An 8-month-old baby has been taken to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for treatment of burns received while receiving a bath.
According to the Lyon County Sheriff’s log, the baby’s 11-year-old sister was preparing to bathe the boy and forgot to add cold water to the bath.
He was taken to Newman Regional Health and transferred to Children’s Mercy with second-degree burns. He was in fair condition this morning, according to Children’s Mercy spokeswoman Barbara Mueth.
The Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has been contacted about the incident.
madpoet (anonymous) says...
How terrible! One wonders why an 11-year-old was bathing the baby unattended by an adult. I think 11 year-olds can do many things by themselves but bath tubs are very dangerous for infants. I bet she will bear emotional scars for life for hurting her little brother. I just hope the little boy recovers well with little physical scars. He probably won't remember the incident. Unlike the rest of the family!
August 26, 2008 at 3:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MelissaGarrison (Melissa Garrison) says...
that's so sad... but i'm not surprised. in wal-mart the other day i saw a mother with her kids in the baby section; the mother was CLEARLY not paying attention while her 7, maybe 8, year old daughter was "taking care" of the baby - a newborn i might add, couldn't even hold it's head up. i swear she almost dropped that tiny baby - and i'm not even kidding - while trying to smell it's you know what to check for a dirty diaper. several people stopped and stared, i was just about to walk over and say something when the mom finally looked over.... great parenting.
August 26, 2008 at 11:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jayhawker (anonymous) says...
Perhaps we should reserve the harsh judgments until we know what happened. Sometimes facts inconveniently get in the way of our opinions.
August 26, 2008 at 11:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
True jayhawker. The girl may have taken it upon herself to bathe the baby without her parents' knowledge. It's hard to watch kids 24/7. But I've seen many parents delegate child care to older siblings too. It was a tragic accident no matter what the facts.
August 27, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Weltha (anonymous) says...
I remember plenty of times being 10-12 years old and caring for my little brothers. bathing, feeding, taking them to the toilet etc... I would beg my mom to let me. For the life of me now I can't figure out why I would do that... LOL It all depends on how mature the older sibling is. I hope everything turns out ok in the end.
August 27, 2008 at 2:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )