Infant who died after being found unconscious at nanny's house was left alone for 3 hours
SENGKANG, SINGAPORE: A six-month-old baby, who died after being found unresponsive and face down in his nanny's house, was left alone in a room for three hours, a coroner's court heard on Monday, March 27. Yong Jing Yu reportedly died on December 28, 2021, after his parents Yong Chen Seng and Toh Jinq Lay left him under the care of a nanny, whose name was not mentioned during the hearing.
The investigating officer testified that the nanny had fed the infant and put him to bed in a playpen at her house at around 3 pm on December 28. At around 6.20 pm, she decided to give him a bath but discovered him lying face down on the mattress in a playpen corner. She immediately picked him up and realized he was unconscious and noticed he had a bluish face. She asked her son to phone an ambulance, and the operator on the line instructed her to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the infant until paramedics arrived, according to Channel News Asia.
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Why was Jing Yu left alone for 3 hours?
The infant was rushed to Sengkang General Hospital after the paramedics found some warmth in his body. Tragically, despite doctors' relentless efforts, Jing Yu was pronounced dead that night. Cardiorespiratory failure was first listed as the official cause of death, but the forensic pathologist indicated that this was only a "placeholder" while the case was still being investigated. The police also have no suspicion of wrongdoing, said IO Tong, who is a senior staff sergeant at the Ang Mo Kio police division.
During the hearing, it was also revealed that the nanny had left her house for three hours, leaving Jing Yu in one room and two other infants in the main room. Apparently, the nanny believed she would be gone for "a while" and assumed her 13-year-old son would look after the three children. However, there was no evidence that the teenager left his room to check on any of the babies.
Nanny gave infant asthma medicine
Jing Yu’s mother noted that the nanny had been taking care of her son since he was three months old. She said the nanny had a habit of swaddling her son and placing him to sleep face down. The coroner inquired whether Jinq Lay had ever seen her son sleeping face down while being wrapped in a blanket at the nanny's house. The mother showed them a picture and said, “The nanny said she would use such a position to let babies sleep. I thought since she had a child of her own and would have more experience, I followed her.”
Toh Lay continued by stating that Jing Yu was able to turn around on his own at the time of his death. She also flagged that on weekends, when Jing Yu was with them, he would only sleep for about one hour but the nanny told the police that he used to sleep for three to four hours at her residence. The court was later told that the nanny assumed Jing Yu had asthma and she allegedly fed him 1ml of Zenmolin on December 26, without the parents' consent. The inquiry is still in progress and state Coroner Adam Nakhoda will give his findings at a later date.