A six-week-old baby is feared to have suffocated in his sleep after he was brought into the bed of his parents when they returned home at 3.30am following a night out.
Noah Pearson had been left with his grandmother while his mother and father went out with friends for drinks for the first time in a year.
But tragedy struck when Paul Pearson, 24 and 22-year-old Emily Lambert got home in Bradford, West Yorkshire, and went straight to bed after relieving the babysitter.
When Noah woke up crying at 5am, Mr Pearson took him from the Moses basket next to his side of the bed after feeding the baby, and cradled him in his arms between himself and Miss Lambert before going back to sleep.
At 8.50am, Mr Pearson was woken by a mobile phone ringing to find blood coming from the nose of an unresponsive Noah and called the ambulance.
The baby was later pronounced dead at Bradford Royal Hospital. Tests showed he had died from Sudden Infant Death syndrome after being deprived of oxygen.
At an inquest, a doctor warned of the dangers of parents sleeping with their babies as a coroner said a contributary factor in Noah’s death on May 31 was “co-sleeping and parental alcohol consumption”.
But after the Bradford hearing, Miss Lambert said: “We’re not big drinkers and we don’t drink a lot. The last time we went out was on holiday – a year before I had the baby. We just wanted to go out for a bit – I only had a glass of wine.”
Miss Lambert’s father, Mervyn Lambert, said: “I have brought up three children and they have been perfectly healthy and all have shared our bed. It is terrible what has happened obviously and my daughter and her partner are heart-broken as are we all.
“I would like to see a national NHS campaign to raise awareness for babies in bed and alcohol consumption.”
An initial joint paediatric and forensic post-mortem was carried out at Sheffield Children’s Hospital and both reported an unascertained cause of death.
Consultant paediatrician Dr Eduardo Moya told the hearing that the parents’ decision to co-sleep with their baby and having consumed alcohol that night may have contributed to their baby’s death. He said baby Noah was found to have a minor rhino virus, akin to a nose cold.
Dr Moya said: “The not deliberate and unfortunate set of circumstances is well-documented – bed sharing with parents combined with alcohol consumption.
“Furthermore one or both of the parents did smoke and that could be a contributory factor as that baby had a rhino viral infection. There are a series of risk factors that increase the likelihood of having SIDS. One reason bed sharing is considered dangerous is that one parents could roll on to the infant in the middle of the night.”
He added: “This was a tragedy and there is nobody as fault but I believe it is important to know the etymology of SIDS.
“These are contributory factors because we don’t know the ultimate cause of SIDS. I pass my condolences on to the family. It was clear to me when I went to see them that nobody did anything wrong or deliberate. It was an unfortunate tragedy.”
Assistant Coroner Dominic Bell recorded a narrative verdict and said: “SIDS is considered applicable and it is likely that there are a number of contributory factors of the circumstances that have been described. In order of contribution – bed sharing, parental alcohol consumption, rhino virus, smoking and over-heating. This is a tragic day for the family.”
