--- description: The icy weather may have helped baby Lily survive. title: Here's How a Baby Survived 14 Hours in a Freezing River image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27e42734585175b3/698782f32dce011b7b9ddf56/utah-car-crash.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Living](/tag/time-section-living/) ## Living Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's How a Baby Survived 14 Hours in a Freezing River by [Rachel Janik](/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 10, 2015 2:44 PM CUT  Emergency crews at the site where a vehicle plunged off a bridge into the Spanish fork River. Emergency crews at the site where a vehicle plunged off a bridge into the Spanish fork River.Spanish Fork City Police Dept./AFP/Getty Images by [Rachel Janik](/author/rachel-janik/) ## Rachel Janik Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 10, 2015 2:44 PM CUT An 18-month-old girl from Utah who was trapped in an overturned car for 14 hours [may have survived because of the icy weather](http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/health/utah-baby-submerged-car-survival/index.html "undefined"), not in spite of it, doctors say. The toddler was left hanging upside down in her car seat with no food after the devastating crash that killed her mother, suspended over a freezing river as temperatures plunged overnight Friday and into Saturday morning. Ironically, one expert says, the cold may have helped. “When you become hypothermic, it slows the body down. Metabolism drops; your oxygen consumption drops; your glucose metabolism in use drops. It actually ends up being neuroprotective,” Dr. Barbara Walsh of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center [told CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/health/utah-baby-submerged-car-survival/index.html "undefined"). The girl’s baby fat might also have helped insulate her from the elements, she added. “Children are very resilient, and I think sometimes we don’t realize how much they actually can withstand.” But the car seat played the most significant part in the girl’s survival. Her mother, 25-year-old Lynn Jennifer Groesbeck, used the appropriate size of car seat and strapped her in properly. During the accident, this kept her from falling out of the car, and in the hours afterward, it kept her dry. As for the lack of food, there’s no telling when the baby was last fed before the crash. In this case, it’s likely baby Lily got very lucky. She’s currently recovering in the hospital, and her family says she is improving. \[[_CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/health/utah-baby-submerged-car-survival/index.html "undefined")\] _Read next:_ [_Toddler Found Alive 14 Hours After Car Crash in Utah River_](http://time.com/3736745/toddler-found-alive-car-crash-utah/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3738752/baby-survived-14-hours-freezing-river/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3738752/baby-survived-14-hours-freezing-river/"},"headline":"Here's How a Baby Survived 14 Hours in a Freezing River","datePublished":"2015-03-10T14:44:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:49.526Z","description":"The icy weather may have helped baby Lily survive","url":"https://time.com/3738752/baby-survived-14-hours-freezing-river/","keywords":["Living","Utah","Accident","baby"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27e42734585175b3/698782f32dce011b7b9ddf56/utah-car-crash.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel Janik","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-janik/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27e42734585175b3/698782f32dce011b7b9ddf56/utah-car-crash.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-ACCIDENT-CHILDREN","caption":"US-ACCIDENT-CHILDREN","creditText":"Spanish Fork City Police Dept./AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3738752/baby-survived-14-hours-freezing-river/","name":"Here's How a Baby Survived 14 Hours in a Freezing River"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: A Mother Reflects on a Fatal Error","description":"Who’s at Fault When a Child Dies in a Hot Car?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/YUx3XDRm/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-31T21:13:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YUx3XDRm.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3738752/baby-survived-14-hours-freezing-river/","duration":"PT3M35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3738752/baby-survived-14-hours-freezing-river/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```