license to breed

[medsurgnurse]

ER nurses can understand the frustrations of dealing with children placed in harms way by the adults who are supposed to be the caregivers. This doesn't tell the whole story. I read the original more detailed story. The parents were asleep, the child was asleep in a car seat on the floor. They awoke to the baby crying. SEVERAL of the child toes had been chewed off. I'm sure this baby didn't wait until after several toes were chewed off and THEN start crying. Doesn't add up. Now they are defending the dog.

Mom says ferret, not dog, gnawed off baby's toes

more stupid parent awards.

My Way News - Oops! I Thought You Had the Baby Honey

A case when the child has more sense than the parent.

Boy, 12, refuses to get in car with mom

[wincha]

There seems to be some correlation between sleeping in a car seat and SIDS..

ABC News: Don't Let Sleeping Babies Lie -- in Car Seats

Half of the infants were children of smokers-and secondhand smoke is known to weaken a baby's drive to breathe. All of these factors help explain why a car seat is so potentially dangerous.

The article had a study of less than 40 infants and it had to do with the positioning of the baby so the head did not flop forward and obstruct the windpipe.

You also have to take into consideration of a baby with a very bad cold or reflux that needs to be upright and can not lie on their back due to choking which also is a risk. I have had to hold a baby all night upright when very sick, so having a baby sleep in their pumpkin seat next to me(on the floor) properly restrained is not unreasonable in this situation. I would always check with your pediatrician for your situation.

[medsurgnurse, RN]

Okay guys, I realize anger was not a politically correct response. I wasn't angry at the mother. I was angry at the situation and at the fact that a kid could have easily died over stupidity. Isn't this what this whole thread is about? And my anger was fueled by compassion. Compassion for the child, and for the ignorant mother. Social workers had been previously notified and I am sure they had made follow up visits etc, but apparently they were not successful in educating this mother either. This is another case of "needing a license to breed." I was not angry at the mother personally. I was angry because a poor innocent child could have died and there wasn't a single thing I could do to fix the situation. I and others had all ready given PLENTY of nutritional advice. I'm sorry I said I was angry but when a beautiful child (albeit with crappy genes) has to suffer and maybe potentially die over an adults stupidity, I sometimes get emotional. I am sorry I am a human being.

If you had not saved the babies life, she could have sued the hospital because after all the baby choked IN THE HOSPITAL. I understand your anger. The first time its frustration. After the mother fed corn chips to a two month old a second time almost killing her baby, I understand your anger. You just know, one day she going to suceed in seriously injuring or killing this child through negligence.

[medsurgnurse, RN]

My younger son had severe reflux and for a while slept in his car seat in the crib on the pediatrician's advice. He'll be 17 next month and is healthy; we hadn't heard about sleeping positions correlating with SIDS at the time.

I also don't understand how any animal could get more than one toe if the baby was right beside the parents and they were sleeping. I think that either they weren't there or else they were passed out on alcohol or drugs.

I took care of a baby once who had been bitten by rats (not mice, rats) which were not family pets. The baby's twin was bitten less severely- the one I took care of required transfusion. Mom claimed she was asleep in the same room. I don't think anybody believed her, those babies had to have been screaming bloody murder. It was, without a doubt, one of the grossest things I've ever seen in nursing.

Exactly. The parents are arguing over which animal did the deed. More importantly, how did they sleep through their babies screams. if they didn't wake for the baby's screams while her toes were being chewed off, I doubt the wake for two hours feedings and wet diapers. Also, simple math will tell you that the got the puppy (because the article said puppy) knowing they would have a newborn in the house. Its not like it was a cherished family pet they couldn't bear to part with. They got the puppy shortly before or after the baby's birth.

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

I really hope the judge doesn't return the child to their custody, but you really can't count on anything....

[Daywalker]

I would just like to say one more thing.

KEEP PIT BULLS AWAY FROM KIDS BECAUSE PIT BULLS KILL KIDS, NOT ALL KIDS, NOT ALL PIT BULLS, BUT ENOUGH. WHY TAKE THE RISK?

I agree. Heck, it's illegal to own them at all where I live.

[Daywalker]

Mentally ill is a broad term. Don't forget that many forms of mental illness are treatable/manageable these days. Are you implying that anyone with a psychiatric diagnosis shouldn't be allowed to be a parent?

Hope not. I have two kids, and am being (successfully) treated for PPD.

[tiggerforhim]

As parents, you do what works. We had a terminally ill foster baby (trisomy 13) who because of a severe cleft lip and palate and a tendency to regurg, needed to be kept somewhat upright. This was in the early days of infant car seats and we found one that did keep her in the correct position. She also had difficulty maintaining her temp so we sat the corificeat on a heating pad set on low.

I'm sure there are those that would be aghast at the arrangement today, but it worked for our baby and it worked for us.

The biggest factor is that we had her best interests at heart and we kept trying different things till we found success.

Other babies may do well in a car seat during those early months. That semi-fetal curling is a lot closer to what they were used to in utero than lying flat on a mattress.

Again, parents who are looking for solutions and really are thinking about a position of comfort for their babies should not be compared with those who really don't have a clue.

One hopes that the child in this horrendous story will have someone checking her status for a long time to come.

Exactly. As a peds nurse, I have had parents of chronic severely mentally challenged kids put them to sleep in the car seat in the hospital because that was the safest thing to keep them from hurting themselves as they thrashed about at night - some of them never really even slept and it was a way to keep them safe while the parents got some sleep. After all, you've got to work and need to sleep, too. With the bigger kids we'd put the seat in a toddler bed (which has rails on the sides) so we could get to the kids and still keep them safe without worrying about them falling on the floor. We sort of went with the 'parents know what works best for their child' philosophy. For other babies with severe reflux in the hospital we'd put the bed at an angle and roll pads around the bottom so they wouldn't slide down and flex their neck and obstruct the airway as what happened in the study. For me the issue is not that the baby was in the corificeat but that they had the PIT BULL PUPPY! Do you know how many kids I've taken care of for bite injuries from these killer dogs? AAAAGGGGHHH! And they couldn't wake up after the first toe was gnawed off????

[wincha]

[quote=bopps;1981346

While she is waitng for her infant to be seen baby gets hungry and she starts to feed him yup you guessed it, corn chips. This time baby really choked she panics and again I happen to be walking by her room. She throws a baby at me that is completely silent, mouth is wind open no airmovement. I yell for help and flip that precious baby over my arm and whack him five times on the back. Help came, but thankfully the chip became dislodged with the fifth solid whack. I was so angry at that mother. I was shaking as I lectured her a second time regarding proper foods to feed her child. Duh!

Did you get a social worker to talk to her the 2nd time? Touch base with her pediatrician?

[twotrees2]

Ok, I'm sorry this is off topic but would someone please explain to me why a baby sleeping in a car seat at night is dangerous ? (I am not talking about a situation with the animals which was gross negligence on the part of the parents). Honestly, I have never before heard anyone say anything before negative about it (and I knew other parents who did it) and the pediatrician never said anything against it. I also remember thinking if I put her in her crib (on a different floor in my house) in the corificeat, it would seam so much more dangerous in terms of being trapped in the rare case of something bad happening. On the floor she was just inches away from the ground (as opposed to between a car seat and crib bars and mattress). Plus just feet away from me to feed her a couple times a night. To me, it just seems safer. She is older now, but I would never want to do anything that would endanger my child. Other than this insident with the animals, has anyone heard of something bad happening to a baby from sleeping in a car seat? (Please forgive me for hijacking this thread!)

i have never heard any info to the contrary and know many folks who do and have done it was well as myself

whenever we went anywhere overnight anyone of my kids ( ranging from 8 - 24 yrs) has slept as babies in corificeats. better than on a damp floor, and never did they or anyone i know kid ever get hurt.

as for pets - there is no reason to not have pets either- all my kids have grown up around dogs and with dogs - yeah as a toddler one of my children was nipped ( the dog was defending herself when the kid cornered and started beating on her ) however the dog was banished to the basement and the son was disciplined after- never a problem after. one needs to be careful with animals and kids but not fearful.

[rph3664]

We once had the same toddler present to the ER twice in the same day for two different accidental ingestions of different medications. Assuming the story was true... how dumb are those parents? What's a kid doing playing in the bathroom unsupervised at 10:30 PM, especially after one scare?

Are you sure it was accidental, or might it have been a case of Munchausen's by proxy?

[MissJoRN, RN]

Are you sure it was accidental, or might it have been a case of Munchausen's by proxy?

Don't think that didn't cross my mind, that's part of my reason for saying "assuming". The story is most memorable to me, the other details, not so much. I seem to remember this kid not being a frequent flyer. I'm also pretty sure parents did not stay, which makes MBP less likely. Our hospital also frequently had kids with bad cases of "Saturdayitis" where mom just needs a place to leave the kid so she can party, but actually having an ingested substance show up in bloodwork (I think one of the two was found) doesn't fit their usual pattern either.) Just a wacky situation, but no matter what the true story really is, it surely didn't involve Parent of The Year candidates.

[JRapha'sRN]

Last week in our ED we had a call for a patient transfer from a smaller hospital. Someone put Pine-Sol in a milk jug. Later that night someone filled the baby's bottle with the "milk" and fed them 6-8 oz of pine-sol!!!! I was gone by the time the baby arrived to the hospital, so I'm not sure how the baby did. Yup, there should be a test or something before you are allowed to have a child!