A “GUILT-stricken” mum blames herself for leaving her only son brain-damaged and potentially blind.
Heartbroken Brenna Brown, 22, and her husband Ezell, 23, accidentally suffocated little Karvion while he lay sleeping between them.
The couple were in bed at home on May 3 when they were woken by the five-month-old’s cries.
Breanna took Karvion out of his cot and handed him to Ezell for his night-time feed.
All three fell asleep in their double bed and at 5am were startled by Ezell’s terrified screams.
Karvion was limp, blue in the face and struggling to breathe.
Breanna, from Newton, Wisconsin, said: “My son’s arms and legs were flopped behind him.
“He was turning purple and blue.”
The mum-of-three thinks he likely got tangled in the duvet cover in a desperate attempt to reach for his bottle.
“All hell broke loose from there,” she added.
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“He was flopping back in Ezell’s arms. You could just see his lips getting bluer and bluer by the second.”
The panicked parents immediately called an ambulance while blowing into Karvion’s mouth in an attempt to help him breathe.
He was rushed to A&E where doctors said he had been deprived of oxygen for seven minutes and had suffered four subclinical seizures, Breanna said.
“My only son,” she added. “I was sobbing nonstop the whole time so I stood in the hallway.
“I didn’t want my son to hear me cry like that.”
The full-time mum claims Karvion then had as many as 16 seizures a day.
Medics fear he may now be blind and unable to walk, as well as possibly suffering 75 per cent brain cell death.
Breanna and Ezell blame themselves for what happened and want to warn other parents of the dangers of co-sleeping.
One second would have changed the whole outcome.
Breanna Brown
“I should have just left him in his crib,” she said.
“I was angry 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.
“Why didn’t I just leave him in his crib and give him the pacifier for a second?
“One second would have changed the whole outcome. I can’t sleep at night now.
“If you truly love your kids, give them a kiss and a hug and lay them in their own beds, please.”
Karvion remains in hospital where he is continuing treatment for his seizures.
“He hasn’t moved or opened his eyes or made any noises since they removed the breathing tube on May 21,” Breanna, who is also mum to one year-old Layla and Zoey, four, said.
“The last thing he remembers seeing is his mummy picking him up out of his crib angry, and I can’t live with that being the last sight he sees.”
The family are fundraising to pay for travel to see Karvion, which is 77 miles from where they live, and his treatment.
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