WA - Noah Petersen, 4 mos, found dead, Lake Stevens, 18 June 2007

[EZRA]

Yes the NICU does tape pacifiers to babies who cannot suck - but they are also present at all times and watching the baby and his vitals incase anything shows them in distress. She apparently left this child alone with the pacifier taped and was not taping it because the baby could not suck - BIG DIFFERENCE. Also, the swaddling thing - that is just crazy. Swaddling done right is fine and yes babies do love it because they are used to being inside the womb and all tucked in - being swaddled gives them that nice cozy feeling and they don't have those jerky reactions all the time so they can sleep better. Once again you need to be close enough to watch them and be sure the blanket doesn't come undone and get on their face, whatever. Like someone said this girl is 19 not 5. I was reading this to my husband out loud and my 7 year old son is sitting next to me saying "what is she stupid even I know that" yes we have 5 kids so he does know his stuff but still just plain old common sense is all that is needed. And if you don't want to be sleep deprived for a couple months here is a suggestion DON"T HAVE A BABY.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I bet her defense attorney has already ordered an IQ Test for this girl.

My friend works in DHS and has told me horror stories of women who just aren't intelligent enough to carry on daily routines without them giving lists with EXACT directions for them to follow to the letter. Some of the women don't know how to do the most simple things...such as how to properly wash clothes or dishes, change a diaper, etc.

This woman doesn't sound like she did this to be malicious and she didn't seem to be smart enough to hide it from LE if she did. Who knows what her mom had done with her kids?! Things like this do occur with inexperienced and unintelligent teenaged mothers...sadly enough. Her Defense Atty. will have a lot to work with on this, I believe.

Very tragic story.

 

[eleven]

Yes the NICU does tape pacifiers to babies who cannot suck - but they are also present at all times and watching the baby and his vitals incase anything shows them in distress. She apparently left this child alone with the pacifier taped and was not taping it because the baby could not suck - BIG DIFFERENCE. Also, the swaddling thing - that is just crazy. Swaddling done right is fine and yes babies do love it because they are used to being inside the womb and all tucked in - being swaddled gives them that nice cozy feeling and they don't have those jerky reactions all the time so they can sleep better. Once again you need to be close enough to watch them and be sure the blanket doesn't come undone and get on their face, whatever. Like someone said this girl is 19 not 5. I was reading this to my husband out loud and my 7 year old son is sitting next to me saying "what is she stupid even I know that" yes we have 5 kids so he does know his stuff but still just plain old common sense is all that is needed. And if you don't want to be sleep deprived for a couple months here is a suggestion DON"T HAVE A BABY.

:clap: excellent post!

 

[Details]

...And if you don't want to be sleep deprived for a couple months here is a suggestion DON"T HAVE A BABY.

20/20 hindsight. But you don't realize what it's going to be like going into it - no matter how realistic you are, expecting sleep deprivation, expecting all of the worst that can come - you can't really figure out what it's going to be like. And sleep deprivation - even if you expect it - doesn't change the impact it can have. I expected it, did my best - and still made mistakes. The price is horrible - a child lost his life - but I really think you have to consider the intentions.


Oh, and, couple months? Year and counting, howabout? Can't think of a morning for a long time where I haven't needed more sleep, couldn't have gone back down for another 2-3 hours.

The NICU thing is interesting - wonder if she saw it there, and didn't realize it was something that could be dangerous. After all, the doctors were doing it - and to the most fragile babies out there.

 

[eleven]

Am I the only one that thinks the timeline is strange? She got up at 11:00, saw the baby unconscious, called her husband, and didn't call 911 until 11:28??? Almost half an hour later???? Come on....

 

[Amraann]

When our oldest was born , he was in NICU for six weeks. 10 days after he was born, he had to be transferred to Sick Kids Hospital because the "regular" hospital discovered he had air in his bowel which is a life threatening condition and they did not have the staff nor expertise to operate on a new born in case something happened.

Well to make a long story short, our son was on three different anitbiotics and could not have anything by mouth. Sick kids developed a a nutrition solution(like soft butter)years ago that provides complete nutrition for a baby. He was fed this by IV. They did tape a pacifier to his mouth, but he was on a 24 hour watch by one nurse. A 10 days old baby natural reaction is to suck, and he could not suck a bottle or breast feed. Or have any food orally.

After a week, he went back to the other hospital, and finally after six weeks he came home.

But I guess the difference was: A nurse watched him 24/7, he was never left alone and they taped the pacifier to "soothe" him. They did take it out and it was not left in place 24/7, just when they felt he needed to be soothed.

I have never heard of a hospital doing that.... But I would liken it to the difference between a trained professional restraining a meltingdown autisitc child and an untrained person doing so..
Someone NOT trained should Never EVER attempt such a thing.

Also the motive behind a hospital doing it is different then some parent being selfish.
Details I simply do not see any simalarity between what happend to you falling alseep and what this girl did.

 

[southcitymom]

...... But you don't realize what it's going to be like going into it - no matter how realistic you are, expecting sleep deprivation, expecting all of the worst that can come - you can't really figure out what it's going to be like. And sleep deprivation - even if you expect it - doesn't change the impact it can have. ....

This is so true Details. I'm actually a believer that no one is ever really prepared to have a baby.

I was an older mother, married, financially secure, mature, patient, etc...etc....and I thought I had my eyes wide open going into motherhood, but, let me tell you, I did not.

 

[Belinda]

Mother not charged with murder or manslaughter in case of baby's death after pacifier taped to face

By Wade Nkrumah
September 28, 2007, 7:42PM

No cause has been established for the death of a baby whose mother had taped a pacifier to his face, and she probably will not be prosecuted for murder or manslaughter, Snohomish County prosecutors say.

snip

The charge was dismissed in early July because the case had not been brought to Snohomish County Superior Court within the deadline to meet a speedy trial requirement.

Subsequently, the county medical examiner's office determined the pacifier had nothing to do with the infant's death, Deputy Prosecutor Craig Matheson said.

"The medical examiner can't explain the child's death," Matheson said. "Certainly there's no manslaughter. The chance of us filing any criminal charge is slim."

More at link:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/09/death_of_baby_with_pacifier_ta.html

 

[kbl8201]

oh thats just freaking awesome.

and since i dont see any mention of it here in 2 whole pages, does anyone actually think thats how it happened? all we have is her words thats how he died.

we dont even see an autopsy report.

 

[mikeysmommom]

I was born to be a Mommy no one taught me,I just knew right from wrong and had common sense.I just Love baby and children and always was protective of them because to me they are just little people.They bring out the best in us,and that is the greatest feeling in the world.Some women just should not have a child,but what this one did to her baby was horrible.It was criminal and wrong and where is that child s Justice?That baby suffered and died and ignorance is no excuse! I am very upset at all the children and babies that are born but die with out ever living at the hands of the ones God Blessed them with.Sorry but I do not care if stupidity caused her horrific treatment of her own baby but she should pay and that baby needs Justice.Lets face it just because we can reproduce does not mean we should.

 

[Belinda]

I don't know. I'm kind of leaning with the medical examiner on this one. If a pacifier could kill a baby, they wouldn't be allowed to have them to begin with. Taped or not, it shouldn't have caused the baby to die, unless there were other airway constrictions. Now, whether the pacifier story in itself is the true story is a whole nother ball of wax. What it comes down to is that they just can't tell what the baby died of and you can't charge a person on guesses. There is just as much reason to believe the baby died of SIDS as anything else. Only the mother knows what really went down there.

 

[elle1919]

Why on earth would anyone tape a pacifier onto a babies mouth? If they were meant to not come out they would be made that way to begin with!! This mother thought there was no harm in taping the paci to the baby? Wow, this is a sad one.

 

[TaylorJ4]

My friend used to joke about designing a pacifier with ear pieces like glasses to hold them on her baby's face-JUST A JOKE but a lot of kids lose their pacifier easily. None of mine would ever take one, if there wasn't something coming out of it they were not interested.
But even though taping a pacifier is a VERY bad idea, it doesn't sound like it caused this baby's death...I worked for Children's Services in the past and was shocked at what some young mothers would do-Coke in baby bottles, feeding a newborn eggs and grits "because my Mama did that with me", letting their infant sleep on a couch unsupervised...it is amazing what people DON'T know about babies.

Shannon

 

[Rayemonde]

June 2009:

Lake Stevens woman who for a time faced a manslaughter charge in her baby's death after taping a pacifier in his mouth has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against police.
Bonnie Peterson is suing the Lake Stevens and Arlington police, the cities of Lake Stevens and Arlington, and Snohomish County, according to papers filed May 27 in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
She's arguing that her rights were violated, alleging police did not have probable cause to arrest her or have her placed in jail.

http://www.heraldnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?aid=/20090605/NEWS01/706059887&template=MobileArt

 

[Rayemonde]

June 2009:

The 19-year-old woman sat in the Snohomish County Jail for 10 days. She missed her only child’s funeral...

When Noah James Peterson was found dead June 18, 2007, the case caused a brief media frenzy...

But the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office had not yet released an autopsy report.

And without it, the police had no other evidence to give them a legal right to jail her, Peterson contends in her suit.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/lake-stevens-mother-sues-over-arrest-after-infants-death/

 

[Rayemonde]

April 2010:

A lawsuit filed against the cities of Lake Stevens and Arlington by a woman over her arrest in connection with the death of her infant son was settled last month for $2,000.
The small settlement amount signaled a “complete vindication for my clients,” Richard Jolley, a lawyer representing police in the case, said by e-mail today.

http://www.heraldnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?aid=/20100414/NEWS01/704149651&template=MobileArt

 

[Rayemonde]

April 2010:

My clients were certain they’d done absolutely nothing wrong and that the plaintiff was very fortunate to avoid prosecution and conviction for contributing to the death of her baby,” the officers’ attorney, Richard Jolley, said in an e-mail on the settlement, which was reached last month.

“It was a case we were confident in winning, but felt we couldn’t justify the expense and time to defend the case all the way through the process when we could settle it for a small sum,” he wrote.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...-settles-suit-against-arlington-lake-stevens/