A 6-week-old Texas baby drowned after his mother fell asleep while he was taking a bath, police officials said.
First responders went to the house in Fort Worth on March 11 and found the baby dead.
“A 6-week-old male twin was in the bath with mom when she fell asleep,” the Fort Worth Police Department said in a statement obtained by NBC DFW. “When mom awoke the baby was under water and was unresponsive.”
The baby was identified as Samuel Symonds.
Tragedy in east Fort Worth, as a six-month-old boy drowned in a bathtub this morning. Police say it appears his mother fell asleep as she was bathing him. I’ll have the latest from the scene at 10:03 on @KRLD. pic.twitter.com/PElKMxAzT3
— Andrew M. Greenstein (@KRLDAndrewG) March 11, 2019
Child Protective Services responded to the scene and took temporarily took custody of the other twin baby but ultimately the child remained with the parents, spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The agency is conducting an investigation.
The dead boy was initially identified as 2 months old then 6 months old but was in fact 6 weeks old, officials said.
The drowning is at least the third involving children in North Texas so far this year, reported CBS DFW.
Police have cleared the scene of the baby drowning in east Fort Worth. pic.twitter.com/P3hPJRlWSI
— Andrew M. Greenstein (@KRLDAndrewG) March 11, 2019
3-Year-Old Girl Dies After Mother Leaves Her Unattended
A 3-year-old Texas girl died after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub by her mother at their Decatur home.
Eve Blankenfeld was taking a bath on March 1 with her mother in the room.
Her mother then left.
“The mother put her child in the bathtub and then walked into another room to tend to two other kids,” Decatur Police Rex Hoskins told the Star-Telegram. “She came back and found the child face-down in the bathtub.”
The mother pulled the girl out of the tub and tried to do CPR after contacting the police. She was rushed to the hospital and transferred to a hospital in Fort Worth, about 34 miles away, but died on March 5.
“It was a tragic accident,” Hoskins said.
According to WFAA, police will not charge the girl’s parents over the accident.
A GoFundMe for Eve’s family was started by a family friend.
“We are deeply saddened to inform you that on the evening of March 5th, 2019, Eve passed away and returned to her Heavenly Father. We are relieved her passing was peaceful and painless,” the friend wrote. “Eve was in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for 5 days and had an amazing team of doctors and nurses working around the clock. Please continue to pray for this family as they mourn the loss of their daughter. Any donations will be greatly appreciated, and will go to help this family overcome the financial burden of this tragedy.”
Child Drownings
Drowning was the leading cause of unintentional deaths among children ages 1 to 4 in 2012, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
From 2006 to 2010, there were 684 incidents involving children younger than 5 years old, according to a report by the commission. That includes 434 deaths.
More than four in five of the incidents took place in bathtubs or involved bath-related products, with pools being the second leading location for child drownings.
“Too many young children are drowning,” said Inez Tenenbaum, chairman of the commission. “Just as with pools, I urge parents and caregivers to childproof their home and constantly supervise young children around bathtubs, bath seats, and buckets. Taking extra safety steps at home can help prevent a tragic drowning.”
3-year-old dies after she was left unattended in bathtub, Decatur police say https://t.co/RCHKqjNOrq pic.twitter.com/K9J59Z8aeD
— WFAA (@wfaa) March 7, 2019
In an update published in 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that unintentional injuries, including drownings, were the leading causes of death for children ages 1 to 4.
“Each year, about 4,000 people drown in the United States; drowning kills more children 1-4 years of age than anything else except birth defects,” the agency stated. “Among children 1-14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death (after motor vehicle crashes).”
“More than half of those who are treated in an emergency department for drowning require hospitalization or transfer for further care (compared with about 6 percent of all unintentional injuries). A person who survives drowning may suffer lasting consequences like brain damage,” it added.
Safety tips include never leaving young children alone near any water or fluid, always keeping a young child within arm’s reach when they’re taking a bath, and placing locks on toilet seat covers.
