The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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March 13, 2010

5 Enid children have died while sleeping with their parents

By Kasey Fowler, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

ENID — In the past two years, five children have died in Enid while sleeping in bed with their parents, according to police records.

“One is too many,” said Enid Police Department Detective Sgt. Dustin Albright. “This is a totally avoidable accident.”

In 2008, two children, ages 11 months and 13 months, died. In 2009, three children, ages one month, 2 months and 18 months, died.

Dr. Michael O’Quin, with Northwest Pediatrics, said infants are more susceptible to being suffocated than toddlers or older children, who can move more easily.

“Infants are at particular risk because they are small and they are more easily smothered if they are rolled on,” he said. “People can sleep deeply enough that they will not be aware their babies are having trouble. We sometimes have trouble determining exactly what happened, but it is a much higher risk than if the child is in its own bed.

“The excessive fatigue that new parents get when they are up all night, they can get into a deep sleep and entrap the baby so it can’t breath well enough.”

Dianne Juhnke, director of early childhood services for Community Development Support Association, said there are many reasons people will sleep with their babies.

“They sometimes can’t afford it (a crib) or don’t have room (for a crib) or they are so transient they don’t always take something with them,” she said. “We also recommend to parents to create a safe sleeping place on the floor for the baby, if they don’t have a suitable bed, where they are out of the way and where they won’t be stepped on. Babies don’t have to have a crib.”

Juhnke said some people choose to co-sleep because they want to.

“A lot of people choose co-sleeping. If parents do make that choice, don’t let older siblings sleep with the baby. Don’t ever sleep with the baby if you are on drugs, alcohol or any medicine that might impair you,” she said. “Don’t sleep with the baby on a waterbed. Don’t ever sleep with them on a couch because the baby can get entrapped in the cushions.”

In some cases involving unresponsive children in bed with parents in the last few years, substance abuse was involved.

“If you are planning on using substances then you shouldn’t be taking care of a child,” Albright said. “Take them to a baby sitter or mom and dad’s. This is a totally avoidable accident.”

Parents who get high or abuse alcohol often aren’t attentive when sleeping it off and aren’t alert or aware when a baby is in distress.

“They’re in heavy sleep if they’re intoxicated,” he said. “They are not able to respond to that emergency.”

When a child dies, detectives can spend an entire day conducting a preliminary investigation, which entails interviewing all witnesses, investigating the scene of the accident and processing all possible evidence all while working in coordination with Department of Human Services. Following that, detectives conduct follow-up interviews with nurses, doctors and EMTs, as well OSBI crime lab. All cases in which an infant dies are sent out for autopsy.

“Any death of a child is a heart-wrenching case for us to work,” Albright said. “It is even more devastating for a parent and family to wake up to an unresponsive child.”

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