A Michigan mother is sending out a warning to other parents after her baby died while sleeping in bed with her.
Angela, choosing only to go by her first name, took to social media to warn other parents about what could happen if they choose to sleep in the same bed as their baby (video below).
Angela’s baby, Everett James, was reportedly found dead by his father when he came home to find the infant in bed with his wife, unresponsive. He called 911 and CPR was attempted, but sadly, on May 16, the 5-month-old was pronounced dead.
“This will be the hardest thing for me to write in my life,” Angela wrote in her social media post, reported WOOD-TV. “But if it saves even one life, it is worth it.”
Co-sleeping is a common practice for parents who want their child to sleep through the night, and while many parents admit to doing it, experts say it’s not worth the risk.
“Taking that risk and saying ‘maybe it won’t happen tonight’ — it’s just not worth that risk,” Dr. Bill Bush of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said. “Every situation that happens — it’s so sad for us as a community and for a family. A preventable death. We can really, hopefully decrease the number of times that I ever have to have these conversations with families.”
In her social media post, Angela tells parents to think twice before sleeping with their babies.
“As much as you love to snuggle and cuddle your little one, please resist the temptation to do so in bed,” Angela wrote. “No matter how difficult it may seem at the time, put them to sleep in their own crib and avoid the greatest pain that one can experience in life — the pain that we are now experiencing.
“Your child’s life is too valuable,” she added.
Grand Rapids Police are investigating the infant’s death.
