WELLINGTON, Fla. — A mother from Wellington is facing charges after her one-month-old baby died while sleeping in the same bed together.
Genna Aaronson, 33, appeared before a judge Thursday morning for her bail hearing. Her arrest comes after a lengthy investigation, and more than a year after the incident happened.
“She’s been going through a lot judge,” said Brad Cohen, Aaronson's attorney.
According to an arrest affidavit, Aaronson woke up January 6, 2018 to her husband screaming after finding the one-month old, Clarke Jacob Aaronson, face down in the bed not breathing. The baby’s father performed CPR, but Clarke did not survive.
“This was an isolated incident,” Cohen said in court.
State records also say four days before the baby died, Clarke was brought to the hospital after falling out of bed while co-sleeping with his father. At that time, the hospital warned the parents not to sleep in the same bed with their baby in the future.
State records also say on the day the baby fell out of bed, the father tested positive for marijuana and Aaronson refused a drug test. Four days later, on the day of the incident, reports say the father was sleeping in another room while Aaronson was watching a movie on her phone and fell asleep.
“A baby should be placed alone on their backs in a crib or bassinet, and that is the safest way," said Jen Shapiro, a pediatric sleep consultant who founded Blissful Baby Services.
Shapiro teaches sleep training and adheres to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which says infants should sleep in the same bedroom as their parents, but on a separate surface to decrease the risk of sleep-related deaths. Recommendations call for infants to share their parent's bedroom for at least the first six months to a year.
Shapiro says there is no safe way to co-sleep with your baby.
“Unfortunately, I feel like it’s an avoidable tragic event. I think it’s really great when we have bassinets in mommy and daddy’s room where you literally don’t have to get out of bed anymore, you just slide the bassinet over,' Shapiro said. "There are products that are marketed to say it's the safe way to co-sleep, but when we're sleeping there is no way to keep that baby between the two parents without necessarily rolling over."
In court, the judge said Aaronson can choose between posting a $10,000 bond to be released or in-house arrest.