MYSTERY surrounds the death of a two-month-old baby who was found unresponsive in his Southampton home.

A police investigation was launched into the death of Jayden McFarlane at his home in Woolston.

The inquest heard how his mum fought to save her son while her partner alerted the emergency services.

Detective inspector Roger Middle, who investigated the death, said it was possible Jayden had been sleeping in the bed but there was no evidence of death by deliberate harm or by a third party.

Pathologist Dr Amanda Jeffery told an inquest that Jayden was small for his age but appeared normal in every way and there was no obvious natural or unnatural cause of his death last November.

The pathologist did not find anything wrong with Jayden’s vital organs, no virus or genetic abnormality or injury and there was nothing unusual from the toxicology report.

Senior coroner Grahame Short said that sometimes co-sleeping with a baby can cause unintentional death.

His mother Alisha said he was in a Moses basket, next to her inflatable bed that she shared with her partner, but he told a police officer Jayden had been sleeping on the bed that night.

The court heard that in the weeks before Jayden died he was often regurgitating his milk, which he was being fed by bottle.

It was heard that the night before his death, Alisha had given Jayden his evening feed and then put him to bed in his Moses basket.

Giving evidence, Alisha said that evening she was watching television with her then partner Jack Cole, and they went to bed around 11.30pm. Jayden was fine when they went to bed.

Ms McFarlane said that she heard him cry at 1.30am and fed him before putting him back in his basket.

When she woke at 5.30am she realised Jayden had not cried in the night for feeding and went to check on him. But she found him heavy, blue and unresponsive. She said: “I instantly realised something was wrong. I knew what I was dealing with, I tried not to believe it.”

Alisha’s partner Jack called the ambulance and she attempted CPR. PC Thomas Cottrell attended the scene and questioned Mr Cole, who said that Jayden had been sleeping on the bed that night. However, the inquest heard, he did not say this in his police statement.

DI Middle said that he was satisfied that there was no evidence of any deliberate cause of death.

Coroner Mr Short said: “Sometimes young babies die for reasons for which we do not understand, but sudden infant death syndrome might not be applicable in this case.”

In view of the lack of a known cause of death and insufficient evidence, coroner Mr Short said the death was ‘unascertained’ and returned an open verdict.

Mr Short said: “I give my sympathies to Jayden’s family. I’m sure it was a terrible shock.

“To lose a child is desperately sad so I give my sympathies and condolences.”