A 6-month-old infant was previously reported to have died after being found lying motionless and face down in the playpen at the nanny’s house – he had fallen asleep there earlier in the afternoon.
The parents were notified of what happened and they rushed the infant to the hospital but he had already stopped breathing upon reaching the hospital.
The case of the baby’s death was heard in the coroner’s court yesterday (27 March), with the infant’s parents Mr Yong Chen Seng and Madam Toh Jing Lay in attendance.
What happened?
According to the investigation officer in charge of the case, the nanny had fed the baby and put him to sleep inside the playpen on 28 December 2021 at about 3 pm.
She then returned at about 6.20 pm to retrieve and shower the baby but found him motionless and lying face-down at the corner of the mattress.
She realised the baby had turned blue and didn’t respond when she tried carrying him and got her son to call for an ambulance.
She was told by the 995 operator to perform CPF on the infant until paramedics arrived.
3 paramedics later arrived at the scene, with two of the concluding that the baby’s body had already turned cold, but the third paramedic felt some warmth in the baby and he was then brought to Sengkang General Hospital.
But despite resuscitation efforts, the baby was subsequently pronounced dead that night.
The investigation officer said that the nanny had left the home before the baby was found and had allegedly left the baby and another child under her care, to her 13 year old son.
But there was no evidence to suggest that her 13-year-old son had left his room to check on the two children while she was away.
The deceased baby’s mother, Madam Toh, said that her son had been in the care of the nanny since he was 3-months old, and the nanny had a habit of letting him sleep face down.
Thinking that the nanny had more experience because she had children of her own, Madam Toh went along with letting the nanny let the baby sleep face down.
The investigation office couldn’t confirm if that was how the baby slept on the day that he died.
Madam Toh also added that her son would only sleep for about an hour while at home, but the nanny said that he slept for about 3 to 4 hours at her place.
The nanny also didn’t enter the room where the baby was sleeping at the time of his death because she said the baby usually slept for 3 to 4 hours, meaning that no one checked on the baby for 3 hours while he was inside the room.
The nanny also suspected that the baby had asthma and allegedly fed him asthma medication (1ml of Zenmolin) on 26 December 2021 without the approval of the child’s parents.