Posted on 06/29/2006 8:59:40 AM PDT by charming_harmonica
A 5-month-old baby died in a minivan Wednesday after the mother apparently forgot to drop the child off at day care.
The tragedy was discovered about 5:30 p.m. outside the Wonder Years 2 day care. The baby's mother stopped at the day care after work to pick up the child and was told by staff that the baby had not been dropped off. She realized then that the baby had been in her minivan all day.
"The mother had forgotten to drop off the child at day care in the morning," said Curt Kreun, owner of Wonder Years 2. "She actually came in the building to pick up the child and then realized what had happened."
The child was in a car seat in the back of the vehicle, according to Sgt. Jeff Burgess of the Grand Forks Police Department. A Wonder Years 2 staff member made the 911 call, according to Kreun.
Staff members had taken the baby out of the van and started CPR before the ambulance arrived. Kreun said he reached the scene about 6 p.m. and emergency personnel already had gotten the word from Altru to cease resuscitation.
"The child had probably passed away a while before she got to the day care," Kreun said.
Kreun, who has been in the child care business for years, said near-tragedies happen all too often.
"I know people who have gotten to work and realized they forgot to drop off their kids and had to go back."
Kreun said it would have been impossible for passersby to see the baby in the van, which had tinted windows.
"I walked around that van about 14 times after they left, and you would not have been able to see in there," he said.
The incident is under investigation by the Criminal Investigation Bureau, but police told Kreun they didn't expect charges to be filed.
"They're looking at it as a tragic accident," he said. "This is by far the most devastating thing I've had to witness."
"There are no arrests being made tonight," said Burgess. "I can tell you that."
The cause of death had not yet been confirmed Wednesday night, but a likely cause of death in cases where children are left in hot vehicles is hyperthermia.
The temperature in a parked car rises very rapidly, even when the windows are left open a crack. Studies show that the temperature can rise as much as 50 degrees in an hour.
Wednesday's high was 79 degrees, so the temperature in the van easily could have exceeded 100 degrees.
"One of my friends has two children: ages 3 and 1-1/2. The three year old's first year (much of which was spent in daycare), he had lots of ear infections, etc. When the youngest was born, she stayed home for good. The youngest has never had an ear infection yet."
Well by golly then, that's the cure for ear infections isn't it? Don't let the kids go anywhere!!
Both my children went to daycare. One never had an ear infection. The other had them constantly until we discovered she had a bone spur in a tear duct, which was causing backup in the ears that got infected. Never had another one after the spur was removed. I don't think we can blame the bone spur on daycare, though. So daycare didn't cause ear infections either of my children.
And what does that prove? Nothing. Just like your story.
Well, I have a 5 month old now and she falls asleep about 60 seconds into any car ride, and I have to assume this baby was similarly soothed and quiet in the car. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to call home and check up on the little one.
Your understanding is appreciated.
I'm not sure I'm buying this woman's story. I'm about as absent-minded as you get--I'm always thinking about other things and blocking my surroundings out. It's been a problem my entire life and my husband accuses me constantly of not listening to him. But when I was a mom and was carting around my young'en, she was foremost on my mind. No way could anything like this have happened. Sometimes, the best way to hide is to leave it in the open. I don't know what happened here, but this incident deserves a very close look.
Yeah, talking about eugenics....Low-medium and low social class, DO NOT REPRODUCE!!!!! YOU BELONG TO THE UNFIT!!!!. Goodness, I love my kid...but wait...I have to work. What can I do now?. Too late for an abortion.
"A good mother's first priority is raising and caring for her child. She doesn't farm it off for others to deal with when it's an infant."
Fine idea. Will you help pay for food and rent for the single mom (divorced, widowed or for whatever reason) since she can't work? That would be really good of you.
bttt
My "baby" is almost 4, but I still constantly check on him in the mirror and I regulary turn around to coo to him too.
"Sometimes, the best way to hide is to leave it in the open. I don't know what happened here, but this incident deserves a very close look."
You ARE kidding aren't you?
No kids here. Happily single.
It is not unbelievable. It is so very tragic. How could someone possibly deal with this situation. This person needs prayers. Oh my gosh, how sad.
This is not meant to be a humous reply. But this email I received seems so appropriate to this situation.
Subject: A.A.A.D.D
Recently, I was diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only 1 check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered.
I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
----the car isn't washed,
----the bills aren't paid,
----there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, ----the flowers don't have enough water, ----there is still only 1 check in my check book, ----I can't find the remote, ----I can't find my glasses, ----and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
Do me a favor, will you? Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember to whom it has been sent.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!
GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC.
*P. S. I just remembered, I LEFT THE WATER RUNNING
* *IN THE DRIVEWAY!!!!!!!!!
The point is I do think this has been happening since after Eden--and air conditioning in cars in a way may make this forgetting worse. If the windows were open maybe it would take the child longer to pass? Or maybe they would cry out of being uncomfortable as the parent was driving. I don't know.
There is no excuse for this, I agree, but unfortunately it sounds as though this stuff does happen and to people who are just normal everyday caring parents--not always, but on rare occassions.
I think too, from experience, the more children one has the easier it is to space out and forget. Either way it does seem to happen to all sorts of parents. I am not a parent, but I do have 24 nieces and nephews and hear all sorts of stories about the mistakes of raising children from their very attentive parents. It is sad and all I can say is thank God for guardian angels--I believe mine has spared my life more than a few times!
No. I have no idea what happened, but I would just take another look. I never assume anything anyway. It might well be an accident, but I just wouldn't assume it. It deserves investigation.
The rear baby seat should be cattycorner to the driver's seat. That way the driver can give easy glances into the backseat and check on the baby.
Completely llogical to have the babyseat behind the driver's.
No not born that way; I thought my choices out carefully.
It's a terrible thing to think but if there are never any charges against a mother for this, then it could be the perfect crime for a crazed mother who didn't want her child anymore. In fact I think I saw something like this on Law and Order.
And yet some of these people will wonder why people in the West are having so few children. If you must be able to stay at home for 18 years, breastfeed for at least one year, homeschool, put your kid in least five different activities, etc., lest your children be damaged forever, many people will opt out of parenthood all together.
Forget the fact that children have died at home from accidents, sometimes when the parent was distracted for just a few seconds. None of us know the circumstances in this case, and it is premature for us to judge based on a short article.
Maybe the stupid law requiring babies to be constrained in the back seat would result in mothers not forgetting that there is a child in the car. That is what is causing these deaths.
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