Open verdict on death of baby boy found unconscious in bed next to his mother

SINGAPORE - A three-month-old baby died after his mother found him unconscious on a bed they had been sharing in February 2018.

The state coroner on Thursday (Sept 3) recorded an open verdict in the case, saying that the cause of death was inconclusive and there was no basis to suspect foul play.

The child, who had been a sickly baby, could have died after his mother accidentally rolled on top of him while she was sleeping.

There was also a possibility that the infant, who was born premature, could have died from an illness, or from asphyxia from being in a prone sleeping position.

Two months after this tragedy, the mother killed her daughter by throwing the two-year-old girl to the floor twice in anger.

In November last year, she was sentenced to seven years' jail after pleading guilty to a charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The mother of six, now 31, was found to be suffering from a major depressive disorder at the time of the attack.

Separately, in 2011, her older son died of a viral infection when he was four months old.

The woman and her family members cannot be named due to a gag order.

Delivering an open verdict on Thursday after an inquiry into the younger son's death, State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam said: "(His) death highlights the possible dangers associated with placing an infant in a prone sleeping position or even co-sleeping with the infant in an adult bed.

"Parents and caregivers must be aware that certain choices of how they place their infants to sleep may result in an increased risk of serious injury or even death. When this is coupled with maternal fatigue, the risks are exponentially increased."

The state coroner also advised mothers to reach out for help and support when their duties as a caregiver for the family take a toll on their well-being.

The inquiry heard that on Jan 22, 2018, the baby was admitted to KK Women's and Children's Hospital and diagnosed with gastroenteritis after a 10-day bout of diarrhoea, four days of vomiting and three days of fever.

He was discharged six days later after treatment.

On Feb 6 that year, the baby was sleeping at home at around 11am when his mother decided to take a nap beside him on the same bed.

When the baby started crying, she placed him face down with his head turned to one side. She also used a bolster to support his body, said the state coroner.

The woman fell asleep beside her son soon after.

She woke up about three hours later and found the infant lying face down against a pillow, and he had turned blue with blood and mucous on his mouth.

She called for an ambulance and an operator directed her to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the child.

Paramedics later arrived and rushed the boy to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4.13pm.

Two months after this tragedy, the woman killed his older sister.

The housewife was tending to the little girl in their two-room flat on April 9, 2018 when she became angry with the toddler for defecating on a towel in the bedroom after her bath.

She carried the girl back to the toilet to wash up, and along the way, some faeces fell onto the floor. The woman scolded her daughter and the girl started to cry.

Shortly after, the woman was further angered when the girl did not obey her instructions to go to the bedroom.

She pulled the toddler into a room, lifted her up to shoulder level and threw her to the floor forcefully. This made the girl cry even louder.

The woman then told her daughter to clean up her toys in the living room.

When she saw the girl standing still and crying, she lifted her up again and threw her to the floor. The little girl died soon after.

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