ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A 4-month-old boy is in critical condition after being found unresponsive at a home Thursday morning, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies were called to the home in the 900 block of Collier Boulevard at about 6 a.m. and found the baby unconscious in a bed.
Paramedics rushed the boy to Flagler Hospital, performing CPR on the way, and they got a pulse.
"The paramedics did a phenomenal job, and anyone who responded to that child did a phenomenal job to get a pulse back," Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan said. "But time is always of the essence when you're not breathing and your heart has stopped. Obviously, within minutes, you can see damage set in."
The baby was transferred to Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, where he's in critical condition in the neonatal intensive care unit.
John Harrell, spokesman for the Department of Children and Families, said "there are concerns this might have involved co-sleeping," which he said is a dangerous trend that's resulted in 64 infant deaths in DCF's Northeast Region in the last five years. That's 16 percent of all infant deaths in that period of time.
"It's certainly a major concern when you have anything like this happen to a child this young," Harrell said.
He said these situations can be prevented.
"(Parents) may be thinking they need to quiet the baby or be close to the baby. There are better ways to do that," Harrell said. "If you feel drowsy at all, don't even sleep with your baby next to you. Don't even hold your baby if you start to feel drowsy because you could fall asleep, roll over and then a tragedy happens."
Neighbors who know the family said they're hopeful the baby will recover.
"As a parent, this is something that no family actually wants to experience," neighbor Douglas Pope said. "So I really give them my prayers and support."
DCF said parents should follow the ABCs of safe sleeping, which are to make sure the baby is sleeping alone, on his or her back and in a crib.
For more tips and facts about safe sleeping, go to DCF's website.