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Baby dies after father left him in steam-filled bathroom to 'settle cough'

A one-year-old boy has died after his father left him in a steaming bathroom with the shower running for more than an hour to try and settle the infant's cough.

The baby's 27-year-old father told police in Brooklyn, New York, his boy Mordechai Halpern woke up coughing about 3.30 am Thursday.

The man first tried giving the little boy a bottle filled with water, lemon juice and sugar but it failed to settle the cough, The New York Daily News reported.

A one-year-old boy has died after his father left him in a steaming bathroom with the shower running for more than an hour to try and settle the infant's unrelenting cough. Picture: File/Getty
A one-year-old boy has died after his father left him in a steaming bathroom with the shower running for more than an hour to try and settle the infant's unrelenting cough. Picture: File/Getty

He then strapped the boy into his stroller, covered him with a blanket and placed him in the bathroom near the shower where he turned on the hot water and closed the shower curtain.

The father told police he thought the steam would act as a humidifier, so he left his baby there and went back to sleep after setting his alarm for 5am.

When the alarm went off, Mordechai's 22-year-old mother woke to check on her baby and found him unconscious.

Paramedics arrived and rushed the little boy to Maimonides Medical Center, but he could not be revived.

The baby's body temperature was reportedly 42 degrees when he was found.

Investigators will preform an autopsy to determine the cause of death, however the police do not believe the boy's father intended to harm the baby.