Mother Hopes to Pass Daycare Law | Video

Jessica Roose | 1/7/2013

This week, legislators will head to the capitol for the start of the session. Many with plans already in the works with what legislation they hope to get passed. One representative from Fargo hopes to help a North Dakota mother with a law she feels needs to be passed.

It`s a call every parent hopes they will never get.

"Just getting the call that my daughter wasn`t breathing and having to go to the ER and actually beating her there, beating the ambulance there. It was just the worst moment of my life," said Tammy Czapiewski.

Her daughter, Addison, was just six months old when she died last summer. Her death was recorded as SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. But Czapiewski believes there`s more to the story.

"She was laid down while she was awake but by the time she was checked on it was too late. She did have some spit up around her and other things so I just feel like if there would have been a monitor in the room also that could have been another precaution to help save her."

State law requires that daycare providers check on infants regularly during nap times. Czapiewski believes they should be checked on every 15 minutes. In Addison`s case, the provider had not done so in 45 minutes.

"The term regularly is not defined. She really had no recourse and there was no accountability to the provider in regards to what happened to Addison. I think it`s important that we continue to do the best we can to provide safety to our children. Providing the resources and special expectations of our daycare providers," said Rep. Joshua Boschee (D-District 44).

Though Czapiewski believes the extra watch could help save some babies, some doctors say it might not.

"We do not have means to predict SIDS at the moment. So we know that the monitors are useless, they don`t help. And frequent checking on the infant has not been shown helpful because it`s so unpredictable," said Sanford pediatrician Dr. Parag Kumar.

But even so, Czapiewski sticks firm to her belief that something needs to be done so other parents don`t have to go what her family has been through. "It`s probably the worse five months I`ve ever experienced. No family should have to go through this. Just one of the worse losses anybody can go through. I`m just trying to make a legacy for my daughter by making sure no other infants go that long without being checked on."

She isn`t just staying in North Dakota. She plans to visit DC in a few months to try and get a federal law in the works. Click here for her petition.

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