A 14-month-old baby died on July 20 in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. His father would have forgotten to drop off his child at the crèche, and the latter would have “died of suffocation and dehydration” according to the public prosecutor of Pau. Shedding light on a sad summer phenomenon.
This July 20, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, 14-month-old baby found dead in car of his father, who forgot to drop him off at daycare in the morning before going to work. According to the public prosecutor of Pau, “Initial investigations suggest that the young child died of suffocation and dehydration“. It was the mother who gave the alert noting the absence of her child at the end of the day at the crèche. Despite attempts at resuscitation by the Samu and the firefighters, the child unfortunately did not survived the tragedy.An investigation for manslaughter is opened and an autopsy will determine the precise causes of death.
What is Forgotten Baby Syndrome?
We’re talking about “forgotten baby syndrome”, when young children, most often infants, die of hyperthermia after being left in the car for several hours in direct sunlight. However, for most of them, the parents unfortunately forgot them in their vehicle when they were supposed to drop them off at daycare or the nanny. Thinking they have done so, they go to work leaving their offspring in the cabin. Scientists speak ofan involuntary omission. It also happens that unscrupulous parents intentionally leave the child in their vehicle while they are away for shopping, administrative procedures or because the child is sleeping. This tragic episode occurred in particular on June 20, 2022, in Saint-Nazaire. A father forgot his 14-month-old baby all day in his car while he was at work. He was supposed to drop him off at daycare, but realized he hadn’t when his wife called him in the evening, worried she wouldn’t find her baby when she picked him up. Taken care of around 6 p.m., the baby who had spent the day locked up in the heat – the temperature was close to 28 degrees that day – unfortunately died.
Nearly 40 “forgotten babies” each year
If in France, this dramatic phenomenon is difficult to quantify, in particular because they are sometimes counted as road accidents, we know thatin the United States, each year, nearly 40 young children die after being left locked in the car for several hours in the heat. Indeed, as reported a study published in 2020 in the journal Paediatrics & Child Healththis equates to one child death every 10 days during heat wave.
Whether “forgotten baby syndrome” is so often in the news is that it can affect parents who a priori have their heads on their shoulders.“In most of the cases, these episodes concern adults whose psychic and cognitive functions are perfectly intact“underline the researchers of a scientific studies published in 2020 in the journal Rivista di Psychiatry. The explanation would come, according to David Diamond, professor in the department of cognitive, neural and social psychology at the University of South Florida (United States) from the fact that our memory relating to habits, such as taking the same route every day, takes over. on prospective memory (related to the tasks to be performed). This is what he explains in an article published in The Conversation. “When we repeatedly drive along a fixed route, such as between home and work, the memory of habits can override the plans stored in our prospective memory”. This could further be accentuated by lack of sleep, stress or too much mental load “which lower the level of alertness and increase the use of automatisms and routines”.
Baby in the car and heat: what are the risks?
In hot weather, the toddler needs to be more hydrated and protected from the sun and heat. So, in situations where the baby is forgotten in the summer, for a long time, alone in the vehicle, he suffers from both dehydration andhyperthermia. Hyperthermia is when the body temperature rises above normal. However, inside a closed car, the temperature can increase significantly. According to one scientific studies published in 2015 in the International Journal of Current Research, “there can be up to 55% increase in temperature within the first five minutes and up to 90% within 15 minutes, even if the car windows are partially open.” There is therefore a strong probability that he will survive the forgotten baby syndrome. And for good reason, “two to three hours are enough for a child to die”. In addition, as reported by the Consumer Safety Commission, this oversight can have psychological consequences non negligable : “These can take the form of a acute reaction to feelings of abandonment that such a situation gives rise to and which will manifest itself over time by anxiety attacks and nightmares recurring or by a depression hidden, in the form of a withdrawal into oneself by fear of the outside world or what could be experienced as a new parental abandonment”. Finally, remember that it is not only during heat episodes that children forgotten in a vehicle can succumb. “In cold weather, the child may die ofhypothermiacharacterized by a drop in body temperature below 35°C”.
Baby forgotten in the car: what recommendations?
In 2009, at the request of the Secretary of State for Industry and Consumer Affairs, the Consumer Safety Commission published a opinion on the prevention of forgetting a child in a motor vehicle. Similarly, since the summer of 2004, in the event of a strong heat wave, the triggering of heat wave plans provides for the dissemination of information and general warnings on the risks of sunstroke or dehydration, in particular for young children transported in motor vehicles. To limit the risk of forgetting your baby in the back of the vehicle, it is possible to:
- the place in their car seat, fastened and rearward facing, in the front seat, passenger side. Thus, we will see it and we will therefore be less likely to forget it.
- Furthermore, one can leave your phone or purse in the back of the vehicle to make sure you have to turn to retrieve them when getting out of the car and thus see if the child is present.
- As a reminder, you can also leave your cuddly toy or changing bag next to usin the front.
- Furthermore, there are “anti-distancing” warning devices. These sensors are to be attached to the baby’s car seat and are triggered when you move away from it.
- Finally, we try to rest to fight against the decline in vigilance.