ROCHDALE coroner Simon Nelson issued a warning to parents not to use adult bedding for babies.

The warning was given following the inquest into the death of four-month-old Joshua Smith in January.

His mother, Samantha Campbell, who lived at the time in Cumberland Road, Kirkholt, told the inquest that the night before Joshua’s death he appeared healthy.

Joshua had woken several times as usual, but had gone back to sleep at around 9am.

"He was fine, we sat playing with him and he was normal," said Ms Campbell, now of Green Meadow, Wardle.

She, too, had gone back to sleep but then awoke at around 1pm.

"I remember waking up and going to check up on him. He’d rolled over and was on his stomach. I remember picking him up."

She added: "I think he was cold, but I don’t remember much other than my sister ringing the ambulance."

Doctors’ attempts to resuscitate Joshua were unsuccessful.

The inquest heard that the baby had previously had a suspected heart murmur but had later been given the all clear.

One or two weeks before his death it was also thought Joshua had had a chest infection or a cold, but again Ms Campbell was assured the baby was well.

A post mortem examination revealed that, other than patches of eczema, he showed no sign of illness. But the inquest heard a police officer who went to the house in Kirkholt after Joshua’s death was told by Ms Campbell’s sister, Stacey Bride, that the baby had been lying on a pillow.

Questioned by the coroner Ms Campbell said she did not think Joshua had slept on a pillow that night although she could not be sure.

The court heard evidence that if adult-sized bedding was used in cots there was a possibility of suffocation.

Recording an open verdict, Mr Nelson said he could not be certain as to the cause of Joshua’s death.

"It’s important that the message should be spread as wide as possible for other young mothers and fathers that when you’re caring for babies of this age, just as you have put the baby on its back, that there be an absence of adult materials in the cot or anything that would not normally be suitable for use with a young baby."