New Born dies strapped to car seat while enjoyed a night of drinking

An Infant on Thursday died after being put to bed in a car seat by her parents who then spent the evening drinking in a hotel bar.

The ten-week-old had only been out of hospital for a fortnight after being born 12 weeks premature.

The tragic case was outlined in a serious case review into the death of the girl – known as Child M – on a family holiday in July 2016.

The probe revealed that the parents, from Wigan, had left her in a hotel room along with her twin brother and a 13-month-old sibling at around 7.30pm.

The couple, who were known to social services and to have drug and alcohol problems, then went drinking at the hotel bar with their three other older children.

CCTV showed that they checked on the younger children at half-hour intervals before returning at 1am.

Child M was fed by the mother an hour and a half later, but was found dead in the car seat at 10am by her father, who had served a 30-month jail term for robbery and had mental health issues.

Paramedics were called but noticed signs of rigor mortis, which sets in as soon as four hours after death.

She was pronounced dead at 11.23am.

The report revealed that the parents had initially planned to put the twins to bed in their pram carry-cots but changed their mind because the cots were too heavy to take up the three flights of stairs to their room.

The twins were placed on a bed in their car seats instead.

Current advice states that babies should not be left in such seats for more than two hours at a time. Following the death, a serious case review was launched and the parents were investigated by police.

But blood samples taken the following day were in the “acceptable range” and no evidence of neglect was found. Although empty lager cans and beer bottles were later found in the couple’s room, the hotel manager told police that the couple were not “excessively intoxicated”.