Bath-time warning

The grieving parents of a Dundee baby boy who died in a bath-time accident have gone public with a warning to prevent further tragedies.

THE GRIEVING parents of a Dundee baby boy who died in a tragic bath-time accident are determined to prevent the same thing happening to other children.

Eleven-month-old Karson McNally drowned in April after he tipped backwards in his bath seat. His mum Demi Marr had left him for only a few seconds as she ran to pick up his pyjamas.

By the time she got to the bottom of the stairs her mother’s instinct had kicked in.

“I realised my gut instinct feeling at the bottom of the stairs — I can no longer hear our baby,” she said.

“I ran upstairs, to run into the bathroom and find my child had tipped back into the water and released from the seat.

“The moments after that were probably the worst experience me and my fiancé will ever go through.”

Police officers arrived within three minutes and took over until paramedics came two minutes later. The young family were rushed to Ninewells Hospital but the doctors were sadly unable to save Karson.

Now Demi and fiancé Martin McNally have set up a Facebook page in memory of their “happy baby”, to raise awareness of the potential dangers of bath seats.

“We want to make people aware of the dangers it could cause,” Demi said. “Even in day-to-day life things can happen like your electricity can run out or your door can go but, even in that moment, it only takes 10 to 16 seconds for a baby to drown.”

So far around 65,000 people have read the couple’s story online.

“The whole point is to raise awareness,” Martin, 26, said.

Demi and Martin had used the bath seat every night since their son could first sit up.

“We got this seat off the Facebook selling site,” Demi said. “It didn’t come with a box or packaging and only a small warning about leaving babies unattended.

“A fter months of constant use every night I started to trust that if I left my child for even a moment he would be safe.”

Martin said he and Demi were now trying to make their baby boy proud, adding: “It feels good for us to help others.”

Demi agreed, saying: “We’ve had comments from mums saying ‘I will never do that again’.”

One woman wrote on the Facebook page: “I used one of those bath seats and my daughter had once gotten her legs trapped in one hole. I was lucky she was small enough to pull out.

“I have the seat stored away and was going to pass it on. Now it is on its way to the bin.”

The couple are now organising a fundraising night on September 7 in the Taxi Club which will include an auction to raise money for the pediatric ward at Ninewells.

They are also making commemorative wristbands to sell to raise more funds.

Martin said their page is already producing results, adding: “If we save one baby’s life it’s well worth everything we’re doing.”

Demi Marr and Martin McNally with a picture of their son Karson, inset, who died in a tragic bath-time accident.