The Stories You Don't Hear...

On March 8, 6-day old Ceianna Buchanan died while co-sleeping with her mother on a couch. The mother told police she was drunk the night before.

On April 5, 3-month old Kymarius Hunt died while co-sleeping on a couch with his grandmother. She had drunk 8 beers during the day.

On April 19, 2-month old Tyler Winston died while co-sharing with his mother.

On April 25, 6-week old Demetrius Kimble died while co-sleeping with both parents in one bed. His mother had been drinking before bedtime.

On May 17, 2-month old Meekel McCleave died while sharing a bed with his mother early Sunday morning.

These stories make it seem like if you drink you shouldn't bed share, which no one will argue but I want to show you babies that have died when drinking wasn't a factor not were drugs of any kind.


Dayton Lee West Mullen:

His mother Lisa was told my Dayton's pediatrician that bed sharing promotes breast feeding. Lisa had a mattress on the floor when she co-slept with Dayton, she slept with him in her arms, she did not drink, smoke, or do any drugs illegal or over the counter. She slept with only a pillow for herself and a sheet that did not cover Dayton and then one morning she awoke to find her shoulder pressed into Dayton's face. He died from bed sharing.

Alayna Vivian:

Alayna lived for only 5 hours. Her mother Jodie was in the hospital and could not get Alayna to latch on and so after many failed attempts finally asked a nurse. The nurse placed a pillow in the bed with Jodie and then placed newborn alayna on top of it, and she latched on right away. Jodie of course was tired as any mother who just gave birth is and fell asleep while her daughter was nursing. She woke up to the nurses picking up Alayna's limp body, she died from suffocation when her mother fell asleep while bed sharing and nursing.

Chaston Manuel Clark:

Chaston's mommy Victoria also bed shared with her son and will his daddy but Victoria was right next to Chaston when one more she woke up to find her baby not breathing, the autopsy says SIDS but she believe he died from bed sharing. Suffocation and SIDS often look alike with no signs.


Kennedy Marie:



Her mother Tiffany never bed shared with her daughter, she did know the risks but one night she was tired and Kennedy's daddy feed her and burped her. Kennedy was a hard burper so he laid her on the bed for a few minutes before he burped her. He feel asleep and rolled on top of Kennedy killing her by an accident.

Jaleel:

Jaleel and his mommy Stacey bed shared after she had her c-section and tubal as it was easier for her to meet his needs while in pain and one morning Jaleel suffocated on a pillow while bed sharing.

"Mac"

Mac's mommy Sarah bed shared also and woke up the next morning to find Mac lying next to her but life no longer flowing inside his body.

Neveah:

Neveah and her mommy were bed sharing when she died at six months old.

Jaxin:

Jaxin and his daddy were bed sharing when he rolled on top of him and he died at almost 5 months old.

Naylen:

naylen was bed sharing in between her mommy and daddy when she passed away to SIDS.

Heather was bed sharing with her daughter Corynn, I want you to read her story:

"On April 3rd our second

child was born, a beautiful healthy baby girl who we called Corynn. We loved
her very much and she was very welcome in our lives.  We planned on raising our daughter the same way we were raising our son in the attachment parenting style. No cribs with bars that resembled jail cells for us, no way! Our little one would know how important and loved she was by being as close to mom as possible at all times especially for on demand night nursing. Of course she would always be put to bed on her back and away from blankets because we wanted her to have the most comforting safe sleep environment she could have.

Things were going great. We were a happy family together, perfect. We even did baby yoga together the day she died. I still remember her smile when I would look at her upside down from downward facing dog. We went to bed that night looking forward to another day together. At 3 am on June 7th, I awoke and something was wrong. I looked at my daughter lying next to me on her back where I had placed her to night nurse and she was pale and blue.  I picked her up and she was limp and heavy. I screamed to wake up my husband and demanded he call 911 while I started CPR.

 The paramedics came and were not able to resuscitate her. The sheriff and social workers came.  Everyone was very kind to us and empathetic to the tragedy that was occurring. More than once since that
day we have been told.”We slept with our child too.” “You didn’t do anything wrong. It is just a freak accident.”  But why us? I searched for the answer. I reviewed the guidelines for safe bed-sharing. I had bed-shared with my son and had never heard of or even considered what I was doing was unsafe. As long as your baby was put to sleep on their back and away from heavy blankets they would be sleeping safe right?  I had followed all the guidelines for “safe” bed-sharing and was not even in a “high-risk” group. I am lean,don’t smoke, no one was drinking or doing drugs, the bed had no blankets or pillows or guardrails, no pillow-top mattress, and she was not placed between me and another person.  I even wrote to the author of the book for these guidelines of safe sleep and have never heard back. People including medical professionals seemed to stand by that bed-sharing is safe,everybody does it, it was a just a terrible one in a million accident or maybe there was something wrong with me or my daughter?

The coroner’s final report suggested overlay as the cause of death. The image of my body as a murder weapon broke my heart. I only wanted to be there for her always, whenever she needed me. To think it was my ignorance that got her killed makes me feel like a failure. How can I have the right to breathe air when I took away hers? It didn’t make sense. It has taken time and the immeasurable kindness and empathy of family and friends to forgive myself and know that I needed to keep breathing to be there for my son.

My son is older now, but he still remembers his baby sister that died. Sometimes he asks me what happened, why his sister died. I explain she was sleeping in our bed and suffocated on accident. He will scold me and say, “You shouldn’t have had her in your bed. She should have had a crib. Why didn’t she have a crib?” I say I know now it was a mistake and we did not know any better at the time. I hope to help other
people know better. I share my story and I hope it is as obvious to them as it is to a 5 year-old, that babies sleep safer alone, on their back, and in a crib."

Before you think about putting your baby in bed with you, please consider all of us who laid our babies in bed and then laid them gently in their caskets to sleep for an eternity!!!!!