FOUL PLAY DOUBTED BUT PROBES PROCEED IN BABY'S DEATH.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

Duel investigations continued Thursday after a baby died Wednesday at a licensed day-care home in Saugus.

Sheriff's homicide detectives believe there was no foul play in the death of 4-month-old Ryan Gaynor. The baby died while sleeping in a child car seat in one of Ida West's bedrooms.

``It was just a freak accident,'' Allen West said Wednesday evening, while his wife was being questioned in their two-story home on Seco Canyon Road.

But state officials questioned the safety of the baby's sleeping arrangement.

Ida West was watching five children, including two of her own, at about 2 p.m. when she went to make her hourly check on little Ryan, her husband said. He said his wife had placed the seat in an upright position on the mattress.

She found the baby with his belly facing the back of the child seat, and the seat was lying on its side on the mattress, authorities said.

Detective Melinda Hearne of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said the car seat was stable and braced onto the mattress, but the baby was not buckled into the seat.

Authorities would not comment on the cause of death until the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office completes an autopsy.

``The baby had turned from its back to its stomach,'' Hearne said. ``At some point, the car seat fell to its side.''

Ida West tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the child, authorities said.

``She did the right moves to clear the airway,'' Hearne said.

Allen West said Ryan routinely arrived for day care carried in the car seat.

``He seemed to sleep better in the car seat,'' he said, adding that it was placed on a very firm mattress.

But officials from the community-care licensing section of the state's Department of Social Services said they often advise sitters not to put a child into a car seat or other restraint for a nap.

``It's considered a restraint. It should not be in a car seat. It is not what it is for. Beds are for sleeping,'' said Sergio Ramirez, a district manager for community care licensing in Los Angeles.

In fact, an inspector from his staff would cite a care giver if a child was found napping in a car seat, Ramirez said.

West has had a perfect child-care record with the state.

Ramirez said his office will conduct its own investigation to determine whether West's license should be suspended or revoked.

Next-door neighbors Brian and Sheena O'Connor, who take their 2-year-old son to Ida West three days a week, said the incident has not changed their view of the woman as a wonderful mother.

``She's a perfect woman for child care,'' Sheena O'Connor said. ``She is so nice to kids, nice to babies. The kids say that she's so nice. Everybody says that.''

O'Connor's husband agreed and called the death a catastrophe.

``It's terrible that something like this has to happen,'' he said. ``I'm just walking around kind of shaking inside. I feel so sorry for everyone - for the kids that had to be there. They saw death before they had to.''

Ramirez said there have been few infant deaths in the past three years in the 12,000 homes licensed for day care throughout Los Angeles County.