A six-month-old infant likely died over the weekend as a result Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, according to police.

Capt. Rick Wallace with the Oak Harbor Police said the baby’s father went to check on the baby Saturday morning and discovered he wasn’t breathing. He called 911 and performed CPR, but the infant couldn’t be revived.

Wallace said it was necessary for detectives and the coroner to investigate the death of a healthy baby, but nothing suspicious was found.

“Investigators are extremely confident that it was a SIDS death,” Wallace said, adding that the investigation is still ongoing, pending the medical examiner’s report.

Wallace said the baby’s 21-year-old father, 22-year-old mother, as well as a 1-year-old child, were at the N. Oak Harbor Road home when the death occurred.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, commonly known as SIDS, is the sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the clinical history, according to the medical definition.

“In a typical situation parents check on their supposedly sleeping infant to find him or her dead,” the American SIDS Institute states. “This is the worst tragedy parents can face, a tragedy which leaves them with a sadness and a feeling of vulnerability that lasts throughout their lives. Since medicine can not tell them why their baby died, they blame themselves and often other innocent people. Their lives and those around them are changed forever.”

You can reach News-Times reporter Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.