We may complain a lot about dealing with kids and the difficulty involved in trying to handle them, but this daycare worker has certainly taken it a step too far.
Stacey Vaillancourt, a 53-year-old nanny, was given the task of caring for a 6-month-old baby named Harper Rose Briar.
The girl had been dropped off by her parents, Blake and Marissa Briar, just a few days before her 6 month birthday.
After just three days in the babysitter’s care, the girl passed away. So, just what happened so suddenly that it caused the death of the baby, on her 6-month birthday no less?
All parents know just how exhausting it can be to care for a baby, so it is perfectly understandable that the Briars had decided to leave their beloved daughter with an at-home daycare center for three days.
They certainly deserved a break – parenthood can be incredibly taxing, and it is a full time, 24/7 job!
You would have then assumed that someone who had set up their own daycare and made being a nanny their full-time job would know how to care for children properly – it was certainly the assumption that the Briars had.
After all, no one would hand over their beloved children to a caretaker they didn’t fully trust.
Alas, it seems that such trust was completely and utterly misplaced.
On the 24th of January, the couple received a call that every parent dreads to hear – Harper Rose had been sent to the hospital via ambulance, and was not responding to the efforts of the doctors and the nurses at all.
The Briars quickly rushed to the hospital themselves, but their efforts were in vain – their daughter was no more, and they would never see her alive again.
The story quickly unfolded from there.
Authorities dived straight into investigating this crime, and soon found out what happened – in an effort to get Harper Rose to sleep, Vaillancourt had sedated the baby girl to the point that the child could not even lift her head, and later died as a result.
The drug used?
An antihistamine medicine called diphenhydramine, which in addition to being used to treat allergies is also often used to help users deal with symptoms of illnesses like the common cold and hay fever.
And as anyone who has ever taken cold medication can tell you, these drugs can make you sleepy.
Unfortunately, they should never be used for children under 6 years old unless prescribed by a doctor – and the medication Vaillancourt used in particular even had components that would not be given to children under the age of 12, much less a baby turning 6 months old.
So not only was the drug administered to Harper Rose far too dangerous for her, the baby overdosed on it to the point she couldn’t even move.
Vaillancourt later realized her mistake when the baby stopped breathing and called for emergency help, but by then it was too late.
Vaillancourt has since been arrested and is charged with suspicion of manslaughter and child cruelty, and will likely face justice for her negligent actions.
In the meantime, a GoFundMe set up by the mother’s friend has successfully reached its goal of raising enough money to fund Harper Rose’s funeral.