A TEN-DAY-OLD baby died hours after his parents had returned from a night out in York.
An inquest into the death of Ruben Kettlestring heard parents Christopher Kettlestring and Kimberley Mooring had been in York celebrating the father’s birthday on May 29 last year.
The couple left the tot with Mr Kettlestring’s mother and sister at 5.30pm and went out to drink in the city.
They were picked up in High Ousegate during the early hours of May 30 by Mrs Kettlestring and went back to her home to pick up the baby, who had been sleeping for most of the evening, before taking him home to Strensall at 1.20am.
Miss Mooring told the Coroner’s Court, at New Earswick Folk Hall, that her partner had gone straight to bed when they got in and she had followed shortly after putting Ruben in his Moses basket.
However, the baby woke up around 40 minutes after they went to sleep and Miss Mooring brought him into their bed in an attempt to settle him.
"At about 2am he wouldn't settle and he was crying so I picked him up and put him in bed and tried feeding him, but he wasn't interested so I was just cuddling him and I put him next to me and I must have fallen asleep," said Miss Mooring as she struggled to hold back tears.
"I woke up about 5.30am and I was facing the wall and Chris was sleeping with his back to Ruben.
"I turned over and stroked his cheek and he didn't respond, so I screamed at Chris, saying he wasn't breathing and that's when I phoned the ambulance.
"She talked me through CPR and Chris took over, then the ambulance arrived, and after that's it's a bit of a blur.”
Mr Kettlestring, a taxi driver, helped a paramedic do CPR on the infant before he was taken to York Hospital.
Ruben was pronounced dead by a paediatric consultant at 6.30am the same morning.
Both Mr Kettlestring's sister and mother knew Miss Mooring had been drinking, but said she was not drunk.
The grandmother said: "When I picked them up Chris was worse for wear and just wanted to go to sleep.
"That was a combination of being at work all day and alcohol.
"I was totally confident Kim was able to look after Ruben and if I hadn't been I would have left him at our house during the night."
Jonathan Leach, York's senior coroner, delivered an open conclusion to the inquest because the baby was too young for doctors to clearly identify how he had died.
The parents believe there was an underlying health issue with their child and told the inquest the baby kept turning blue throughout his brief life.
They told a midwife twice about their concerns during visits, but she "expressed no concerns for its health."
Dr Srinivas Rao Annavarapu, a pathologist who carried out a post mortem examination on Ruben, said the cause of death was unascertained.
He said Ruben was "generally thriving and didn't have any complaints."
Mr Leach added: "Because of Ruben's age Dr Annavarapu was unable to give a cause of death, so he gave it as 1A unascertained.
"Police investigated and they were satisfied there were no suspicious circumstances."
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated its recommendations about co-sleeping in December 2014 and confirmed that although Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is rare, it does happen more often when parents or carers sleep with a baby (on a bed, sofa or chair).
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS is the term used to describe the sudden and unexpected death of a baby that remains unexplained after thorough investigation. Other medical terms that can be used are Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) or Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood (SUDC), if the baby was over 12 months old.
The NICE guidance doesn't distinguish between co-sleeping on sofas or chairs and bed-sharing although there is evidence that it is more dangerous to fall asleep with a baby on a sofa or chair.
The guidance also confirmed that the link between SIDS and co-sleeping is greater if either parent smokes, and may be greater if parents or carers have been drinking alcohol or taking drugs that affect their awareness.
Premature babies and babies with a low birthweight (less than 2.5kg or 5.5lb) also have a greater chance of SID
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