A MOTHER whose two-month-old baby son died suddenly broke down in a Belfast courtroom as she urged parents not to sleep in the same bed as their child.
Jolene O'Hanlon (32) from Carnmoney Road, Newtownabbey, was giving evidence at an inquest on Tuesday into the December 4 2017 death of Declan Hugh Anthony Butler-O'Hanlon.
It also emerged during the hearing, which a coroner described as "traumatic", that three babies died at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast in just one week in December - with their deaths linked to 'co-sleeping' with an adult.
The distraught mother, who has five other children, said she "thought she was doing the best for her son" by taking him out of his Moses basket and putting him into bed with her as he was "freezing cold" and had a "runny nose".
She screamed out in court "I do blame myself" - to which coroner Paddy McGurgan stressed she "should not" and instead commended her "bravery" in telling her story and raising awareness of the dangers of newborns sleeping with parents.
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"It's something we've all done but we need to highlight the risks of this. It is every mother's worst nightmare," Mr McGurgan said.
"I cannot stop you from blaming yourself, it's human nature...but there's no doubt you are an excellent mother."
The coroner noted that baby Declan's inquest was the first of three infants deaths he was hearing this week.
Miss O'Hanlon recounted how baby Declan was "always with her" and was a "chesty baby" who had spent the first few days of his life in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the Royal.
In the days before his passing, she had taken him to see her GP as he had a "rattle in his chest". She gave him a bottle at 2.30am on December 4 and put him down in his cot.
The court heard that earlier that evening the family's washing machine had flooded and Miss O'Hanlon kept the heating on as she was "wringing out school uniforms for the next day", and had placed them on a radiator.
"I put Declan down in his Moses basket and he was freezing cold, his fingers were blue. I lifted him up and said you come in with me. His 18-month-old sister was also in the bed and I put a pillow between them," she told the court.
"In the morning I turned round and his wee face was white on one side and blue on the other. I lifted his arm up and it flopped. In my head I just knew he was gone.
"Someone rang for the ambulance and I tried compressions on him. I was in shock...You never think it's going to come to your own door. I am part of a cot deaths group now online and tell mothers of the dangers."
Dr Brigitte Bartholome, who tried to resuscitate baby Declan, struggled to retain her composure as she described the difficulty of trying to intervene in such cases.
"Whenever we see a child like Declan who is healthy, it is heartbreaking. I have done this now for 30 years and each and every time it is terrible. In December (2018) we had three deaths like this, two of them were in the one day," said Dr Bartholome, who is the clinical lead in emergency medicine at the children's hospital.
"We have to start a campaign to make parents aware of the risk factors with co-sleeping and emphasise that the safest place for a baby to sleep is on their back in a cot.
"It is understandable why a mum should take a baby into bed, one of the biggest factors is that they are exhausted. It can happen."
Dr Bartholome told the Irish News there were around 25 "unexplained" infant deaths in Northern Ireland each year and how she had approached the Public Health Agency last December about reinforcing the message about the risks of co-sleeping.
A post-mortem carried out on baby Declan found he was a healthy baby with no underlying conditions who had a mild cold at the time of his death.
Delivering his findings as to the cause of his death, coroner Paddy McGurgan said it was due to Sudden Unexplained Death in Infants (SUDI). He also referred secondly to "co-sleeping".
Addressing Ms O'Hanlon and her partner, Hugh Butler, he added: "I want to pay tribute to you and your partner for how you've approached this inquest...I cannot over emphasise enough how its important for mothers to come and raise awareness...I sincerely hope that other mothers will learn from this."
Speaking after the hearing, Miss O'Hanlon said she plans to continue to raise awareness about the risks.
"He was just perfect. I don't want his death to be in vain."
