Infant passes away after being found not breathing during nap at West Valley City daycare

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC4) — An infant passed away after a daycare operator discovered they were not breathing during a nap, police say.

According to the West Valley Police Department, around 1:30 p.m., police responded to an emergency call regarding a 3-month-old infant. The caller was the operator of an in-home daycare near 2800 South Saris Circle in West Valley City.

The daycare operator told police that the infant was discovered not breathing during a nap. Officers performed CPR on scene until medical responders arrived. The 3-month-old was transported to the hospital.

Life-saving efforts at the hospital were unsuccessful, and the infant unfortunately passed away. Police say there were “no visible indications of trauma,” and an investigation into the death is underway.

Makaylee, who lives in a home near the in-home daycare, said that she was sleeping when her mom came inside in a panic and told her that there was “a baby dead on the floor.” She went outside and witnessed the baby receiving CPR with a machine.

“I was here the whole time… and in the last like, 20 minutes, I just saw the baby turning blue purple,” Makaylee recalled. “And it really, like, it hurt me a lot… I never even knew this was a daycare.”

She said that responders got roughly four breaths out of the infant before the child was rushed to the hospital. Ambulance crews returned to the neighborhood to clean up the scene after bringing the infant to the hospital.

Makaylee said that she’s interacted with the neighbor who runs the daycare before, and that she was really nice. She stated that she would never think that something like this would happen based on those interactions.