The recent death of a three-month-old baby girl has pushed for warnings to be raised to parents about the dangers of letting babies sleep in bouncers and swings.
The girl, Leia-Mae Smith, was sleeping on a bouncer while her mother, and an older sibling slept in a nearby couch. When mother, Ms. Jones, awoke at 4.30 a.m., she found her daughter not breathing and with blue lips.
"I woke up at around 4.30am and saw that Leia-Mai was not breathing and her lips had turned blue," the 24-year-old mother from Gloucester told the court, Essential Baby reported.
"I took her out of the swing, gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and dialed 999. When the paramedics arrived I pleaded with them to get my baby to breathe.
"It all seemed so unreal, like a bad dream, and I thought I would suddenly wake up and it would all be okay. I love my children dearly and live every day with this pain. She may just have been a baby but she was my baby."
The label warning on baby bouncers has since been changed to "not intended for long periods of sleeping".
Pathologist Dr. Thomas Martin said Sudden Infant Death Syndrome was a "possibility", according to The Mirror. There are features of hypoxia present, but it remains a possible cause. The pathologist was unable to provide a cause of death.
SIDS and Kids Australia warned parents on its website that Australian standards do not apply to bouncers, and that they should be used carefully and only under supervision.
"Deaths have occurred when baby has been left unsupervised to sleep in a bouncinette," the statement reads.
