Newborn baby died after mum fell asleep while breastfeeding

A three-week-old baby has tragically died after his exhausted mum fell asleep during breastfeeding.

An inquest has heard that Joanne Harwood was feeding her newborn son Harry, before she dozed off. When she woke, she found her son lying face down on the bed in a pool of blood.

After calling emergency services, the infant was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The court heard that Harwood had been sitting on the bed with her baby placed on her knees when she fell asleep.

Returning to work just 10 days after giving birth, Harwood had worked a full day before the tragic accident occurred.

She had gone to bed at around 10pm after putting her son to sleep in his cot. She then woke to feed him later that night which is when she fell back asleep with the boy in her bed.

Coroner Dr Nicholas Shaw concluded that the boy's death was associated with inadvertent co-sleeping and issued a warning to other new mums against sharing their bed with a baby.

'I would like to stress how desperately sad this is for a little infant in this situation. It does bring tears to your eyes,' Dr Shaw said.

'I don't blame you Joanne. You've had a tiring day, you fed baby and nodded off. If you hadn't I'm sure you would have put him back in his cot. It's most likely had he been back in his cot he would have been alright,' he added.

This article first appeared on That's Life https://www.thatslife.com.au/newborn-baby-died-after-mum-fell-asleep-while-breastfeeding