OKLAHOMA CITY — Infant babies are dying in their car seats. The safety devices parents diligently buckle into the car, when used incorrectly, can be deadly for very young children.
In the past five years, six Oklahoma babies have died while sleeping in a car seat, bouncer, or infant rocker.
- In Norman, a 15-month-old boy was strangled to death by the straps of his car seat.
- Near Tulsa, a five-month-old boy died at a home daycare which had been cited for unsafe sleeping violations.
- In Edmond, an 11-week-old baby died after his airway closed while he was sleeping swaddled in a car seat.
“There was no medical reason for my son to die,” said Ali Dodd, whose son died after he was put to sleep in a car seat.
Ali Meyer interviewed Ali Dodd and another Oklahoma mother whose child died in a safety seat.
“It happens every day. It’s so sad,” said Angela Dickson, the Safe Sleep and Social Work Coordinator for the Maternal and Child Health Service at the Oklahoma State Health Department. “It happens every day. It doesn’t matter how much education you have or how many parenting classes you’ve had. It can still happen.”
This will be an eye-opening report, especially for parents who thought they were doing everything right.
Tune in for the full report Thursday at 10 P.M.