A mum has been ‘racked with guilt’ after her baby was left ‘75% brain dead’ after falling asleep between her and her partner.
Breanna Brown, 22, was woken by little Karvion Brown crying in his crib, so took him into her bedroom and handed the child over to husband Ezell Brown, 23, to feed.
However, Breanna was horrified when she heard her husband’s panicked screams at 5am, waking up to see their son’s face had turned blue as he struggled to breathe.
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She is now urging other parents to be careful about their child’s sleeping arrangements, saying it’s better to ‘love them enough to put them in their beds’.
Mum-of-three Breanna, from Newton, Wisconsin, US, said: "When Karvion woke me up I was really tired, so I nudged my husband and said, 'Can you feed him? I just need a couple of minutes'.
"When Ezell woke me up later, he was on the end of the bed screaming, 'Karvion's not breathing'.
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"My son's arms and legs were flopped behind him. I could tell that he was turning purple and blue.
"Right before the EMT walked up the steps, my husband blew in his mouth and he started gurgling and his eyes started rolling.
"He was flopping back in Ezell's arms. You could just see his lips getting bluer and bluer by the second.”
Breanna says the five-month-old had fallen asleep on top of the covers in between her and Ezell, and likely got tangled in the quilt as he tried to reach his bottle after Ezell fell asleep mid-feed.
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Karvion was rushed to HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where doctors provided him with a breathing tube before moving him to Children's Wisconsin, Milwaukee, an hour later.
"He had 16 seizures on the first day, and that went on for a week and a half,” Breanna said.
“He was having up to 16 seizures in a day.”
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Doctors confirmed Karvion had been deprived of oxygen for approximately seven minutes, and had four subclinical seizures in the ambulance alone.
Breanna claims that the loss of oxygen has caused 75 percent of Karvion's brain cells to die, and that medics have even suggested that the infant may now be blind.
They have said the couple may want to consider whether this is the kind of life that they want for their son.
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Breanna continued: "Right now, he hasn't moved or opened his eyes or made any noises since they removed the breathing tube on 21st May.
"Me and him were so close. I always had him on me, and he was always looking at me and always smiling at me.
"I have photos up in his room of him looking at me with a big smile on his face and his eyes so alive.
"Now the last thing he remembers seeing is his mummy picking him up out of his crib angry [that he was crying and wanted a bottle], and I can't live with that being the last sight he sees."
With Karvion currently still in hospital and doctors uncertain of what the future holds for him, his parents are now raising money to fund their infant's treatment on GoFundMe.
Breanna said the horrifying experience has left her burdened by guilt - and is now advising other parents to practice safe sleeping.
She said: "I keep putting myself in my son's position of him trying to struggle to breathe, not knowing [what was happening]. He can't get up, he can't do anything, nobody can hear him.
"I keep putting myself there and it's starting to wear on me but I can't stop. I can't sleep at night now.
"When Kavion had the breathing tube in, he opened one eye and tried to clench one hand.
"They're saying that he might be blind now, and that it might not be him intentionally opening his eyes they might have just fallen open.
"Once brain cells die, they turn white on the MRI and 75% of his brain is white. I'm terrified.
"Yesterday a doctor came in and told us that we don't have to make any big decisions today, but asked if this is the quality of life we want our son to live.
"I was angry [at the time] that Kavion woke up early, and I feel so much guilt because I was mad that my son wanted a bottle.
"Ezell is feeling the guilt really bad, and I keep telling him not to. We're both equally to blame.”
Breanna added: "I used to sleep with Karvion all the time, but never in the middle of us.
"But now going back and looking at it, I shouldn't have done it from the get-go - we never should have been used to that.
"As cute and cuddly as they look, love them enough to put them in their beds. If you truly do deeply love them, give them a kiss and a hug and lay them in their cribs, please."
Jess Hardiman