Mother’s horror as baby girl suffocated by 3f t tall teddy bear
A TODDLER suffocated in her sleep after becoming trapped underneath a giant teddy bear, her devastated mother said yesterday.
Dexy Leigh Walsh discovered the lifeless body of 18month-old Connie Rose in her bed with the 3ft tall soft toy on top of her.
Despite desperate efforts to revive the child, she was pronounced dead by paramedics who arrived at Miss Walsh’s home in Dundee.
The 23-year-old said she had stuffed a narrow gap between Connie Rose’s bed and the wall with soft toys to stop her falling through and injuring herself.
But on entering the bedroom her daughter shared with fiveyear-old sister Dior, Miss Walsh found Connie Rose under the teddy and no longer breathing.
Yesterday, Miss Walsh described her horrifying discovery on March 6.
She said: ‘It was just a normal school morning. I went through to the girls’ room to waken them up and get Dior ready for school. When I opened the door all I could see of my little girl was her legs sticking out from under the teddy. She was lying facing up in the bed but with the big teddy on top of her. She wasn’t breathing. I immediately started CPR while someone phoned for an ambulance.
‘I was speaking to the ambulance people as I tried to bring her round. My mum, who lives close by, arrived and took over. When the paramedics came they tried as well but it was too late. My little girl had gone.’
Miss Walsh explained that her daughter’s bed had a guard on one side, and she had thought that stuffing the gap at the other side with soft toys would stop Connie Rose from falling and injuring herself.
She added: ‘I have been blaming myself. I packed the side of the bed with the smaller teddies and placed the big one on top thinking that would stop her falling down the side and hurting herself. She did slip down the side but ended up below the big teddy and couldn’t breathe.
‘I just think now that if I had taken away all the soft toys out of the bed at night, she may have fallen out. She may have only hurt herself – maybe a broken arm – but she would still be with us. I just think that what if I had done this or that instead – but it’s too late.’
Connie Rose was buried on March 21 and mourners released pink balloons in her memory.
Miss Walsh has begun a Facebook campaign, Connie Rose Awareness, to highlight the risks of letting children go to sleep surrounded by their favourite toys.
She added: ‘I know every mum wants their child’s bed to look wonderful – to be covered in toys and maybe princess drapes and that is good. That is all right during the day but at night they should all be taken away.
‘They don’t need anything on their bed when they go to sleep. Just a cover. They don’t even need a pillow.
‘I just hope that my little girl’s tragic story will help stop another family having to go through what we have.’
A spokesman for the Lullaby Trust, a charity working to prevent unexpected infant deaths, said: ‘The Lullaby Trust would like to extend its condolences to the family at this difficult time.
‘We advise that a baby’s sleeping space is kept as clear as possible, with no pillows, duvets, soft toys or cot bumpers.
‘Unnecessary items in a cot can increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome if a baby’s head becomes covered.
‘Items such as soft toys and cot bumpers can also increase the risk of accidents.’
Last night, a police spokesman said: ‘Police Scotland attended at Mossgiel Crescent, Dundee, around 8.10am on Tuesday, March 6, following the sudden death of an 18-month-old child.
‘The death is being treated as unexplained and inquiries are continuing. As with all sudden deaths a report was submitted to the procurator fiscal.’
‘I tried to bring her round’