HEALTH bosses have issued a warning about the dangers of co-sleeping, after the death of an 11-week-old baby.

Charlie McCabe, from Alresford, died while sharing his parents’ bed, a coroner heard.

An inquest held in Winchester this week, heard how parents Christian McCabe and Sara Timms had a couple of glasses of wine each before going to bed with their son on January 24.

They realised something was wrong when they awoke shortly after 3.30am.

Sara told the court: “I got up and went to the toilet and I heard my partner saying ‘What’s wrong with Charlie?’.

“I picked him up, trying to wake him up. He wasn’t waking up. I was in shock.

“I took Charlie and thought we had to give him a bit of fresh air and I opened the front door. I ran back and tried to resuscitate him.”

When the emergency services arrived at the bungalow in Arundel Close, they tried to resuscitate him.

He was taken to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The parents were arrested shortly after as officers could smell alcohol when speaking to them, though no charges were pressed.

The exact cause of death remains unknown, but health bosses have issued a warning about the dangers of babies sleeping in the same bed as adults.

Giving evidence, Susan Tatsinkou, head of nursing for children and family at Southern Health, said: “We do understand it’s tiring waking up to breastfeed but we still advice parents to put babies down to sleep in a separate bed.

“We advise not to co-sleep but if you do you shouldn’t be having alcohol, smoking or taking drugs.”

Ms Tatsinkou said mums are provided with an information booklet when they receive visits from midwives.

Sara, for whom Charlie was her fifth baby, said she had received leaflets and had read all of them.

Pathologist Russell De Laney, who carried out the post-mortem examination, said there were no signs of injuries and no alcohol nor drugs were found in the baby’s body.

He added: “Everything that we have done, and this examination is as thorough as it can possibly be, hasn’t identified the cause of the death.”

Coroner Grahame Short said the circumstances of the death could be determined.

He said: “He was clearly a much-loved baby and his death was devastating for his family. “Between 12.15am and 3.30am Charlie died for unexplained reasons while sharing his parents’ bed.”

The couple did not want to comment after the inquest.