Parents are being urged not to sleep with their babies

One-month-old Liam Sisson died less than two years after his brother, Connor.

A coroner has recorded verdicts of accidental death but officials warned that parents must take heed of advice not to fall asleep with their young children.

Liam, from Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, had woken up to be fed, when his mother, Joanne Hosker, took him downstairs and laid him over her shoulder, an inquest heard on Wednesday.

Earlier death

They both fell asleep in the early hours of 6 December 2002 and the baby stopped breathing.

He was taken by ambulance to Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre, where it was found he had suffered severe brain damage as a result of lack of oxygen and died on 11 December.

The grieving family, whose nine-week-old son Connor had died after he fell asleep between his parents in their bed in 2001, were investigated by police, but cleared of any blame.

If either of the parents is a smoker, if they have recently drunk alcohol or taken any drugs... the risks are increased Joyce Epstein Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths

Nottinghamshire coroner Dr Nigel Chapman said Liam had died from mechanical asphyxiation and recorded a verdict of accidental death - the same verdict recorded for Connor at an inquest into his death 18 months earlier.

The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) said it has been warning parents for years of the dangers of sleeping with their new-born babies.

Director Joyce Epstein said: "We are very distressed when we hear about individual cases of this sort.

"The research-based information that we have is that bed sharing can increase the risk of sudden infant death under certain circumstances.

"If either of the parents is a smoker, if they have recently drunk alcohol or taken any drugs that make them very sleepy, or they are just plain tired, the risks are increased," she said.