It was Tuesday morning in Puerto Vallarta’s Campo Verde neighborhood when Carla Ruby Ruiz López found her nine-month old baby girl non-respondent and purple in her crib, immediately she called emergency services.
First on the scene were officers Luis Enrique Contreras, Hector Alejandro Chavez, and Juan Manuel Vázquez, who found the infant girl in the mother’s arms. The mother reported that the baby had stopped breathing 15 minutes before their arrival and was purple.
Luis Enrique Contreras, recently certifies in advanced first-aid, began CPR on the lifeless nine-month old girl. After several minutes of administering CPR the baby began to breath and was rushed to Regional Hospital by paramedics.
Doctors say that without the lifesaving training and heroism of the three local police officers, the baby would have suffered SID, or the phenomenon known as crib death.
Crib deaths or Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a rare cause of sudden unexplained death in infants. Worldwide there are about 3,000 cases of SIDS reported each year.
WebMD outlines some steps to preventing SIDS:
- Place infant on their back to sleep
- Use a firm crib mattress and remove toys and bedding from crib before putting infant to sleep.
- Don’t smoke around your baby.
- Don’t sleep in the bed with your baby.
- Women who are able to breastfeed should, studies show SIDS is cut in half with babies being breastfed.
- Do not give honey to a child under one year old.
