Trapped baby died in broken cot

A seven-month-old baby suffocated after falling between a gap between a broken cot and a mattress, an inquest heard.

Tianah Warren slipped or wriggled into the gap at her home in Weymouth, Dorset, on 21 May.

Her mother Chantelle Warren, 19, was refused a community care grant for a new cot and was not told that social services could help, the inquest heard.

A post-mortem showed Tianah died of positional asphyxia. A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

Miss Warren said she had applied for a grant to buy a new fridge-freezer, cooker and cot months before the tragedy.

It was just a little catch on the top of a cot. If you saw the cot it looked perfect Chantelle Warren

She had been refused and was in the process of appealing against the decision but later discovered social services could have helped her to get a new cot.

"I think social services and health visitors should make people more aware that they can help because I didn't know they could help.

"They can apply to charities for cots and bedding, things like that, I didn't know they could do that and that could have saved Tianah's life."

'Perfect child'

A metal catch was broken on the cot, it was heard.

Michael Johnston, West Dorset coroner, told the inquest in Dorchester: "There wasn't much of a gap and she [Miss Warren] never dreamed that Tianah, whom she describes as not a skinny baby, would ever get down there.

"But she had and being down there had restricted her breathing, and she died."

Miss Warren woke on the day of the tragedy to an unusually quiet house and called out to her eldest daughter Brianah, three, who slept in a bed in the same room as Tianah, the court heard.

Mr Johnston added: "She called out to Brianah, the oldest child who said something like, 'baby's stuck'.

"Tianah's mother rushed into the bedroom and found that Tianah had slipped or wriggled between the cot mattress and the broken cot side where there was a gap.

"She had become stuck and unfortunately she had asphyxiated."

Miss Warren pulled the baby free and called for help.

She was told how to attempt resuscitation on her baby but the infant was pronounced dead on arrival at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.

He added: "She went in to see what the problem was.

"Tianah was in the cot facing inwards with her legs down trapped between the mattress and side of the broken cot."

Paying tribute to her daughter, Miss Warren said: "She was a perfect child.

"It was just a little catch on the top of a cot. If you saw the cot it looked perfect."