SUFFOCATION OF BABY: TAKEN INTO PARENTS’ BED

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 March 1948, Page 5

SUFFOCATION OF BABY: TAKEN INTO PARENTS’ BED

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, March 17. There was a danger of suffocation when very small babies were taken into their parents’ beds, said the Coroner (Mr A. Addison), concluding today an inquest into the death of an eight-weeks-old baby boy whose parents live at Newmarket.

George Leitch-, freezing worker, said he heard his small son crying about 5 a.m. on February 10. He got out of bed to calm the child and took him back into bed. The child continued to cry for a while but went to sleep. When he awoke about 7.15 a.m. he placed the baby back in its cot. The baby had not been fed since about 10.30 the previous night, but he thought his wife would attend to it when she got up.. Witness said that when he placed his son back in the cot the child made a baby noise, and he thought it was still asleep. Jocelyn Irene Leitch said she had not heard the baby crying during the night. She had a headache and slept very soundly. She was not feeling well and did not get up until about 8.45 a.m.

In answer to Sergeant Teece, witness said she could not be sure about the time she went to bed, as she had been playing cards with some friends in her house until quite late. She did not know the baby was dead until her husband came home about 9 a.m.

Fred Needham' a carpenter, said he took cups of tea into Mr and Mrs Leitch’s room about 7 a.m. Both were asleep and the baby was lying in bed. He returned for the cups at 8.15 a.m. and saw the baby in its cot. The child’s mouth was free of any obstruction and it was neatly tucked in, but he formed the impression it was dead. He did not tell Mrs Leitch butarranged to have Mr Leitch brought home from work.

“Apparently both parents went to bed fairly late that particular night,” said the Coroner. When the father put his son back into the cot he might have not noticed it was dead, but the medical evidence seemed to point to the fact that the baby was suffocated in bed. It was a pity the accident had occurred as, although a mother might safely take a child to bed, a man, with his strength, was not used to a mite in bed, and Ihe baby may have slipped down and been suffocated. He returned a verdict that death was caused by suffocation.