Parents issue heartbreaking warning about letting kids nap in car seat on the floor after their 11-month-old died from suffocation
Two parents are sharing the story of how they lost their son after he suffocated while sitting in a car seat on the floor in the hope of warning parents about the risks.
Ryne and Rachel Jungling had dropped their 11-and-a-half-month-old son Anders with his twin sister Linnea at the daycare, never realizing that it would be the last time they would see their son alive.
The parents had been blessed with twins after years of waiting and two rounds of IVF. They had taken classes on how to prepare for the baby's arrival and yet, they didn't know about not letting kids nap in the car seat.
"Always ask questions of your caregiver. It's not rude. It's responsible. Have a conversation with whoever watches your child about where he or she will sleep. A car seat is not an acceptable place," the mother said.
"Bye, Buddy!" Those were the last words I ever said to my son Anders. He smiled back with a sweet sleepy smile," the parents shared in a post on Safe Kids Grand Forks, an organization that works to prevent unintentional injuries and deaths to children.
"I had just dropped him off at daycare with his twin sister, Linnea. She was all wiggles and wide awake. Their provider had already taken her out of her car seat when I said goodbye. I assumed Anders was next, as always. I was wrong."
The parents went off to work and a couple of hours later, they got a call from the police — something had happened to Anders at daycare. "He asked if I was sitting down and told me it was really bad, but didn't elaborate," the post said.
The mom was picked up at work by a police officer and driven to the hospital. The parents thought that he must've fallen or managed to get something on top of himself, but it was only when doctors at the hospital told them that Anders' heart had to be restarted after 40 minutes of CPR did the truth hit them.
"A detective told my husband and me that Anders had been in his car seat. I was still confused. 'Was he going somewhere?' I asked," wrote the mom.
"It was explained that he had been napping in his car seat since I dropped him off over two hours earlier."
The child had suffocated after his head was tilted forward, as it is when in a car seat on the floor and the airflow to his lungs had been cut off.
"This is what happened to Anders. My strong and thriving little boy suffocated," the mom said. The child was taken to Fargo and was on life support for three days before passing away.
The parents say that they've met numerous other parents who had no idea that this could prove dangerous. "No one likes disturbing a sleeping baby, but minutes or hours of fussiness isn't worth never hearing their cry again," she said.