A coroner has issued a warning about the dangers of ‘overlaying’ – when parents accidentally roll onto their babies while asleep – following the tragic death of an 11-day-old baby girl.

Amarley-Grace Edgar died at home in Carlisle on Friday, October 23 last year. An inquest into her death was held at Cockermouth’s coroners’ court yesterday, presided over by coroner Robert Cohen.

The inquest heard testimony from Amarley’s mother Billy-Jo Edgar, as well as from a number of her friends and from the emergency service staff who attended the scene on the morning of the incident.

In a written statement read out in court, Billy-Jo described how it had just been a normal day when she had gone down just after 7am to breastfeed Amarley. “She was feeding well and sleeping well – she was an alert and happy baby,” she said.

She described how she lay back on the couch to feed Amarley and drifted off to sleep. When she woke around 10am, Amarley was lying on the floor. “She was completely still. I could tell instantly something was wrong.”

Testimony was heard from emergency crews from the ambulance service and police who attended the scene, performed CPR then took Amarley to Cumberland Infirmary, where she was taken to the resuscitation unit. A statement from Dr Glyn Jones, consultant paediatrician at the hospital, said that attempts to resuscitate Amarley were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at 11.10am.

Dr Alison Armour, consultant pathologist at Royal Preston Hospital, conducted a post-mortem and provided the inquest with a detailed report, which found that the cause of death was acute upper airway obstruction, consistent with “overlaying”.

Recording a conclusion of accidental death, coroner Robert Cohen said: “Any inquest involves bereavement and sorrow, but the inquest into the death of somebody who died at the age of 11 days has a particular tragedy. It’s a dreadful thing.

“The evidence from the pathologist was important evidence. Some of the other witnesses refer to Amarley having been dropped or having banged her head. But the evidence of Dr Armour is absolutely clear and unequivocal. There is no evidence at all of injury or bruising.

“To the extent that anyone saw bruising it was more likely hypostasis, a normal colour change which takes place after a person has died.

“It’s clear to me from the evidence that this was a tragic scenario in which a mother, 11 days after birthing a child, fell asleep while feeding, which is far from uncommon. This is one of a number of inquests that have happened over the UK as whole where coroners have sought to highlight the very great dangers that overlaying presents.

“It’s less well known than it should be, that a baby as young as 11 days is in real danger if they’re being fed in a chair or a bed and the person feeding them falls asleep – and it’s all too understandable how that can happen.

“I don’t make any formal report on this, that has already been done by other coroners. But I simply highlight and repeat, that anybody who is feeding a baby needs to be aware of the real risks that exist associated with overlaying. We all hope that future tragedies such as this can be avoided.”