A verdict of accidental death has been recorded on a six-month-old girl who died under her mother's duvet.
Tina Roszkowska, from Creigiau, Cardiff, had taken baby Katya to bed with her because she would not sleep in a cot.
Pathologist Dr Gordon Vujanic told the inquest that 10 years ago parents were advised they could take children to bed. Now, sleeping with babies is no longer recommended after a rise in deaths.
The hearing revealed that it was normal for Mrs Roszkowska to take Katya to bed with her because she would not sleep in a cot. Detective Constable Craig Thomas, of South Wales Police, said Mrs Roszkowska woke in bed at around 0330 GMT on 13 June at her home and initially thought her daughter was downstairs. When she remembered she was not, she pulled back her quilt and found Katya three quarters of the way down the bed in a horizontal position. Katya was hot and sweaty but didn't respond when shaken gently, so Mrs Roszkowska made a frantic 999 call, DC Thomas said. He added that Mrs Roszkowska "contacted emergency services in a distressed state to say that her baby had suffocated under the quilt".
The hearing was also told that Mrs Roszkowska gave her daughter heart massage, with advice from a 999 emergency operator, until paramedics arrived. Katya was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after 0400 GMT.
A police investigation later found nothing "untoward" in Katya's death.
Dr Vujanic, based at the University Hospital of Wales, Heath, Cardiff, said he was unable to determine the exact cause of death.
He said: "Although the circumstances of Katya's death very strongly indicate the cause was accidental upper airway obstruction, it is not possible to provide an exact cause of death from the post-mortem.
"For many years we used to believe that sleeping (with your baby) was not a risk factor but over the last seven or eight years it has become clear that more babies die while in bed with parents or adults.
"It is not recommended now."
Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Philip Walters, the coroner for Bridgend and the Glamorgan Valleys, said: "Any infant death is obviously a huge tragedy whatever the circumstances and I don't propose to lecture parents on any aspects.
"Can I extend my sincere sympathies to you and as a grandfather I appreciate what a loss of somebody that age can be."
25 October 2007
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