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A 2-and-a-half-month-old infant boy was tragically pronounced dead Monday morning after reportedly co-sleeping in a bed with his 8- and 12-year-old siblings. According to reports, the8-year-old rolled over onto the baby some time during the night, and when the family awoke the next morning, they discovered that the youngest sibling wasn't breathing.
To say this is a tragedy is an understatement. A poor, sweet baby's life was taken away after only two short months, and -- if the reports are true -- his sibling is going to have to live the rest of their life with this god-awful incident on their conscience. The parents of the children apparently have conflicting stories as to what exactly transpired that night, but I think we can all agree that this is something that could have probably been prevented. A 2-month-old shouldn't be sleeping the night alone in a bed with two "big kids".
The point of this post isn't to be a "sanctimommy". If co-sleeping works for your family, that's wonderful. If it doesn't, that's perfectly fine, too. This is just a message that needs to be spread: If you are going to co-sleep, please use safe practices. Even if you personally are going to sleep in a bed with more than one child, you shouldn't let infants and older kids sleep next to one another. No one -- especially erratic children sleepers -- is in tune with a baby like a mother.
Thoughts and prayers go out to this family. And please pass along to anyone you know who co-sleeps. One more story in the news like this is too many.
Do you co-sleep?
Image via Marie P/Flickr
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