Mother found nine-month-old baby daughter dead in bed

Hameeda Arab was placed in the middle of a double bed at her grandmother's house by her mother, Vinnece Shaker.

But when Mrs Shaker went to check on her baby she found her lying on her side with vomit around her mouth and blood coming from her nose.

Mrs Shaker tried to resuscitate Hameeda but her efforts and those of paramedics were unsuccessful.

Black Country coroner, Zafar Siddique, recorded an 'open' conclusion at the end of Monday's inquest held in Oldbury.

The hearing heard how Mrs Shaker had spent September 9 shopping with her mother and Hameeda.

They returned to Hameeda's grandmother's home in Vicarage Street, Oldbury, where she was fed and put in bed.

Mrs Shaker told the inquest she twice went to check on her daughter and found she was fine.

But when she went to check a third time she was 'lifeless'.

Mrs Shaker said: "She was on her side. I put her back on her back and that is when I found she was lifeless.

"Something was telling me I wanted to go and check on her. Her arms just dropped and I knew then."

Mrs Shaker, of Embassy Road, Oldbury, told the court she attempted to resuscitate Hameeda, having been trained in mouth-to-mouth.

She added: "I picked her up and then my mum really panicked. I tapped her on her back and a little bit of vomit came up.

"Mum put water on her face too to see if that would make her respond."

Mrs Shaker's mother rang for an ambulance, which arrived within three minutes.

Attempts to resuscitate Hameeda continued at Sandwell Hospital but could not prevent her death.

Dr Andre Coetzee, who performed the post-mortem examination, said he found nothing unusual except for a small amount of food in her lungs.

He said that was a normal finding following mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and concluded on the balance of probabilities Hameeda died of sudden infant death syndrome.

Returning his 'open' conclusion, Mr Siddique said: "This was a normal, healthy baby doing extremely well. She wasn't really ill as a child.

"She seemed to be thriving for an eight-month-old child. Having considered the evidence carefully this was a sudden and unexpected death and I leave it as an open conclusion.

"There is nothing to suggest anything unnatural but I can't be sure of the exact mechanism."