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Blackcat31 10:23 AM 09-12-2016
I'm having a hard time understanding how this one could possibly happen...

http://fox13now.com/2016/09/09/toddl...oy-underneath/
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Rockgirl 10:31 AM 09-12-2016
I am at a total loss.
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Boymom 10:33 AM 09-12-2016
Oh my goodness, how awful
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Play Care 10:33 AM 09-12-2016
I wonder how many kids were there? Accidents happen - With a toddler and infants I can totally see me accidentally sitting on someone, though hopping off them quickly...
BUT...how long was this child out of sight? How many were in the room and who was this child's adult?

While I do think this was a freak accident my issue is that he had to have been out of sight for a bit for this to happen.
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Michael 10:36 AM 09-12-2016
I don't like reading these kinds of stories but this is entirely possible. The tiny styrofoam beans will naturally surround and encase the child and the downward pressure on top would keep the child from even being able to move or cry out. Likewise the person sitting on the bag would not feel the child underneath. I had no idea bean bags could ever be dangerous, but in this scenario it makes complete sense. The person who sat on the child must be devastated.
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Michael 10:43 AM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by Play Care:
While I do think this was a freak accident my issue is that he had to have been out of sight for a bit for this to happen.
Maybe this child likes to hide. It's takes only a few seconds to pass out and a few more to die from asphyxiation.

"In 62 cases where "time to unconsciousness" was reported, the average was 35 seconds (range 10-120 seconds). Death will often follow in about 10 minutes, sometimes as quickly as 5 minutes"
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mommyneedsadayoff 10:47 AM 09-12-2016
Here is another article on It. It says that video footage shows the boy going under the bean bag and then the staff finds him about 10-15 minutes later. They said it was a tragic accident


http://www.sltrib.com/home/4333606-1...2-year-old-boy
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Michael 10:51 AM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by mommyneedsadayoff:
Here is another article on It. It says that video footage shows the boy going under the bean bag and then the staff finds him about 10-15 minutes later. They said it was a tragic accident


http://www.sltrib.com/home/4333606-1...2-year-old-boy
So no one was even sitting on it?!? wow
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mommyneedsadayoff 11:03 AM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by Michael:
So no one was even sitting on it?!? wow
It didn't say if someone sat on it during that time, so I am not sure. He may have crawled under it, someone sat on it, he suffocated, and then they found him after? But, according to the video, no one intentionally put him under it or did something else that caused suffocation and then blamed the bean bag. Sounds like it was a very bad and unfortunate day
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Miss A 11:11 AM 09-12-2016
How horrific!

My issue is, why was there a bean bag chair in an infant/toddler classroom? I understand that from the details made available, this was a freak accident, but this could have been prevented by having age appropriate plush cushions and stuffies. If they wanted a soft area for toddlers to sit, they make sturdy foam cushions and toddler sized furniture. Having that would minimize the risk of a child suffocating as they would not hold around the child, and they would not present the child with the temptation to crawl beneath them.
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Blackcat31 11:13 AM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by Miss A:
How horrific!

My issue is, why was there a bean bag chair in an infant/toddler classroom? I understand that from the details made available, this was a freak accident, but this could have been prevented by having age appropriate plush cushions and stuffies. If they wanted a soft area for toddlers to sit, they make sturdy foam cushions and toddler sized furniture. Having that would minimize the risk of a child suffocating as they would not hold around the child, and they would not present the child with the temptation to crawl beneath them.
I wonder what Utah center rules are for something like that?

Sadly, I am betting they will be looked at or scrutinized now because of this...
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Miss A 11:20 AM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
I wonder what Utah center rules are for something like that?

Sadly, I am betting they will be looked at or scrutinized now because of this...
Oh, I am sure they will be scrutinized for this incident, and if there aren't already age appropriate precautions in place in the licensing rules, I am sure there will be some new ones coming.

I am not sure if there are precautions in place for Iowa centers, but I know that when I worked in a center we did not allow bean bag chairs for children under 3. In our infant and toddler rooms we had vinyl covered foam cushions in a variety of sizes, vinyl covered firm pillows that had washable pillowcases, and various stuffed animals.

Iowa law does state that babies are not to be "propped" up with a boppy pillow, or other plush things if they are not able to sit on their own, as the risk of wobbling over and suffocating very real.
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Luke25 11:29 AM 09-12-2016
What a horrible thing for everyone involved. I cannot imagine the pain of the teacher that sat on the bean bag and of course the parents as well. Heartbreaking.
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happymom 11:48 AM 09-12-2016
This daycare is a block away from my best friends house.

My friend (who is a stay at home mom) has always commented to me on this particular daycare's lack of supervision (even before this incident) she told me that she and her mom walk by the playground and there are children playing and adults on their cell phones not watching the children at all.

I feel so sorry for everyone involved though. Especially for his poor family.
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LysesKids 12:02 PM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by Miss A:
How horrific!

My issue is, why was there a bean bag chair in an infant/toddler classroom? I understand that from the details made available, this was a freak accident, but this could have been prevented by having age appropriate plush cushions and stuffies. If they wanted a soft area for toddlers to sit, they make sturdy foam cushions and toddler sized furniture. Having that would minimize the risk of a child suffocating as they would not hold around the child, and they would not present the child with the temptation to crawl beneath them.
See as an infant provider, I was wondering the same... I will not have bean bag chairs in my home ever; and yes I have real tiny furniture that matches the "Big peoples" stuff in the living room. Microfiber and all
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Controlled Chaos 12:27 PM 09-12-2016
This is right up the street from me

I had a parent pick up that day asking if I had heard. I had not...and then she described the child's death in front of all the other daycare parents picking up. So sad.

http://childcarelicensing.utah.gov/c...rpretation.htm
These are our center rules, I havent had a chance to look through them.

Being in Utah...our rules tend to be more lax than a lot of other states.
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AmyKidsCo 12:38 PM 09-12-2016
That's so sad.

My first question was how many children were in the room? And how many caregivers? I've never worked in a center, but with family events it seems that the more adults around the LESS supervision there is because everyone assumes someone else is watching the kids. When it's just ME I know I have to be vigilant because there's no one else watching.

I'm so glad I don't have bean bags anymore!
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thrivingchildcarecom 12:39 PM 09-12-2016
Unbelievable! So sad!
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Controlled Chaos 12:42 PM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by AmyKidsCo:
That's so sad.

My first question was how many children were in the room? And how many caregivers? I've never worked in a center, but with family events it seems that the more adults around the LESS supervision there is because everyone assumes someone else is watching the kids. When it's just ME I know I have to be vigilant because there's no one else watching.

I'm so glad I don't have bean bags anymore!
Thats a real sociological phenomenon. The more people present, the less responsibility each person feels. This is how kids drown at family pool party with tons of people around. My Grandma (lived in LA) always made sure there was a designated "adult" at all time watching the pool and kids in general. You had to wear an ugly orange hat for 30min shifts at family get togethers.
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mommyneedsadayoff 12:48 PM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by Controlled Chaos:
Thats a real sociological phenomenon. The more people present, the less responsibility each person feels. This is how kids drown at family pool party with tons of people around. My Grandma (lived in LA) always made sure there was a designated "adult" at all time watching the pool and kids in general. You had to wear an ugly orange hat for 30min shifts at family get togethers.
OMG! I thought that was just my mom! She is probably the reason I am so insane about pools, but she had the same thought process. More adults does not necessarily mean more supervision. It can sometimes mean even less, since they all are expecting others to overcompensate. I feel so bad for all involved and regardless, it is such a lesson in how quick it can all end.
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Nurse Jackie 12:52 PM 09-12-2016
Wow how sad I'm assuming the bean bag was for the adults to sit not the infants.
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Blackcat31 01:15 PM 09-12-2016
....and the center had cameras.
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Controlled Chaos 01:29 PM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
....and the center had cameras.
But cameras keep kids safe... right?!
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Nurse Jackie 02:21 PM 09-12-2016
Wish I never watched the news clip. I feel so sorry for mom. Instead of planning a party she's planning a funeral.
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Play Care 03:44 PM 09-12-2016
Originally Posted by Michael:
Maybe this child likes to hide. It's takes only a few seconds to pass out and a few more to die from asphyxiation.

"In 62 cases where "time to unconsciousness" was reported, the average was 35 seconds (range 10-120 seconds). Death will often follow in about 10 minutes, sometimes as quickly as 5 minutes"
I was thinking like I imagine licensing is thinking. We are supposed to have eyes on the kids at all times. Counting, counting, watching, counting, and more watching. That's drilled into us at every training on regulations. So it will be a question that's asked.
10 minutes is a lifetime to not know a child's location in day care.
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Mike 07:38 PM 09-12-2016
So sad. This will have a long term effect on many people.
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Febby 03:02 AM 09-13-2016
Originally Posted by AmyKidsCo:
That's so sad.

My first question was how many children were in the room? And how many caregivers? I've never worked in a center, but with family events it seems that the more adults around the LESS supervision there is because everyone assumes someone else is watching the kids. When it's just ME I know I have to be vigilant because there's no one else watching.

I'm so glad I don't have bean bags anymore!
I've worked in a lot of centers and it depends a lot on the caregivers. Some will always supervise, regardless of how many others are there. Some won't supervise well under any circumstances. Most are somewhere in between. Which is why whenever I get floaters in my room, I usually assign them an area to supervise. Otherwise they tend to hover near me and not focus on the kids very well.

As far as the incident, I could see it happening. Not everyone supervises their children well (see above) and children can go missing for periods of time without anyone noticing. Not that that it should, but it does and I've worked with enough mediocre people that I'm not shocked.
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Cat Herder 04:47 AM 09-13-2016
2014 - The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued voluntary guidelines for drawstrings on children's clothing to prevent strangulation and has banned the use of bean bag infant cushions that can pose a choking or suffocation risk.

2014 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Ace Bayou Corp., of New Orleans, La., are announcing the voluntary recall of about 2.2 million bean bag chairs following the deaths of two children.

The zippers on the bean bag chairs can be opened and children can then crawl inside, get trapped and suffocate or choke on the bean bag chair’s foam beads. The voluntary standard requires non-refillable bean bag chairs to have closed and permanently disabled zippers.

1998- A coroner's inquest is looking into the circumstances surrounding the death of an autistic girl living in a Toronto-area group home.

Stephanie Jobin, 14, died after being physically restrained by two employees at the group home. In June 1998, while she was living in a group home outside of Toronto, two employees restrained her with a deflated bean bag.

According to the Crown, one employee sat on her legs, while the other sat on her shoulder blades. They rolled her over when she stopped struggling.

But Jobin had stopped breathing and didn't have a heart beat. After struggling for 20 minutes, Stephanie stopped breathing. Her death was ruled an accident.

Restraint “procedures”.
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Mike 07:31 AM 09-13-2016
Originally Posted by Cat Herder:
1998- A coroner's inquest is looking into the circumstances surrounding the death of an autistic girl living in a Toronto-area group home.

Stephanie Jobin, 14, died after being physically restrained by two employees at the group home. In June 1998, while she was living in a group home outside of Toronto, two employees restrained her with a deflated bean bag.

According to the Crown, one employee sat on her legs, while the other sat on her shoulder blades. They rolled her over when she stopped struggling.

But Jobin had stopped breathing and didn't have a heart beat. After struggling for 20 minutes, Stephanie stopped breathing. Her death was ruled an accident.

Restraint “procedures”.
No surprise to me. I did the maintenance work in 2 group homes from 2009 to 2015. One was the 5-9 boys and the other was the older boys. I've seen the outbursts the kids can get into and the restraining the workers had to do. It would be very possible for it to get out of control.

I don't know about there, but here the group homes do have 1 regulation that I think helps with safety. If a kid is on the floor, the worker is not allowed to do anything. A lot of the work I did at the homes was patching and repainting the drywall on the lower half of the walls.
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Meeko 01:14 PM 09-13-2016
This is fairly near me. About 30 miles north. They are a large center (licensed for 237 kids) According to their licensing record, they were cited for a supervision issue last year
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sharlan 01:26 PM 09-13-2016
Originally Posted by Controlled Chaos:
Thats a real sociological phenomenon. The more people present, the less responsibility each person feels. This is how kids drown at family pool party with tons of people around. My Grandma (lived in LA) always made sure there was a designated "adult" at all time watching the pool and kids in general. You had to wear an ugly orange hat for 30min shifts at family get togethers.
Yep, my rule is there has to be at least 1 adult in the pool and one inside the gate but outside the pool at all times. Everyone thinks that someone else is watching the kids, so no one is. My pool is 18'x24'x4' deep.
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Tags:asphyxiation, bean bag, death at daycare, saftey, teachable moment
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