Parents Issue Crucial Warning After Car Seat Causes Child to Stop Breathing and Pass Away

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On a seemingly ordinary Thursday, tragedy struck a young family when their 11-month-old baby died at daycare while napping in his car seat. The bereaved couple is making efforts to turn their loss into a warning for other parents.

Ryne and Rachel Jungling, a couple from Mandan, North Dakota, had struggled for seven years with various fertility treatments until the good news finally came. “It kind of took a while to sink in just because it was so surprising,” Rachel said of learning of her pregnancy, per KX News. Upon finding out they were expecting twins, the couple couldn’t have been any happier.

“They were miracle babies,” Ryne told TODAY Parents.

First-time mom Rachel gave birth to twins, Anders and Linnea, on Jan. 30, 2019, six weeks early. As the babies were premature, they had to spend nearly three weeks in the NICU before the Junglings could take them home.

Even at such a young age, the two infants had a close bond. Anders “was the snuggler ... always giving hugs and he really liked being held,” Ryne explained, per Good Morning America. “They were pretty inseparable.”

The family’s world was turned upside down on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2019, after Rachel had left the twins at daycare before work. “With two, Rachel didn’t feel comfortable leaving one in the car, so she would grab them both in the carriers and bring them in,” Ryne explained. Linnea was awake, but little Anders was a bit sleepy.

“Our daycare provider took Linnea out of the car seat,” the mother recalled. “I looked at Anders and I said, ‘Bye, buddy.’ He gave me the cutest little smile. The next thing I know, I’m at work, and I get a call that something had happened. A police officer had called, and he said that they were taking Anders to the hospital.”

And the worst was yet to come. Daycare staff had called 911, and after performing CPR on the infant, they rushed him into the hospital, where he spent three days on life support. He sadly passed away on Jan. 12. “Everybody describes it as a parent’s worst nightmare,” Ryne said. “I'll definitely agree with that. You feel helpless when you can’t do anything for your child.”

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An investigation revealed that Anders died of positional asphyxia; he couldn’t breathe due to his car seat’s positioning. “When a car seat is in a base,” Rachel explained, “the baby’s airway is open because they are tilted back a little bit, but on the floor, they are not in a base and your head can kind of slouch down.”

The couple is now working with Safe Kids Worldwide to help raise awareness of the dangers of car seats. In July 2019, the pair shared their story at the Safe Kids WorldWide Injury Prevention Convention. They also helped start a course at Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health on safe sleep amongst other child safety issues. “Anders’ death was 100 percent preventable,” Ryne shared. “We want to make sure this never happens to anyone else.”

On Oct. 2, 2019, Rachel and Ryne welcomed baby Elias into their life. And while Anders will never be forgotten, the couple is determined to do as much as is in their power to warn other parents.

“We prayed a lot that he would get better, that this would all go away,” Ryne said. “We were praying for a miracle to happen. At the same time, we started to pray that this story would lead to a miracle. Maybe Anders surviving, maybe that wasn’t the miracle. Maybe it was preventing this [from happening] to someone else.”

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