Court rules child abuse occurred after an infant died during a nap with a blanket at day care

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG/Gray News) - A home day care in Iowa will no longer be able to practice after the state’s Supreme Court ruled that there was child abuse in the death of an infant.

State records indicate that on Oct. 9, 2023, Amanda Cooke took a 5-month-old girl to the basement of her home and placed her in a Pack ‘n Play portable crib for a nap.

When Cooke checked on the infant around an hour later, she noticed the child’s face was pressed against a blanket in the crib.

Cooke initiated CPR and the child was taken to a hospital, but the infant died the next day.

An autopsy indicated the girl died from lack of oxygen caused by the position of her body and smothering by the blanket. The medical examiner classified the death as an accident.

According to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Cooke did not follow safe sleep practices that all day-care providers receiving state funding must follow.

Therefore, the department decided it was child abuse and revoked Cooke’s child-care license.

Cooke appealed the decision, and an administrative judge sided with her, arguing an average person might not know safe sleep practices, such as not letting an infant sleep with a blanket.

However, the department then appealed the judge’s ruling, and the Iowa Supreme Court sided with the department, saying Cooke was not an average person because she had received specific training and guidelines to follow as a licensed child-care provider.

The infant’s family has since filed a lawsuit against Cooke. A jury trial is scheduled for January 2027.