4-Week-Old Baby 'Squeezed' To Death After Parents Accidentally Slept With Him

A four-week-old baby died at the side of his parent’s bed when they slept alongside him, an inquest in Greater Manchester, England, heard Tuesday.

Keeley Makin and partner Nicky Marsh usually put the baby Archie to sleep in his Moses basket. However, on Nov.17, they made the baby sleep beside them and dozed off. When they got up the following morning, they saw the baby lying unresponsive and called 999. The baby was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead from sudden infant death syndrome. Tests showed the baby died from accidental rib fractures that may have been caused by him being ''squeezed side-to-side.''

During the hearing Tuesday, the coroner issued a warning about the dangers of co-sleeping.

"There are probably hundreds of thousands of parents who may have infants sleeping in their bed this evening. But every one of those parents potential puts their infants child at risk,” Coroner Alan Walsh said, Mirror reported.

''Archie was 30 days old at the time of his death and was born into a loving, caring family and was born into a perfect home. He had everything that he could wish for as a baby. His brothers doted on him and as did his parents. He had no health problems apart from a cold. He was well looked after and on November 17 he had enjoyed a normal day,” he added.

"He was put to bed and woke up for his feed at about 1.30am. After the feed, he was placed in bed with his parents. It is likely that that had happened with other children and there had never been any problems with that situation. Nobody could have foreseen what would happen in the next few hours and it is unimaginable to wake up and find a baby unresponsive. You have my greatest sympathy,” Walsh said.

Warning all the parents about sleeping with their newborns, he said, "We know that Archie died and he did have some injuries probably arising from the co-sleeping, they were not the cause of death but would have caused problems with his breathing which led to his death. Co-sleeping is a main factor in relation to sudden infant deaths. I have the benefit of dealing with deaths that arise from this. One thing that can arise from Archie's tragic death is an awareness. This is a risk that can be avoided and a death that can be prevented. You would never have imagined this would have happened. You provided the perfect home, you were the perfect parents and I am extremely sorry."

In an emotional statement, Makin said, “Archie was our beautiful little boy. He was our fourth child, we already have three boys. Archie's death came as a horrible shock for the whole family. We were all so excited for Archie to come along, his brothers were amazing with him. We did not get to see his first smile. Not a day goes by where we don't think about our Archie. He will forever be in our hearts," the Sun reported.