Missouri baby dies while co-sleeping, and opioids are found. The mom faces a felony

A baby died in the Ozarks in late May after the infant’s mother placed her newborn in a bed where the father slept nearby.

The mother, Brittany Hayes or Rogersville, Mo., left to take a bath, and when she returned her baby was not breathing. The baby, whose gender is not revealed, later died at a hospital.

Hayes, 32, has been charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

She admitted to Rogersville police to placing the baby in the bed, according to court documents. She said that when she returned from her bath, her baby was lying on their stomach with their face in a pillow.

Hayes and the father had been warned by a Missouri Children’s Division worker against sleeping with their baby, according to court documents.

“Neglect from the parents in placing the infant in bed with them resulted in the death of an infant,” Rogersville police wrote.

Police collected morphine and subutex from Hayes’ home. Subutex is an opioid used to treat opioid addiction, police said.

About 3,500 infants die annually in the U.S. from sleep-related incidents, such as sudden infant death syndrome and accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The organization recommends babies sleep in the same room but on a separate surface as parents or guardians for the first six months after birth. Sleeping in the same room reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome by as much as 50 percent.

AAP warns against bed-sharing with babies. They should be placed on a separate surface designed for infants, and they should not be near bedding, pillows or any other irregular surfaces that can cause strangulation.

However, a 2009 paper by James McKenna, who studies co-sleeping at Notre Dame, advocated for bed-sharing.

“As a developmental extension of the skin-to-skin experience, parent-infant bed-sharing, when practiced safely, can be a warm and snuggly experience that many parents enjoy,” he wrote. “However, it is much more than that — it is a biologically driven process whereby the baby's body temperature is regulated and steady breathing is promoted in part by the sounds of mother's breathing and by the infant feeling the mother's rhythmic chest movements.”

McKenna did not advocate bed-sharing with a premature baby.

In guidelines on Notre Dame’s website, the university advocates sleeping alongside bottle-feeding babies “on a separate surface rather than in the bed.” Bed-sharing can be practiced if both parents agree to the responsibility of the baby’s safety.

Hayes posted bond. She is scheduled for a court hearing in late October.

Meanwhile, a Michigan mother was charged this month in another co-sleeping incident that resulted in a suffocation.

Leslie Neuman, 32, faces involuntary manslaughter, according to People. She had been drinking alcohol the night her baby died, police said.

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 10:08 AM with the headline "Missouri baby dies while co-sleeping, and opioids are found. The mom faces a felony."