A young mother has revealed the moment she discovered her baby daughter had been suffocated in her sleep by a stuffed toy at the side of her bed. Dexy Leigh Walsh found 18-month-old Connie Rose’s body in her bed with the giant teddy on top of her.
Despite desperate efforts to revive her, the baby was pronounced dead by paramedics after they arrived at the home in Dundee. The 23-year-old mum says she had stuffed a narrow gap between Connie Rose’s bed and the wall with soft toys to stop her falling through. But when she went to check on her, she found her underneath the 3ft-tall teddy and not breathing.
‘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 face facing up in the bed but with the big teddy on top of her. She wasn’t breathing. I immediately started CPR on her while someone phoned for an ambulance. ‘I was speaking to the ambulance people as I tried to bring her around. My mum who lives closely arrived and she took over. When the paramedics came they tried as well but it was too late.
‘My little girl had gone.’
Miss Walsh said she was trying to make sure her daughter didn’t hurt herself. ‘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, she added. Connie Rose was buried on March 21, with family members releasing pink balloons into the sky in her memory.
Miss Walsh is now urging parents not to leave cuddly toys in young children’s beds overnight.