The uncle of the 10-month-old baby boy, who died at his home Sunday after he stopped breathing while sleeping in a car seat, has spoken out about the tragedy.
Austin Point said his home was full of children that night and he was babysitting the boy and his three-year-old brother for their mother, Point's sister. His three children, two sons aged seven and three months, and a daughter aged one, were also there.
"We were babysitting for the night...we had no more cribs, and we tried to phone his mom to come pick him up because we had nowhere else to stay here for him... She phoned us later on that night and said she left us more diapers outside the door and that she'll see us in the morning," he said.
He said he had babysat his nephews in the past.
"We were having a rough night and he was crying and...had a hard time calming him down. He finally calmed down and went sleep about one in the morning."
Point said everyone finally went to sleep. When they woke they checked on the baby and he wasn't breathing. They called an ambulance.
He said the loss of his nephew is difficult to contemplate.
"It's too hard...I don't want to think about it right now," said Point. "That's all we had... his car seat that he came in."
He added his sister was "going through a rough time right now."
The RCMP in Nanaimo said Monday they were investigating the case and said members of the Serious Crimes Unit secured the home and seized various items for their investigation.
They added that a one-year-old girl who was also in the home at the time is in the custody of the Ministry of Children and Families.
An autopsy is due to be conducted on the body of the little boy this week to determine a cause of death.
Last week, a Quebec coroner warned parents in that province not to put their babies in car seats for sleeping because of the risk of suffocation. This came after the death of a two-month-old in the town of Pointe Claire.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Reshmi Nair and files from The Canadian Press.
