Woman tapes pacifier to kid's mouth. Kid dies...

[BlooInBloo]

What's up with these stupid sick fucks? Poor kid.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003753845_webbaby19m.html?syndication=rss

A 20-year-old Lake Stevens woman arrested in the death of her 4-month-old son told police that she had taped a pacifier to the infant's face to keep it inside his mouth.

The woman, who is not being identified because she hasn't been charged, called 911 around 11:30 a.m. Monday to report that the infant was unconscious, according to Lake Stevens police.

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Jesus. What is wrong with people?

RIP baby boy.

[gatorboy]

2. She was lazy.

The child would probably spit it out in the middle of the night and wake up.

[gkhouston]

6. at that age, they still need to be FED in the middle of the night.

:nuke:

And apart from representing a choking hazard, taping something to the baby's face is going to irritate his skin. I vividly remember trying to find new places to tape on a dressing when sloooowly recovering from a surgery.

[katty]

3. lazy, yes - but more 'cruel' - how about a 'license to parent'?!

[durrrty libby]

7. Indeed. There are many unfit to own pets,let alone be parents

[Breeze54]

4. All my kids stopped using one at 4 months!!

Gheesh! What an inexperienced, dumb "Mom".
This was so unnecessary! Poor little thing! :(

[hlthe2b]

5. God, people just don't think... this is horrendous.

I don't have kids, but I look down at my beloved four-legged girlie and constantly try to anticipate anything that could hurt her and how to prevent that. Yes, accidents happen, but this, I can not imagine.... How truly horrible.

[phantom power]

8. Since I became a parent...

I've gained some (arguably disturbing) insight into how these things might happen.

You're a very young, very inexperience mother. And who knows, maybe not very bright either. Maybe you're overworked, at the end of your rope. The kid has kept you up 5 nights in a row. Maybe (unlike me) you are a single parent, working long hours at a crappy job, etc.

You just aren't thinking straight.

Obviously, it was still a fucking stupid thing to do, and a tragedy. I just feel compelled to say that if you push anybody hard enough, they become more likely to do stupid things. Having children can push you that way. Especially if you have a bunch of other stuff stacked against you too.

I've had days that made me wonder why stuff like this doesn't happen more often. And my circumstances are stacked very much in my favor.

Or, maybe she's just straight-up damned stupid.

[Breeze54]

9. I'm glad you posted this...the kid could've been screaming bloody murder for the last 4 months too!

Maybe she was exhausted from no sleep and was not thinking straight.
Maybe she didn't realize his nose was stuffed up and that he'd smother.
Maybe she's suffering from Post Partum Depression and is way over tired?
Still, taping it in his mouth is dumb. Parenting classes should be mandatory!

[IndyOp]

18. In France, after you have a baby, the government will pay to send a nanny to your home

4 hours, 2 times a week -- to babysit, do laundry, give you tips about how to get the baby to sleep, let you sleep... The 35 hour work weeks, $40 per week daycare, 5 weeks paid vacation, and free health care would probably have all helped this woman be a better parent.

[BlooInBloo]

19. People are gonna DIE when they see SiCKO.

[Breeze54]

22. When my last two were born, I got a visit

from a visiting nurse. Just to make sure I was ok and the baby.
They checked blood pressure, my and the baby's temp., etc.
Asked about sleeping and eating for the both of us.
But I'm not sure if that's SOP all across the USA.

[Lars39]

28. Nope. Totally unheard of where I live.

:(

[ikojo]

33. Back in the 1980s and 1990s insurance companies

would try to incentivize women to leave the hospital as soon as possible after birth by paying for a visiting nurse. Of course the $45 the nurse was paid by the insurance company was far less than one day in the hospital.

[Clark2008]

14. I vote for stupid.

I was a single Mom and spent many a sleepless night and still had to go to work the next morning. Granted, my son was older than 4 months old when a divorce forced me back into the 8 to 5 workforce, but I still didn't, oh, I don't know, stick his face over the side of the bed aimed for a bucket when he kept me up for several nights with a tummy ache.

[enlightenment]

15. Let's go with just straight-up damned stupid, shall we?

Personally, I'm sick and tired of finding excuses for this crap - and I was (27 years ago) a young, inexperienced, overworked, stressed out single mother with an infant who couldn't remember to breathe for the first 5 weeks. I don't believe I slept the entire time.

Yes, pushed hard enough, people MAY do stupid things. But even more often, people don't want to bother making the hard choices, whether that is getting up in the middle of the night or deciding that they're not equipped to raise a child BEFORE they have one. And it's not just young, single moms - it's 30-something moms and dads who manage to "forget" their infant is in the car and leave the kid to die in summer heat; parents who see nothing wrong with stuffing their 3 year old with crap food; moms who are so hung-up on their own body image that they turn their 5 year olds into anxiety-stricken anorexics-in-training; people who believe that they have an undisputed right to breed as much and as often as they wish - whether or not they are financially, emotionally, and physically fit to have children . . .

okay. Apparently feeling a little cranky . . . /rant off.

Sorry . . .

[BlooInBloo]

16. It *is* hard to go along with taping an infant's mouth shut because you can't stand hearing him.

[TheMadMonk]

25. And thankyou very much. All that mindless vitriol was getting a bit nauseating.

That level of frustration is so easy to reach as a young and inexperienced mother. Or even as a middle aged and self tutored carpenter. People get frustrated and do stupid things. Sometimes those stupid things have consequences that sicken and horrify. Sometimes we're lucky and get away with our actions.

For one person the memory of that consequence is most likely going to be like a knife in the guts for the rest of her life. She did something stupid and thoughtless. However, she did not intend to harm her child. No more than anyone intends harm when they leave a pan handle protruding, a jug cord dangling or the pool gate unlatched.

I'll lay London to a brick, that there's plenty amongst us, who can recall moments of stupidity and frustration that either did, or could have resulted in significant harm to others, possibly even death. There but for the grace of the dice goes virtually every one of us.

[phantom power]

31. I know I've had a few "you lucked out, Dad" moments.

Kids can get into trouble 24/7. With 0.1 seconds of opportunity. You never ever ever ever get to let your guard down. Except that you just do, once in a while. Because we're human beings, not robots. I think most parental goofs are of the "I wasn't paying attention quite enough" variety.

Active screw-ups, like taping a binky over a baby's mouth, are more rare, but you deprive a parent of enough sleep, you start thinking weird thoughts. Couple that with a total lack of relevant life experience, no support system...

I have a sister-in-law who's second son had colic. The kid literally screamed every moment he was awake. I don't think she slept more than 2 hours at a time for six months. One night she caught herself thinking "if I just put him in the snow for a while, it will get him to quiet down." She didn't actually do that, and I don't think she's ever forgiven herself for even thinking it. But parenting can push you right to that hairy edge. And sometimes, I think a parent just ends up on the wrong side of the edge. Utterly tragic. The kid is dead, and the parent gets to live with it for the rest of their life.

I've had thoughts I wish I hadn't had. Maybe I'm just projecting, but I think most parents have at one time or another.

I don't want to go overboard defending epic stupidity. But I have more pity for that mother than anger. Cause I think I can imagine how it all happened, and I'm afraid to imagine what it's going to be like living with what she did.

[elehhhhna]

10. She learned that on 20/20 (or Primetime) -- story on E European Orphanages

[Clark2008]

11. My first reaction is that this woman should be tarred and feathered.

Edit because I can't read. I thought it said 4 years old, not 4 months old.

My first reaction still fits, though. Can we stick something in her mouth and tape it shut? :grr:

[kestrel91316]

12. Why did it take her SEVERAL hours to notice the baby was dead?

Enquiring minds really want to know.......

(kestrel wonders if drugs were involved....)

[Breeze54]

13. She fell asleep? Hence the need for the pacifier?

:shrug:

[uppityperson]

17. Poor baby, poor parents

[gollygee]

20. She called at 11:30 am???? That's almost noon!

It didn't occur to her until almost noon that he wasn't just sleeping?

OK here's what I see. Mom was up way too late, if she had to sleep until 11:30 the next day. Baby cries, upsets mom, because he's hungry and awake, and she's, what, hungover maybe?

I have no sympathy here. I've had PPD and I know what it feels like but I don't think that's what's going on here.

[Breeze54]

23. 4 month olds are still up all night and day at all hours.

Especially if they have colic.

[gollygee]

24. My daughter had colic

First, almost all babies who have it outgrow that right around 3 months.

Second, if the baby had fallen asleep from being up screaming all night, the baby wouldn't be needing a pacifier at that point.

Third, if a baby has colic, putting a pacifier in their mouth isn't going to stop their screaming.

[Breeze54]

26. I'm a Mom and had a baby that screamed bloody murder for 4 months straight!

The point I was making is that may be WHY she did that! When they're screaming that much,
and you're exhausted because of it, you'll try anything to get it to stop screaming.
Luckily, we discovered that loud rock & roll music and dancing and driving around in
the car at 2:30 AM, listening to Tull, seemed to help more than the pacifier... finally!
I never tried taping the baby's mouth, although I bet I thought about it! :P The doctor
told me, "If it's any consolation, screaming babies seem to be very high in intelligence."
He was right on that count ;) but little help with the colic.

[JVS]

21. what a fucking dumbass

[mnhtnbb]

27. I have said--for years and years--people should be licensed to have kids. Period.

Too young. Too stupid. Probably without a support network.
Parenting is a damn tough job.

[Nikki Stone1]

29. I hate to tell you how easy it is to do something stupid like that

She probably figured he would breathe through his nose.

There need to be parenting classes with the basics of infant and toddler care.

[Horse with no Name]

30. As awful as this is

I simply CANNOT judge this mother.
I know that my daughter had a complete support system when her baby was new and it was still difficult for her.
If this mother has a child that has been cranky and crying and keeping her up for a few nights, or working long hours, or simply no support system, it's really hard to say without any more information.
AND quite possibly maybe she was just stupid.
They make some type of device for pacifiers so that they don't fall out--it is likely she saw one and fashioned her own--without the safety features built in.
That poor little baby...so very sad.
But I will reserve some sympathy for this young mother as well.

[ikojo]

32. She's 20 and the baby was four months old

That means she got pregnant at 19...not many 19 year olds are ready for the responsibility of a baby, especially modern 19 year olds. This woman was probably not at all ready, emotionally, to parent a child.

I have a niece who is 23, she has a two year old. She was DEFINITELY not ready to have a baby. She saw all of her other very working class friends having kids and baby showers so she got baby rabies. She didn't have a clue on what commitments a baby takes. If her mom didn't take that baby from Saturday night to Sunday evening, my niece would not be able to handle it. I don't know what my sister will do if her daughter has another one real soon because the current grandchild demands a lot of attention. I hope my niece either doesn't have anymore children or waits a long time, maybe until she grows up a bit herself.