19-Month-Old Toddler Dies After Nap at Daycare; Mother Demands Answers

A 19-month-old toddler has died while taking a nap at a daycare center in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province.

The child's mother, identified as A, wrote on her social media on July 17, "My son, who was the treasure and everything to our family, went to daycare and never came home."

According to her post, on the afternoon of July 13, around 3:30 p.m., while she was preparing dinner for her child, she received a call from a paramedic using the teacher's phone, stating, "Your child's heart stopped while napping. We are transporting the child to a nearby hospital."

"After 50 minutes of CPR, my baby passed away," she wrote.

She questioned the circumstances, stating, "My child was healthy and did not have a fever on the day of his death. I can only think the cause of death was suffocation. Does it make sense for a perfectly healthy child to die for no reason while napping?"

She also pointed out that, according to the daycare's CCTV footage she reviewed at the police station on the day of the incident, the child had been napping in a blind spot not covered by the cameras.

"The morning footage showed my child was bright and healthy, but after the teacher took him to the nap area and laid him down, he was no longer visible," she said.

Mother A further explained, "The daycare teachers did not check on my child even once between 12:30 p.m. and 3:04 p.m., and it was only around 3:04 p.m. that they rushed to wake him up and started shaking him."

She argued, "While there may not have been physical abuse, leaving a child unattended for over two hours is a form of child abuse and professional negligence. Putting a child to sleep in a CCTV blind spot is also a problem."

Previously, on July 13, around 3:10 p.m., a 19-month-old infant was found in cardiac arrest while napping at a daycare center in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, and was pronounced dead after being transported to a hospital.

The police stated, "As this is a serious incident involving the death of an infant at a daycare center, it is necessary to verify the exact facts," adding that they are investigating the precise circumstances based on statements from daycare staff and an analysis of the CCTV footage.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Jang Yu-jin | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.