Irresponsible and unhelpful article about baby’s death?

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c864g0evz9jo.amp

I am genuinely very confused about this article and would appreciate if someone could shed light so we can learn from it.

It says that the mother “had failed to notice her daughter's deterioration” and this presumably led to the baby’s tragic death. But I have no idea what the signs of deterioration would have been? As a new mum maybe it is not as obvious to me as it might be for others.

There seems to be great emphasis on the alcohol and tobacco consumption, but nothing to say that this directly impacted - e.g. baby someone fallen on or got hold of cigarettes so it’s unclear why this is actually relevant? Clearly it is not a crime have booze and fags, so what exactly has happened here?

It seems like there is some fairly crucial information missing? AIBU to think this type of article is alarming enough to raise anxiety levels but too vague to actually help inform or equip parents and careers. And also stigmatises a mother who, other than drink and smoke, does not explicitly seem to have done something harmful. If she has missed some critical signs of declining health then we really need to know what they were!

I have a different read. I wonder if the police / social services suspected worse abuse / suspected the mother had caused it but couldn’t prove it and charged her with what they could prove.

If she was a kind loving mum and put a healthy baby to sleep and then failed to wake up in the night (for any reason) I just don’t see CPS seeing it in public interest to prosecute.

Yes getting wasted with your baby in the house is a really bad plan. But I’m with the OP that I struggle to understand the actual criminal behaviour (as not waking up for a night feed, whether we agree with this or not, is not against the law).

I’m also a bit confused with people’s assumption she’d necked a whole bottle of vodka. That she was 3 times the drink drive limit is telling but if she’d not been drinking for the last 12 months because pregnant / breastfeeding, and if she is slim, a pretty low amount of booze could knock one sideways.

But if that were the case I just don’t see CPS pouring money into a prosecution, so on balance reckon something more happening.

Exactly.

and we do legislate for sleeping with a baby on a sofa when drunk. The fact is we haven’t made putting a baby to sleep on a sofa alone illegal so I do think it is relevant why the baby died.

the fact is without knowing the cause of death and ambiguous and non specific references to “deterioration” it’s not clear whether the outcome would have been different if the mother had ill advisedly left the baby on the sofa checking every hour whilst she had a nap/made a meal/done laundry.

Well she probably would have noticed before rigour mortis had set in. There’s no need for everyone to know the exact cause of death regardless, we all know unsafe sleeping can increase the chances of SIDS.

So the mum gets drunk neglects her baby as a result baby dies and women go o poor her she didn't do anything wrong it is the fault of police and press not her she has mental health issues no harm done
honestly this line annoys the life out of me and anyone excusing this kind of behaviour I would have serious concerns for their own kids when they think above behaviour is acceptable

Obviously.

but that doesn’t equate to being able to change the outcome.

And yes you’re right we all know the advice re SIDs but I’m not aware of a single case where the parent of a baby who has died of SIDs has been prosecuted for neglect because they didn’t follow guidance. And frankly nor should they be.

There is a very clear difference in culpability depending on whether the baby died of SIDs, dehydration or failure to seek medical attention for an obvious illness.

Well it says she missed the deterioration so think it’s possible she could have changed the outcome. The facts in the article are that she was deliberately not in a fit state to safely care for her children… hence the charge of child cruelty, it’s not like she’s been charged with manslaughter.

https://www.staffordshire.police.uk/news/staffordshire/news/2025/september/mother-guilty-of-neglect-after-death-of-five-month-old-child/

This says they couldn’t establish an exact cause of death.

It's a strange prosecution. I remember a baby dying local to me after the mum and mum's sister had gone out drinking. The mum and baby went to sleep in the same bed, and the sister noticed that mum had rolled on top of the baby. The mother was so drunk she didn't even wake up throughout the attendance of the ambulance crew and the police. The pathologist said that they couldn't establish cause of death. It was possible the baby had died of SIDS before the mum rolled on top.
There is so much similarity in the two stories - I don't understand why one mother was prosecuted and the other wasn't. And no, I'm not excusing either - I think it SHOULD be a crime to be drunk when looking after a baby, I just don't understand the difference between the two cases.

@DuckCootLoon - that's another devastating case, just horrific to read.

Why it may have been treated differently - maybe there were important features we don't know about which were different.

Even if it were essentially the same, different police forces/units may investigate differently. So the facts may have been essentially the same but the quality of evidence different. There may also have been a procedural failure which weakened the case in your example.

And even if the strength of the case were the same, the CPS in your area may have judged differently to the one in Staffordshire - simply because reasonable people/committees can come to different conclusions.

There is another thread about this - https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5413093-mother-charged-with-neglect?page=4&reply=147239446