and for the young children who wet their beds, or had nightmares and fears of the dark. Many of these sleep-related problems could be the result of forcing babies to sleep alone.

Could it be that the increasing prevalence of teen sexuality and pregnancy reflects a need to be held more than a desire for sex? The expression “to sleep with someone,” implies to have sex. Perhaps this expression reflects a universal, unfilled childhood need to sleep next to one’s parents and to be held during the night.

Fortunately, the practice of sleeping with infants and young children is becoming more widely recommended and accepted in Western, industrialized nations, as parents begin to trust their natural inclinations to share their beds with their infants. Starting in the 1970’s a few books began to recommend that parents sleep with their babies. There are now many books that recommend bed sharing, commonly known as “co-sleeping.”(3)

Babies have strong attachment needs that researchers are just beginning to understand. The need for close physical contact, both during the day and at night, is a vital and legitimate need during the first few years. Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud, recognized this when she wrote: “It is a primitive need of the child to have close and warm contact with another person’s body while falling asleep.... The infant’s biological need for the caretaking adult’s constant presence is disregarded in our Western culture, and children are exposed to long hours of solitude owing to the misconception that it is healthy for the young to sleep ... alone.”(4)

Some child-rearing specialists state that babies will never want to leave once they have been taken into their parents’ bed. This may be true during the first few years when children need the closeness and security. However, we do not need to force children to become independent. This occurs of its own accord when children outgrow their early needs.

The strong desire of human babies to sleep near their mothers may have its basis in our evolutionary history. During the hunter-gatherer stage of our species’ existence babies would have been extremely vulnerable to predators and cold weather, especially at night. Infants who feared the dark and who refused to sleep alone had a much better chance of surviving than those infants who did not complain when put down. So there was strong selective pressure in favor of such fears.(5) Although predators are no longer a threat, and we have heated homes, modern human infants’ reflexes, instincts, and needs are still geared to the hunter-gatherer way of life. Cultural changes have occurred much too rapidly to have any major impact on the genetic makeup of our species since that time...

Researchers have studied the sleep patterns and brain waves of infants who share a bed with their mothers, compared with those of infants who sleep alone. Infants who sleep with their mothers have more brief awakenings, and also spend less time in deep sleep than solitary-sleeping infants. This is probably because of the mother’s sounds and movements during her own sleep.(6)

This nighttime stimulation has been proposed as a possible protection against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). One theory of SIDS is that the infants are sleeping so soundly that they are unable to arouse themselves and continue breathing during a long breath-holding episode (apnea).(7) Cross-cultural studies have shown that, in cultures where infants are held regularly and where mothers sleep with their infants, SIDS rates are low compared to those cultures where these practices are not followed.(8) The researchers do not claim that sleeping alone causes SIDS, but they do suggest that letting infants sleep with their mothers could be a protective factor for those infants who are at risk for dying of SIDS.

Sleeping with your baby may require time to adapt, but with a little perseverance, bed sharing can become enjoyable for everybody. However, if it does not work well for you to share your bed with your baby, then at least you can provide physical closeness until your baby falls asleep, and you can respond promptly when he awakens during the night.

 

[Alice's Mom]

My daughter and I have shared a bed from the get go...she had GERD until about 5 months and would spit up constantly, sometimes it would come through her nose and she couldn't breathe. I was so nervous that this would happen while asleep in her crib and that I might not hear her having trouble, so in the bed she went. It did happen once and I am so glad I was there to help her out.

She still sleeps with me at 5, I have never rolled over onto her, but she sure rolls all over me and the cat. She wants her own bed so I thought I would set up a bed for her this month now that the holiday craziness has come and gone.

BTW I have been single all of my daughters life so I didn't have the concern of a husband rolling over a baby...the arrangement probably would have been significantly different otherwise.

I feel terrible for the family in the article, I can't imagine a more terrible tragedy

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Co-sleeping with a newborn is not a good idea.

This is precisely why I am against cosleeping. Put the baby in a bassinet right by yoru bed instead.

 

[aprilgail2]

from the time she was born my daughter has slept with me....but as an infant she slept in a co-sleeper that attached to the side of my bed, sort of like a sidecar....she had her own space that she was in, I couldn't roll on her and once she was big enough to climb out of that and into my bed it was fine to sleep with her....