Inquest: Mystery but no suspicion after baby died while mother slept

Zahfiah Peart was discovered ‘unresponsive’ just hours after his mother had fallen asleep in bed feeding him.

Medics were unable to save the two-month-old despite trying to resuscitate him, Black Country Coroner’s Court heard.

Black Country Coroner Mr Zafar Siddique recorded an open conclusion after revealing the youngster’s death remained a mystery.

He said: “There’s no identifiable, direct case. Nobody can say how he passed away. There was nothing to suggest it wasn’t natural causes but no-one can say categorically.”

Mother Kaydan Peart recalled the moment she woke at her Rowley Regis home just before 7am to find her baby ‘didn’t look right’.

She told the inquest she had fed her child at about 10pm before Zahfiah woke for another feed in the early hours of September 6.

Ms Peart, who is also mother to five other children, said she then fell asleep as she fed Zahfiah in her bed and did not wake up until later in the morning.

She said: “I lay on the bed to feed him. I feel asleep with him while I was nursing him.

"I woke up when my mum called at me to say it’s almost 7am, I need to get the kids ready for school.

“I looked at Zahfiah, he didn’t look right, so I looked at him again. I picked him up and ran downstairs to my mum.”

The inquest heard how Zahfiah was cradled by his grandmother as Ms Peart called paramedics for help.

She Ms Peart, who told the inquest she had a ‘normal pregnancy’, then attempted to resuscitate her baby before the family were rushed to Walsall’s Russells Hall hospital.

Consultant pathologist Dr Tamas Marton said a post mortem confirmed the baby did not have any injuries and there were no ‘suspicious findings’.

Zahfiah did not suffer from any pre-existing medical conditions which may have contributed to his death, Dr Marton said on Monday.

He told the inquest co-sleeping and having a parent who smokes were ‘risk factors’ but did not cause Zahfiah to die.