Baby dies at daycare; Devastated parents seek answers

A young mother’s greatest fears have shattered her life and have now become the reality she is facing.

Seven-month old Oriyaa Gravesande died yesterday after reportedly suffocating at the Little Learner’s Daycare Centre in Ogle.

While fighting back tears in a social media video, the child’s mother Shavanie Gravesande said all was well when she dropped her daughter off at the daycare centre on Tuesday morning. She said her daughter was a healthy baby with no complaints and was smiling and laughing as usual.

The mother said she was later contacted on Tuesday afternoon by a caregiver at the Day Care Centre who reported that the child was having breathing issues.

By that time, the child had already been rushed to the Georgetown Hospital by ambulance, where doctors pronounced her dead on arrival.

Officials at the Daycare centre were being questioned by the Police late Tuesday and related that the child was noticed panting for breath and measures were immediately taken to seek help.

However, the mother related that she was told that her seven-month old daughter was not being supervised, when she might have gotten wrapped up in a sheet after rolling off a bed, eventually suffocating.

The mother and father said they have been left heartbroken by the loss of their beautiful baby girl and they want a full investigation into the incident.

They complained that they were not immediately contacted by the Daycare Centre when the incident took place.

Police investigators are probing the death.

(Photos: Joseph Allen)