A boy aged seven months from Dumbrava village of Chisinau municipality was found dead by his parents in the bed where he was put to sleep. Victor Furtuna, prosecutor of Chisinau’s Buiucani district in charge of this case, has told IPN that the preliminary version of the medical examiner is that the child suffocated, but there are also examined other versions.

The family was on a visit. The child was put to bed in a room of the hosts’ house that was situated on the second floor. Close to midnight, when they went to the room, the parents found the boy dead. The results of the medical-legal examination will be ready in several weeks. It will be then decided whether to start a criminal case or not, stated the prosecutor.

Ala Curteanu, head of the scientific perinatology lab of the Mother and Child Center, said the parents must take into account a number of factors when putting the children to bed. It is recommended using firm mattresses adjusted to the size of the bed. Pillows should not be put under the children’s head during the first six months of life.

“The children can turn over with the face down into the pillow and obstruct the airway. They should sleep on a solid mattress as the risk of suffocation is lower when they turn on the belly,” she stated.

The Ministry of Health does not have statistical data about the children who suffocated while sleeping.  

According to a study carried out within the REPEMOL project “Regionalization of the pediatric emergency and intensive care services in Moldova”, only 66% of the parents realize the risks to which their children are exposed at home. The data of the Ministry of Health’s National Health Management Center show that 60 children younger than five died last year as a result of suffocation, traumas, poisonings, drownings and road accidents.