Awake and Alert! PSA

[daycarediva]

Honestly, who cares if a parent freaks out? MY liability, MY responsibility, MY livelihood....

It's easy to say "Your child must be awake and alert before you leave them for safety reasons. Thanks!"



....because the only other people we could possibly blame are parents but parents are rarely responsible for anything.

....leaving kids in hot cars..... just forgetfulness...wasn't dad's normal day to drop off.

....rolling over and suffocating baby while sleeping with them.... just a tragic accident.

the list goes on an on.....

a baby just died in my hometown (I actually went to school with the child's father) from what was reported in the newspaper at SIDS. Tragic accident. What really happened was baby died in a swing during a nap. Most likely positional asphyxiation.


When are we going to start charging the parent? The hospital here makes them take SBS and safe sleep training before leaving. They have to sign a statement that they understand the dangers of both. They ARE informed. It is criminal that they aren't being charged. Their negligence killed their child. Now, had they employed a nanny that nanny would probably have been arrested immediately and detained awaiting coroners reports and potentially charged while being raked through the mud in the media.

Initally I believe they thought the child was sleeping deeply. And I don't know the kid, maybe he is one of the deep sleepers. I've got one now that can sleep through kids playing on top of him. As the story has gone on, it changed to unresponsive.

But what I want to know is - what was actually wrong with the child? He was airlifted to the hospital and intubated but why?

I also have a deep sleeper. Everyone can be awake banging pots and pans and she won't stir. DAILY, I have to physically lift her off of her mat to wake her.

That's what I would like to know! Was it physical injury or was he doped and dropped and overdosed?

[JackandJill]

Honestly, who cares if a parent freaks out? MY liability, MY responsibility, MY livelihood....

It's easy to say "Your child must be awake and alert before you leave them for safety reasons. Thanks!"

Thanks! I should mention I wrote this before I was completely awake

I guess I meant more how to phrase it so that the parent isn't calling you all day long to make sure their little one is okay. But I completely agree, my business comes first!

[Josiegirl]

Daycarediva,
I seriously hope all birthing centers require those kind of trainings to new parents!! They are needed!
Something that was mentioned last week at a Safe Sleep training was about all those adorable crib sets expectant moms always receive at baby showers, etc. You know, the bumper pads, blankets, etc., that everybody always drool over cause they're so gosh darn cute? Get rid of them. Those things saturate the baby gifts market and are unsafe. Why do they even make them anymore?
I did all the wrong things when I had babies but thank God, SIDS never happened to them. If it were today, I wouldn't take the chance again.
And I do agree that a nanny or dcprovider would lose everything if it had happened to them. However, I'm on the fence as to what should happen to a mom who was negligent; they've already lost everything.
But I love the idea of giving more training to parents. About A LOT of things!

[MunchkinWrangler]

That's why most of these deaths are labeled SIDS deaths IMO. The parents are already dealing with a tragic situation and so most authorities will say it's SIDS not strangulation, entanglement, suffocation, and positional asphyxia. The parents already know the mistake but it's not made public. Most obituaries will say people died peacefully surrounded by family or unexpectedly. The reality is not pretty so we as a society let that person go in dignity.

It truly ****s that the liability is on us but like PP's we have the power to control what happens in our homes. I have a baby that arrives sleeping and I always wake him up all the way,in front of did, change him, feed him, and THEN let him nap. That way I know everything is right with him.

[Blackcat31]

That's why most of these deaths are labeled SIDS deaths IMO. The parents are already dealing with a tragic situation and so most authorities will say it's SIDS not strangulation, entanglement, suffocation, and positional asphyxia. The parents already know the mistake but it's not made public. Most obituaries will say people died peacefully surrounded by family or unexpectedly. The reality is not pretty so we as a society let that person go in dignity.

It truly ****s that the liability is on us but like PP's we have the power to control what happens in our homes. I have a baby that arrives sleeping and I always wake him up all the way,in front of did, change him, feed him, and THEN let him nap. That way I know everything is right with him.

That power is not just reserved for non-parents.

Parents have the power to control what happens in their homes too.

I think ALL caregivers (parents included) SHOULD be held accountable for ANY action/choice/decision that causes death or harm to a child.

[MunchkinWrangler]

That power is not just reserved for non-parents.

Parents have the power to control what happens in their homes too.

I think ALL caregivers (parents included) SHOULD be held accountable for ANY action/choice/decision that causes death or harm to a child.

Oh absolutely! I meant that if you spot that there is something wrong with the child you can immediately pinpoint that responsibility. Like in the above story, since there was a stretch of time before 911 was called "its the daycare's fault." If they would have noticed something was wrong it would be bounced back to the parents. They missed a step making them liable even if it's the parents fault.

[Hunni Bee]

If the child was brought into daycare while he/she was 'asleep' and they laid him down to allow him to continue 'sleeping', when they tried to wake him up, and he didn't respond, they might have just thought he was still in a deep sleep and decided to allow him to continue to 'sleep'.

The daycare staff, I'm guessing, simply thought he was sleeping and then when they finally decided that he had been sleeping long enough and tried to demand that he get up to participate in the day's activities, realized that he had not simply been sleeping and in fact had needed medical attention. By allowing him to continue to 'sleep' after trying to wake him up without success, they allowed excessive time to pass before calling 911 or his parents.

Now, keep in mind, this is simply my assumption of what might have happened. I really have no idea what happened. I'm just creating a logical scenario that would coincide with the child entering daycare in a non-responsive state and allow the child to remain in an unresponsive state for a while until someone actually noticed that they needed to call 911 and the parents.

I once had a child sleep from arrival til the end of nap. This was several years ago and I was really young and didn't know any better. I would never allow that now. But she was dropped off sleeping and slept nearly the whole day, she wasn't unresponsive but she could not stay awake longer than about 30 seconds. She was fine the day before and after, so I never knew why she was so sleepy.

My heart goes out to all involved.