Police are investigating the death of an infant in Cary who died after falling asleep in a baby lounger on Tuesday.
According to detectives, the baby was placed on its back in the lounger in the middle of the parent’s bed. The mother then fell asleep nearby and later woke up to find the baby had turned onto its side, was unresponsive and had a bloody nose.
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The mother called 911 and performed CPR, but the baby was later pronounced dead. Police executed a search warrant at the home the following day.
In the warrant, a detective wrote that they “looked up baby lounger on Google” and found they are described as cushioned, pillow-like products intended for supervised, awake time only. The detective noted they should be used under adult supervision. The warrant did not identify the specific product involved.
WRAL’s 5 On Your Side has previously reported on the dangers associated with infant loungers.
"These infant loungers are squarely not safe for infant sleep," said Oriene Shin, the manager of safety advocacy with Consumer Reports. "They lead to unsafe sleep environments, suffocation hazards."
Shin is also a mom herself.
"Really, in the first year of life, they need to be protected as much as possible, and that means putting them into a bassinet," she said. It's painful. I understand how hard it is, especially if baby can't sleep without you.'
According to the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force, each year in North Carolina, more than 100 infants die in unsafe sleep environments.
"The argument people always make is...the numbers aren't high...but to a family that's their child, and that's what we need to keep in mind," Shin said.
Dauline Singletary with Wake County said she has always had a passion for maternal and child health. She is now the Maternal and Child Health Section Manager within Wake County Public Health.
"When you start to think about infants, they're very small compared to adults. So when you start to think about the closeness of a child, when sleeping with a parent, although it could be very a bonding time, it also can be dangerous," she said.
Singletary said that co-sleeping poses risks of carbon monoxide poisoning, overhearing and suffocation.
"I always tell parents, you know, if you want to buddy up that pack and play or that bassinet right next to your bed, go for it, but just make sure that the child doesn't stay in the bed with them," she explained. "Depending on how people sleep, rolling over onto a child could become an issue [of] suffocation because of pillows and blankets and all of those things that also can create a hazard."
Both Singletary and Shin said families and caregivers should follow the ABCs of safe sleeping: alone on their backs in a crib.
"A crib doesn't necessarily have to be your wooden crib with the mattress. A crib can be a bassinet. It can be a pack and play, but making sure that that child has that separate designated space," Singletary said.
She said it's important families are "making sure that their airway is as open as possible, making sure not to coddle them and swaddle them with a lot of blankets and unnecessary pillows, because children don't need that."
While the warrant filed Wednesday listed involuntary manslaughter as the potential offense under investigation, the mother has not been charged, and the father was not home at the time.
A spokesperson for Cary police told WRAL News that no charging decision will be made until the medical examiner completes a review of the case. Speaking with WRAL News on Thursday, a Cary police spokesperson said that the department is not currently looking at this as a criminal matter.
Daniel Meier, a criminal defense attorney not affiliated with the case, reviewed the warrant and told WRAL News that an involuntary manslaughter charge would typically require an autopsy finding that recklessness or negligence caused the death. Meier added that the bloody nose could be explained by the mother's attempts to resuscitate the child.
