A baby died in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques after being forgotten in a car

in collaboration with

Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)

The forgotten baby syndrome

The one-year-old boy died on the afternoon of Wednesday July 20. According to RTL, the father, an employee of the group Saffronforgot to drop off his son at the crèche before going to work, and left him alone in the car, parked in a parking lot in Bordes, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region.

It was the crèche in Assat – a neighboring town on the outskirts of Pau and whose baby was a regular – which gave the alert, but it was already too late. Jean-Christophe Rhaut, the mayor of the town, told RTL that he had no “no more information on the circumstances of the death”.

A month ago, on June 20, a similar tragedy took place in Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique). There too, the father had forgotten his child in the morning before going to work. Called the “forgotten baby syndrome” by scientists, these kinds of dramas could be avoided, although they are often unintentional oversights.

The smaller the child, the greater the risk

“Leaving your child alone in a car, even with the windows open, makes no sense, it’s criminal. You should never leave a child unattended. The car is an oven and with the heat , a child becomes dehydrated very quickly”recalls Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician.

In fact, young children do not have a sufficiently advanced heat regulation system to deal with it. They therefore cool or heat up much faster and can only withstand limited temperature variations. Also, the smaller the baby, the greater the risk. A tragedy quickly happened.

Child left alone in a car: what are the risks?

For lack of time, convenience or forgetfulness, parents sometimes leave their offspring in the car. Serious mistake: this represents a serious threat to children.

In addition to the risk of dehydration, it can indeed be the seat of many accidents.

A child left alone in a car may, for example, be tempted to put small items in his mouth (keys, pen cap, toys, cork, pin, etc.) and then swallow them. Without the presence of an adult, he risks suffocation.

Other risky situations may arise, such as theft of the vehicle or a collision. Without an adult, the child is not protected and may succumb to potential injuries.

The Italian example: an alarm in case of forgetfulness

In several countries, the simple fact of locking one or more children in a car is considered an offence, which can be punished by a fine.

In Italy, parents, grandparents and carers of children are thus obliged to install an alarm system on the car seats of their children under 4 years old, which alerts them in the event of forgetfulness. The device is equipped with an alarm to warn them of the presence of the child thanks to audible or visual signals, perceptible inside and outside the vehicle.