Almost a year to the day that her son died, a mother is finally speaking out against the dangers of co-sleeping. Stacey Costello lost her 2-month-old son, Hugo, when she allowed him to sleep with her and her husband in their bed. She woke up to find her boy unconscious. Despite a frantic rush to the hospital, Hugo died, and his mom is speaking out a year later to urge parents to forgo the parenting trend.
Fox News reported that Hugo, who had no health issues prior to his death, usually slept in a cot next to his parents’ bed. But one night last August, the infant woke to feed in the middle of the night and his mom decided to use a pillow to prop him up on her bed while he nursed. She placed the pillow on her bed between her and her husband Matthew, but like many tired and exhausted new moms, Costello made one small mistake that cost her son his life.
“I must’ve drifted off because when I woke up an hour or so later, I saw the pillow was over Hugo,” she later told investigators. “He was facing Matthew and he wasn’t responding.”
The mom rushed her son to the Royal Blackburn Hospital’s emergency department. According to Yahoo Lifestyle, medical staff were able to recover Hugo’s heartbeat and he was then transported over to the NICU at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where he was placed on life support — but he tragically died on August 22.
An exact cause of death was not determined, but a pediatrician later told authorities that there was evidence of “hypoxia and brain damage because of lack of oxygen and blood to the brain,” Fox News added.
“This kind of death has a lot in common with sudden unexpected deaths in infancy, which can be related to unsafe sleeping, such as co-sleeping with an adult, and we know Hugo was doing that at the time he died,” Dr. Melanie Newbould, a pediatrician, explained. “But co-sleeping is not necessarily the cause as we don’t have evidence of this. But it can increase the likelihood of sudden unexpected death in infancy.”
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, infants should be placed in the same room as their parents, but need to sleep on a separate surface — such as a crib or bassinet, and never on a couch, armchair, or soft surface — to decrease the risks of sleep-related deaths.
"Parents should never place the baby on a sofa, couch, or cushioned chair, either alone or sleeping with another person. We know that these surfaces are extremely hazardous," Dr. Rachel Moon added.
Which is why the mom is now using the one-year anniversary of her son’s death to urge parents to never co-sleep, no matter how safe it seems.
“I can’t stress enough that parents should never co-sleep with their babies, no matter what the circumstances,” Costello said. “It’s not worth the pain and heartache we feel every day we have to live without our beautiful special son.”
