Maryland Toddler Died in His Sleep at Random and His Parents Are Trying to Understand Why: ‘Every Parent’s Nightmare’

17-month-old Hayden Fell died unexpectedly in his crib as he slept. It was a heartbreaking moment for the family, especially after the seemingly healthy toddler seemed fine the night before.

"A crib camera captured him happily playing as his parents and sister sang "Wheels on a Bus" with his twin brother before bedtime.

That same video might provide clues about why he died.

Approximately 3,000 babies or young children die a year, mostly in their sleep, without explanation in the U.S.

Researchers have found brief seizures accompanied by muscle convulsions as a potential cause of some unexplained deaths, according to a new study at NYU Langone Health.

Researchers used medical records and videos donated by families to document the deaths of seven toddlers that were potentially attributable to seizures.

These seizures lasted less than 60 seconds and occurred within 30 minutes before a child’s death, according to the study’s authors.

The recordings can’t prove fevers triggered the seizures, but researchers noted several toddlers had signs of mild infections at the time of their deaths.

Hayden Fell experienced his first seizure shortly before his first birthday when a cold-like virus sparked a fever. Additional mild bugs triggered several more, but Hayden always rapidly bounced back — until the night in November 2022 when he died.

“I thought he would be fine and it was just a matter of letting this run its course,” said Justin Fell, explaining how multiple doctors told the Bel Air, Maryland, family not to worry whenever Hayden had a fever-sparked seizure. Instead, “it was every parent’s nightmare.”

Hayden's mom, Katie Czajkowski-Fell, hopes the video evidence helps finally lead to answers.

“His life, it was too precious and too important for us to not try and do something with this tragedy.”

“Our study, although small, offers the first direct evidence that seizures may be responsible for some sudden deaths in children, which are usually unwitnessed during sleep,” said study lead investigator Laura Gould, a research assistant professor at NYU Langone.

Gould lost her 15-month-old daughter, Maria, to an unexplained death in 1997. That is why she worked to establish the SUDC Registry and Research Collaborative at NYU Langone.

Maria woke up one night with a fever and was her usual happy self the next morning, but she died during a nap.

Gould doesn't want families to be scared by the new findings. She hopes researchers will eventually be able to determine if it’s possible to sort differences between those rare children who die and the masses who are fine after an occasional seizure.

“If we can figure out the children at risk, maybe we can change their outcome," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.