1-year-old boy falls to death from hotel window

As sad as this, an investigation is essential. How does a one-year old baby crawl up to a window sill!?

The parents sound old enough toknow better. 30 cm is a big leap for a 1 year old.

@wildwest

Don't see how age is relevant. Whether you're twenty is forty-five, your first year as a parent is still just that.

: (

ayayay...not again

Something's fishy here, cuz that baby didn't crawl up there and open the window by himself.

Something's fishy here, cuz that baby didn't crawl up there and open the window by himself.

Both my kids were walking by the time they were one year old. Depending on the simplicity of the window latch, this kid may very well have opened it himself.

So the parents were in the same room and didn't notice the kid was (possibly) climbing up and opening a window, on the 12th floor? I'd have been freaking out if my grandkids got anywhere near the window. WTH were they doing?

To bad Japanese police don't usually investigate deaths among family members, or autopsies.

R.I.P. Little angel

Something's fishy here, cuz that baby didn't crawl up there and open the window by himself.

You'd be surprised what a one-year old is capable of. The whole thing sounds absolutely plausible to me. My heart goes out to the parents who lost their little angel.

StrangerlandMay. 31, 2015 - 06:29PM JST Both my kids were walking by the time they were one year old. Depending on the simplicity of the window latch, this kid may very well have opened it himself.

I agree. Most kids can walk by 1 years old.

As for latches, babies LOVE fiddling with them, which is why we had to install child-proof latches on all our cupboards.

Babies at this age also enjoy climbing and hauling themselves up onto things.

Its a tragedy, and in hindsight it is easy to point fingers (and doubtless we'll have the usual parade of critics here claiming they never made a parenting mistake in their lives - which any honest parent with even a shred of self-awareness would never claim), but I've been in a fair number of hotels and most of the latches seem pretty solid.

Could it be possible the latch not closed properly, suffered from metal fatigue or was malfunctioning in some way?

Maybe it wasn't even latched. All sorts of possibilities.

Sad story, poor child. I hope they don't blame this on the hotel and force all hotels to have permanently closed windows. I hate staying in hotels I can't breath fresh air or feel the temperature outside.

This is a tough call without actually seeing the widow he went out of. It's pretty common for Japanese houses, apartments and hotels to have windows that are not child-safe. In the other hand, sadly, it is all too common for little kids to be launched out of windows by emotionally unstable parents. Either way, it's a sad end to this little fella's life.

How does a one-year old baby crawl up to a window sill!?

30 cm is a big leap for a 1 year old.

First off, 30cm is not exactly that wide. Babies at one can climb up and jump off surfaces higher than that. One-year old is between 12-24 months. The later they go through that first year, the more capable they are. That is one reason why they are toddlers, not babies.

The boy had been staying in the hotel with his 56-year-old father and 37-year-old mother

JT: the age is not correct. the father is 36 years old, not 56....

Yes, it was a typo. Thanks for pointing that out.

Surely a toddler can climb and open a window... but in this context, I'd investigate.

It's pretty common for Japanese houses,

I agree but that was not a house or an average mansion building. For a commercial high rise (the hotel had at least 12 floors), windows are designed differently. Often, it's just impossible to open at all, or it's just a few cm, not for the love of humanity but because hotel management hates dealing with suicides. Either the window was in extremely bad repair. Or someone 'helped' the kid.

Either the window was in extremely bad repair. Or someone 'helped' the kid.

Or the window was already open, or the hotel was old and the window opened easily, or the kid somehow got lucky and managed to get the window open or etc etc etc.

@coskuri I agree with you. Usually the windows will open a few cm's for ventilation, but there will be a secondary latch to open the window all the way. Even as an adult, I find it a little difficult to open. Something is suspicious here.

the windows swing out, the opening, when fully opened, is 55cm. I'd never expect a window on a floor that high to open that wide. They usually don't open.

My son is 1 and he can easily climb 30 cm. That's less than half his height. I could also see him being able to open a window if it's the kind that swings outward. If he had to exert upward force, probably not, but this sounds like the kind that just swings open. Very easy for a kid to push.

This has given me a lot to think about. We don't use a crib at home because we all sleep on futons in the same room and our home is pretty well child-proofed, but we'll be traveling later this year, so a portable crib might be a good idea.

cuz that baby didn't crawl up there and open the window by himself

a 12 month-baby might not be able to crawl up to open the window but a 23 month-baby probably can. i wonder "how old" that 1 year old baby was.

The boy’s father said that the last time he saw his son, he was on a bed by the window

where were the parents when the baby was on a bed by himself? I know I wouldn't have left my baby (when they were 1 year old) on a bed alone.

some people might say "you can't keep your eye on baby 24/7" but this was at a hotel room, and clearly the baby was ON a bed and the father saw it.. why did he leave the baby on a bed alone and left? where did the common sense go?

This is really tragic.

I have an eight month old and we actually just got rid of our bed out of fear something exactly like this would happen. We live on the 6th floor and our bedroom has a window that was easily reachable from the bed (which we could not re-position). We decided to switch to sleeping on a futon on the floor before he got old enough to be able to stand by himself because there was no way of perfectly securing the window and the bed was the perfect stepping stone for a curious toddler to access it.

I have a lot of sympathy for these parents, losing your child is the most painful thing imaginable.