Father speaks after 1-month-old’s mom accused of slamming baby’s head against the floor

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN/Gray News) — A baby girl is continuing to fight for her life after suffering a number of serious injuries that could have ended it.

The month-and-a-half-old child has been recovering at Children’s Hospital in Omaha.

According to police, the infant suffered life-threatening injuries at the hands of her mother, 20-year-old Kayleigh Lowe.

Court records showed Lowe likely slammed the baby’s head against the floor of their home, threw her in the air and squeezed her ribs.

As a result, police said the baby suffered seven broken ribs and bleeding on both sides of her brain.

The young girl was taken to a Lincoln hospital before being transferred to Children’s Hospital on Sept. 13.

After a few weeks of uncertainty, doctors said they believed the girl would survive, a relief to her father, 20-year-old Cooper Miller.

“She is doing better than she had the last couple of days, so that is giving me better hope,” Miller said. “Her ribs are healing miraculously. Her bruising is gone on her face. She just, she’s so beautiful.”

Miller, who now lives in Hastings, said he was in a relationship with Lowe until the beginning of this year. They learned she was pregnant in late 2025 and the two had kept in touch as she closed in on her due date.

An arrest affidavit showed that Lowe searched “shaken baby syndrome” on her phone on Sept. 2, just 12 days after her daughter was born. She later took the infant to an emergency room on Sept. 10 but left against medical advice, police reported.

A doctor with Children’s Hospital told police that the infant had suffered permanent brain injuries. Miller said that a large portion of his daughter’s brain was full of fluid and threatening to claim her eyesight.

As for a prognosis, Miller said his little girl’s future remained unclear. He is, however, hopeful as doctors expect to know much more by the end of the month.

“They will evaluate from there as to whether or not she’s going to go into rehabilitation, which I am really hoping for because she’s a great candidate for it,” Miller said. “And honestly she could really use it right now given what she’s been through.”

In the meantime, Miller said his daughter has gotten back to eating from a bottle, and he’s eager to see what the future holds.

“There’s been a lot of prayers and a lot of miracles answered. And this one’s one of them,” Miller said. “It’s gonna be a story to tell in the future, too, because the night I got that call I took work off the whole week. I wasn’t going nowhere until I knew my little girl was OK.”

Court filings show the state is working to remove custody from Lowe. Miller expects to know more about his bid for custody this week.