REASON #1
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Mom in New York finds snake in crib, coiled around baby's leg
By the Associated Press
Article Launched: 06/11/2008 07:51:17 AM PDT

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. - A woman who awoke to her baby's cries was shocked to peer into the crib and find a foot-long snake wrapped around her 7-month-old daughter's leg.

Cari Abatemarco said she was visiting family in the Long Island town of Brentwood last week when she made the startling discovery.

"Once I lifted her up and the snake fell off of her, she stopped crying. But then I was the one crying all night," Abatemarco told Newsday. She was in town from Troy, in upstate New York.

A relative removed the hissing snake from the crib with a back scratcher, and placed it in a bucket until animal control officers arrived. The child was unharmed.

The reptile, identified as a non-venomous California king snake, didn't belong to Abatemarco's family members. Officials say they don't know where the snake came from.

The animal is being cared for at a Long Island animal shelter.

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REASON #2
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3-month-old Phoenix girl killed by ants during nap
Susan Carroll and Judi Villa
published in the Arizona Republic
May 20, 2003 12:00 AM

A 3-month-old girl was killed by ants while she was napping in a crib at a baby-sitter's home Monday afternoon, Phoenix police said.

The caregiver, who has not been identified, put the infant down for a nap about 1:30 p.m., police Detective Tony Morales said.

When she went to check on the little girl a half-hour later, she was covered in ants and was in "severe respiratory distress," he said.

Autumn White had "hundreds of ant bites" on her legs and her throat was swollen, Assistant Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan said. She was not breathing when firefighters arrived at the home near 83rd Avenue and Mohave Street.

"A child that age probably just couldn't take the venom," Morales said.

Khan said the baby may have had an allergic reaction, with the poison from the ants causing her respiratory problems.

At least 40 deaths occur annually in the United States from reactions to insect stings. A severe allergic reaction, anaphylaxis, occurs in 0.5 to 5 percent of the country's population, ccording to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Children and senior citizens are more vulnerable.

"Their resistance is less," Khan said. "They don't have the ability to recover like adults do."

Autumn was flown to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. After the little girl died, firefighters again were dispatched to the home, where the baby-sitter was so distraught that she was taken to an emergency room for treatment.

The black ants in the baby-sitter's home were about one-eighth of an inch long and apparently crawled into the home between the carpeting and the wall, police said.

Neighbors in the new, upscale tract home development in southwest Phoenix said they started noticing more ants when daily temperatures started rising.

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REASON #3
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Our neighbor went over to a friend's house to visit, leaving her husband in charge of the kids. The older boy went to bed, but the younger one (around 18 months at the time) refused to go to sleep.

He was playing with an empty soda can and started screaming and freaking out. The father was sick of him not sleeping and sick of listening to him scream, so he put him in his room alone. The child kept screaming and would not calm down.

Finally the father went in to check on the child and found his crib full of blood. Apparently the child had cut himself on the empty can (stuck his finger in the hole, presumably) and had a fairly deep cut that was bleeding profusely.

This was passed on to me by the friend whose house the mother was visiting. The father panicked and called for the mother to come home immediately. The child had lost quite a bit of blood by that time.

I'm not sure why the father didn't notice the child's bleeding finger when he put him in his crib. Maybe it was dark?

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REASON #4
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My own baby (16mo at the time) was sleeping in his bed at around 9:30pm. I was visiting with a houseguest in the backyard, out on the porch, and heard my baby wake up and start screaming.

Having company, I was tempted to let him cry for a minute to see if he would go back to sleep, but I got up and went to him. Ninety-five percent of the time when he cries at night he either has to pee, has *just* peed in his diaper, is hot/cold, or is sick.

He had tried to crawl off the end of the bed for some reason, and had gotten wedged between the bed and a rocking chair. He wasn't hurt, but he was very scared.

Normally he stays in bed until I come to him. Occasionally he will climb over the side and get out of bed if he wakes up, then he comes to find me. He must have gotten confused in the dark and thought the end of the bed was the side. Anyway, I'm REALLY glad I went to him quickly!