Baby’s sudden death prompts warning

A CORONER has urged parents and carers to ensure babies sleep safely alone in a cot or bassinet – not in adult bedding or with other members of their family.

The warning has come in the wake of a five-month-old baby’s death at Mornington in February 2020 from Undetermined Sudden Infant Death (USID).

In his findings, published on Monday, coroner Robert Webster said the baby’s mother had sought help for emergency housing and was placed at the Discovery Caravan Park at Mornington. The Catholic Care Housing Connect Support described the mother as “attentive, caring, and affectionate and displayed a multitude of protective factors towards her children”.

Before his death, the baby had a cold, the coroner said.

The night before he died, his mother slept in bed with him before waking in the early hours, leaving him sleeping on his side.

The following morning, the mother said the baby was still sleeping and looked fine, with the blankets still tucked up around him.

The family rose and got dressed, with the baby’s father then discovering the baby had passed away.

When police arrived, they noticed the baby had been sleeping on the bottom bunk of bunk beds.

“Because the family had unstable accommodation, the cot which (the baby) usually slept in was not taken by the family to the Discovery Caravan Park,” Mr Webster said.

“Neither parent believed this to be an issue and had no concerns.”

A forensic pathologist said co-sleeping or shared sleeping were “significant contributory factors” in the baby’s death, with evidence the baby’s immune system had reacted to an undetermined infection.

Mr Webster said the parents “loved their son and they did their best in very trying circumstances to properly care for him”.

He reminded parents to ensure infants slept safely alone in a cot or bassinet, day or night, and did not sleep in adult beds.