A four-day-old baby was found dead in a hospital bed next to his mother despite the advice of nurses on the dangers of co-sleeping.

An inquest at Accrington Town Hall heard that Muhammed Rayaan Shams Uddin's mother had been told a number of times to avoid sharing her hospital bed with her newborn, but when health care assistant, Helen Hutchinson went to check on the new mum at around 8.30pm on March 18 2020, she found him snuggled close to her right side, under the bed covers, unresponsive.

A post-mortem found that Muhammed had also been suffering with group B streptococcus, which had resulted in pneumonia, and Dr Gemma Petts who carried out the examination along with Home Office Pathologist Dr Naomi Carter, said it was impossible to say whether the infection had killed the tot, or whether his death could be attributed solely to the co-sleeping.

A medical cause of death was therefore ascribed to both factors - group B streptococcus infection in a setting of adult co-sleeping.

It was heard that Mrs Uddin and Muhammed had been due to be discharged from the hospital on March 18, but because Muhammed had been unable to regulate his temperature properly he was kept under observation.

Mrs Uddin then developed symptoms of an infection and it was decided the newborn and his mother would be kept overnight on the 18th in order to wait for her test results.

Mr Taylor said: "There were feeds conducted and recorded at 5.30pm, 6pm and 7.30pm and then she was given Tramadol.

"The support worker then checked on Mrs Uddin at 8.30pm and found Muhammed was under the covers next to his mother."

Giving evidence at the inquest, health care assistant, Helen Hutchinson said: "I went in the bay at 8.30pm and asked Mrs Uddin if she'd like tea and toast, and I noticed the baby wasn't in the cot and for a split second I thought he had gone down for blood tests, but then I asked her where he was and she pointed next to her.

"He was covered up and at the side of mum between what looked like rolled up blankets. I realised straight away that something wasn't right.

"Mum had been given Tramadol about an hour before but was awake when I went in.

"I picked up the baby and ran outside with him."

Muhammed's paternal family raised several questions during the inquest in terms of the medication prescribed to his mother in the hours before the four-day-old's death.

It was heard that Mrs Uddin had been given Tramadol at 7.30pm due to suffering an infection after giving birth, and was checked on at 7.40pm, however, there was no check done on the mum between 7.40pm and 8.30pm when the nighttime support worker took over.

Muhammed's family asked why there was no check made to see if Mrs Uddin's condition had deteriorated due to the medication and said they felt there was a lot of information missing from the investigation and a lot of information withheld in terms of the hospital records, and asked if there was an opportunity to appeal to the hospital to look further into the events of that day.

However, sudden and unexpected death in childhood nurse Louise Masters, who carried out an investigation into Muhammed's death said the dose of Tramadol given to Mrs Uddin was only 50mg which was the minimum dose they would offer to patients, and would not have had any adverse effects.

Ms Masters also said Mrs Uddin, of Nelson, had been advised twice overnight on March 15, the day after Muhammed's birth, about safe sleeping after the baby was found in bed with her, but had told the midwife that she would put him back in the cot if she had felt tired.

Mr Taylor recorded a narrative conclusion and said: "Muhammed Rayaan Shams Uddin died on March 18 2020 at Burnley General Hospital from an infection while sharing a bed with his mother."