A baby girl was taken to the hospital after her father accidentally fell asleep on top of her, according to an Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
A deputy who was working a special assignment at the Regional Medical Center learned of the incident at 2:39 a.m. Tuesday when a nurse reported that parents brought their baby girl to the emergency room with blood on her face.
The parents told her that the baby’s father fell asleep with the baby in the bed and accidentally rolled over on her, the report said.
The baby suffered a contusion to her lungs. Medics transported her to Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia for further observation.
The deputy spoke with the parents separately.
Both parents said they were feeding the baby girl and her twin brother in the bed around 12:15 a.m.
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They said that the father was tending to his daughter when he fell asleep with the baby next to him.
The baby’s mother said that she also dozed off, but when she woke up, she saw the father on top of the baby.
She quickly removed the baby from under the father and the baby began to cough blood, the report said.
The parents immediately rushed the baby to the hospital.
The father told the deputy that he was unaware that he rolled on top of the baby.
Both parents denied hitting or dropping the baby.
The deputy contacted the Department of Social Services to make them aware of the incident.
The case remains under investigation. The age of the baby was not available.
Dr. Tracy MacPherson of the Pediatric Clinic said, “The number one cause of SIDS is a parent rolling over on a child.” SIDS stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Parents are strongly encouraged to let a baby ranging from newborn to 4 months sleep in a bassinet or bedside crib in the same room with them.
Once a baby reaches the age of 4 months, the baby should sleep in a room of its own, MacPherson said.
MacPherson said parents may feel that their baby is safer when sleeping with them, but the results can be deadly.
“Co-sleeping is not a crime,” MacPherson said.
She advises that if a parent discovers they’re in an unfortunate situation where they’ve rolled over on their baby while sleeping, then they should seek immediate medical attention by calling 911.
When the parent speaks with law enforcement about the situation, MacPherson said “being forthcoming is in the parent’s best interest.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control’s most recent online data, there were about 1,600 SIDS deaths in the United States in 2015. About 900 of those deaths were due to accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed.
Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD.
Martha Rose Brown
Staff Writer
